Ever been told by your mother to stay away from your sibling if he/she has the flu? Why? You'd catch a cold yourself too. See what I'm getting at here? Approaching a sick opossum (or any other sick animal for that matter) would be a serious mistake on your part, one which you'd have to pay for with some pretty nasty infections.
You need to keep your distance, but here's the dilemma. A sick opossum isn't exactly carrying around a signboard telling people to stay away. How do you spot if an opossum is sick? Well, there are a few things you could look out for.
Frothing of the mouth
If you know anything about some common diseases that animals carry, then you've probably heard about rabies, a disease common in dogs that can easily be transferred to other animals through a bite.
Well, it turns out opossums can carry this disease too, meaning you could be at risk if one near you has it. Luckily, rabies is fairly easy to spot in an animal due to the telltale frothing of the mouth. If you spot an opossum with white foam where its mouth is supposed to be, you need to back away from it as quickly as possible.
Labored breathing
Another sign of an opossum being sick is it having difficulty breathing. The next time you see an opossum invading your home, observe it thoroughly (from a safe distance away obviously). Does it look like every breath it takes is a momentous struggle on the part of the animal? Is it taking short raspy breaths, with grunts in between? If so, then the animal is probably sick. Stay away.
Diarrhea
Now this one is a little disgusting. An animal with diarrhea isn't a pretty sight to see, what with its feces flowing freely out of its *ahem* "hole," without it even feeling the slightest bit worried about its apparent "leakage." Now you might be more concerned about the droppings polluting your clean house, than the diseases that come from it. Sure, that's a valid concern, and you'd want to clean up the mess as soon as humanly possible, but I'd advise you to control your cleaning urges and stay away from both the animal and its feces, approaching them only with protective gear on.
Walking around in the day
That's strange. Why would an opossum being active in the day mean its sick? Well if I were to describe this behavior in one word, I'd call it suspicious. See, opossums are nocturnal, which, for those of you not well acquainted with a dictionary, means they are active in the night only, when they emerge to hut and forage for food. So, if an opossum's out past its bedtime, you KNOW something wrong with it.
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