When the problem is the possum

So I have a sweet feral boy cat that now lives in my garage (Fireball) He can enter and exit the garage from an opening from a broken vent, which I pulled on purpose to allow my rabbit, and now also Fireball to go in an out. We are planning on replacing the opening with a more sophisticated wall mount pet door in the near future. 

Initially Fireball was living outside, hiding under my neighbor house crawlspace so I would put food in my backyard and he would come eat it at night. This food attracted Possums. A baby possum would be there every night, and the possum mother was also spotted a couple times around. I didn't think this was a big problem, except that eventually, allegedly, the big possum attacked and hurt my rabbit by scratching his eye. Rabbit is fine now though.

Also what happened is that eventually, Fireball moved to stay inside my garage, so I now feed him inside, but the possum managed to also get inside the garage. It was a mess because, unlikely Fireball, which goes outside to do his business, the possum would poop all over inside my garage and it stinks like crazy (bunny also poops but that doesn't stink and he does pee outside - thanks god-).

We eventually figured out the possum had moved in my laundry cabinet (he would enter from a opening in the back that was supposed to accommodate the sink drain pipe.) He had made a bed on one side -with my laundry nets- and a toilet on the other side. It was a mess. So we trapped that little possum, drove him far away behind an area with parks,a creek and close to the zoo, and released him there.

Now we recently got another larger possum that had found and decided to move in my garage. Yesterday we also trapped him and brought and released the same place. This time the possum had somehow scared Fireball away which was not staying in the garage any longer. I saw him yesterday evening sleeping on the opposite side of my home, and haven't seem him today yet. I hope he will come back tonight and go back to his garage.

So my question is, really, is there anything I can do to prevent the possum from coming into my garage but allow the cat and the rabbit in? One idea I have is to have a raised entrance that the cat would need to jump onto a shelf before being able to go in and out. Not sure how high it will need to be but I assume possums cannot jump as high as a cat, and as long as there is no way to climb up that should keep them out. This solution would imply that the rabbit has another entrance but that could lead to a caged area in the garage in which bunny would find his shelter and food but not cat food there. So the possum wouldn't have much a reason to want to be there?  

Any other ideas?
 

I like this idea, although I am not sure how high possums can jump.  I do know that they can climb almost anything, even siding.

There are cat doors that work with collars and/or microchips to only allow that particular animal in.  I think they're in the range of $100 to $150.

We are removing the wooden siding and finishing with stucco exterior, kind of sand finish, hopefully not so easy to climb. I will consider those kitten doors with collar but not sure if I can have fireball to wear one.

I do not leave food out past 8pm as the wildlife critters will find their way to the food source.  Last summer I did have a problem with opossums getting into my gas grill drip tray.  We had to take the drip tray out after every use and bring it inside.

You could try putting the food up on a table where the cat could jump, but I think it will still cause a problem as the opossums will be relentless if they smell the food.  I would try only setting out food during the day.  The cat will adjust and learn to eat when there is food.  Once the food source is gone the opossums will leave.  It may take awhile as they will keep hoping to find food. 

As a last resort, you may need to trap them to fully get rid of them.  It would be hard as you don't want to trap your cat. 

Im with ShadowRescue,  your best bet is to just pick up all food at night.  Possums wont hang around if there isnt an easy meal for them, they will just waddle off to the next cat food dish at someone elses house.   

The other option would be if you could just lock both Bunny and Fireball in the garage at night, no roaming allowed.  Then, you could leave their food with them.  But they certainly will not suffer if they just dont have food available from dusk to dawn.  

Good luck!  I love possums and raccoons, but they will eat you out of house and home if you do not keep food locked up.  

I know from experience that possums can climb stucco.  We had one climb a stucco wall (about ten feet high) in order to get into a vent from our fireplace.  Scared the bejesus out of us when he peered into our living room from inside the flue!  We secured that vent real fast!

Does seem like the simplest solution is to take the food up after dark.

Thank you so much, all great ideas and suggestions.

I have today changed my mind about the raised entrance because it looks way to silly to imagine having a shelf up on the exterior wall of the home, especially after we are investing to have it all nicely done with stucco. I had thought I could have the normal pet door and possibly have a raised shelf inside the garage where I could try and see if the cat can get to it so I would put the food there and possibly see if the possum cannot get to it. That would possibly also slow down ants and such. But that of course won't completely stop the possum from getting attracted.

The idea of removing the food at night or close the entrances at night are great ideas. I still think I will trap the possums and bring them to release somewhere else farther. I did get the bunny in the trap twice when trying to get the possum. I believe the cat has learned to stay out of that trap. Last night I actually locked the entrances with the possum in and bunny and cat out, that way I eventually trapped the possum.

Mean while Fireball is back in the garage now that I removed the possum. He actually was inside the room of his cat tree and was very cute.

Opossums! Good grief, what a battle I've had with opossums. They're so ugly, they're cute, but what a pain they can be (flea-ridden, too!). Even had a baby opossum get his head stuck in the chicken wire! The only solution I've found; lock the cats up at night and give them food. Take the food up in the morning when I let the cats out. Serves the dual purpose of making the cats more than eager to get in their kennels at night as they are ready to eat.

Very true, they are ugly, and cute!

There is the last one we got:


And this is Fireball back in his place after I removed the possum:
 

Look at that sweet-faced Fireball in his house! Does he look content or what? Are those blue eyes?

Ondine said:

 
I like this idea, although I am not sure how high possums can jump.  I do know that they can climb almost anything, even siding.

There are cat doors that work with collars and/or microchips to only allow that particular animal in.  I think they're in the range of $100 to $150.

Click to expand...

Is there a way to get the rabbit and Fireball microchipped?  The microchip cat door we use is a SureFlap.  It will read their microchips so the microchipped animal can get in and out but nothing else can get in.  That way you wouldn't have to worry about trying to get Fireball to wear a collar.  The doors aren't cheap but they're worth it!  

Fireball is microchipped Good to know about the SureFlap, that is a great solution, since there is no risk of losing the "collar" or having him to wear one. 
The rabbit isn't microchipped, but, I guess it could be done as well. Thanks for the suggestion! (I didn't realize what kind of microchip we were talking about when I read Ondine previous post)

@Susank521 Yes of course, blue eyes, since he is a color-pointed boy. And yeah he looked pretty content