Behavioral and Nutritional Aspects of the Virginian Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

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Virginia opossums are widely distributed throughout the United States, except in the most arid regions, and wild individuals are commonly brought to practitioners for medical attention. Opossums' popularity as pets seems to be growing, and it is likely that pet opossums will be more common in veterinary practice. Clinicians must be aware of natural opossum behaviors so that thorough physical examination and diagnostic procedures can be performed on injured patients. For animals kept captive long-term or as pets, veterinarians must understand proper nutrition and nutritional disorders, such as secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism, obesity, and dental disease, to properly treat this species.

Section snippets

Opossums in the clinical setting

Injured Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) traditionally have been treated by wildlife rehabilitators. Over the past 20 years, however, private practitioners have been examining opossums more often for various medical conditions. Opossums typically present because of receiving impact injuries from vehicles or trauma from domestic animal attacks, being orphaned joeys from an injured jill, receiving injuries from being trapped accidentally, or being a nuisance species. In other cases,

Behavioral manifestations of disease

Trauma is the most common problem in opossums that present to veterinary practices. Common signs include paralysis, paresis, fractures, labored breathing, shock, and bleeding. Pacing, hyperactivity, and pawing at the mouth are often associated with head injuries. Immediate care is required in most cases, and maintenance of body temperature and cardiovascular support is essential. Radiographs should be performed in every trauma case after stabilization, unless life-threatening injuries that

Opossums as pets

The longer a captive opossum spends in the hospital, the more it loses its instinct to survive in the wild. Opossums tend to bond and habituate to human contact, especially younger animals. Animals that cannot be rehabilitated and released back to the wild may be considered for euthanasia or permanent captive placement. Captive opossums ideally should not be kept as pets, but some caretakers feel responsible for long-term care and adopt captive or infant opossums. Often there are legal

Oral and Gastrointestinal Morphology

The gastrointestinal morphology of the Virginia opossum is consistent with that of many other mammalian omnivores. The dental formula is 5/4, 1/1, 3/3, 4/4, and the salivary glands include large mandibular and smaller parotid and sublingual glands. The distal esophagus has raised, transverse rugae and is comprised of smooth muscle fibers. The opossum's distal esophagus, pylorus, and ileocecal junction have been studied extensively, because the smooth muscle arrangements in these areas closely

Summary

Virginia opossums are widely distributed throughout the United States, except in the most arid regions, and wild individuals are commonly brought to practitioners for medical attention. It has been estimated that there are 100,000 or more opossums in the state of California (W. Sakai, personal communication, 2008). Opossums' popularity as pets seems to be growing, and it is likely that pet opossums will be more common in veterinary practice (Fig. 8). Clinicians must be aware of natural opossum

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the wildlife rehabilitators of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, particularly Amanda Nicholson and Dani Stumbo, for their assistance in reviewing the nutritional information in this article. The authors also thank Dr. William Krause and the late Dr. Anita Henness for their pioneering work and inspiration.

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