Yeah, possums get a bad rap sometimes in my opinion.
Takes me back to
my post of my possum dealings in a thread started by
@Ssayer .
Occasionally, especially when it comes to horses, the possum's bad rap is earned. They can carry a certain microbe that is passed to horses when the horses eat grass or food that has been contaminated by the infected possum's feces. That can cause Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis in the horse. It's a neurological disease that affects the horse's brain and spinal cord. It shows itself in a few ways.
"1. Asymmetry is a term we use to describe a symptom that is worse on one side of the body than on the opposite side. In other words, with EPM, the signs are generally worse on the left side than on the right or visa versa.
2. Ataxia is a term we use to describe incoordination or the inability of the horse to know exactly where its legs are, resulting in inability to move its legs and trunk normally.
3. Atrophy describes a condition where the muscles shrink from their normal size. With EPM, this results from damage to the nerves that normally control or “innervate” these muscles. Muscle atrophy is not seen in all cases of EPM, so it is not as consistent a sign of disease as is the asymmetrical ataxia. "
By Rob MacKay, BVSc (Dist), PhD, DACVIM and Kenton Morgan, DVM, DACT
aaep.org
I've had to help treat a horse with EPM. If you like animals, it's tough to watch. The horse would have to balance himself against a tree or the wall of the barn. He couldn't eat from a bucket on the fence because he couldn't stand still. He was always falling to one side so to keep from falling down, he would effectively turn around in circles. So we had to bring the food bucket to him and hold it until he was done. If he was turning and not leaning against something, he'd try to stop to eat. At that point, we'd have to lean up against him to help balance him. It's not easy to keep a 1000+ pound horse from moving when he's leaning into you. So we hold him as long as we can then move out of the way. He would "fall" and turn and we'd try again. This went on for 3 feedings a day for about 4 months. He finally got better but even then he was only about 75% of what he was before.
So in the city, they are useful. But on a farm with horses, they need to be taken care of.
