These were my favorites when working at a wildlife rehab hospital. All those pointy bits and their defense is to play dead, I always thought it was something of a myth but no. The only time I’ve seen one use its teeth and claws for defense was a mama with babies in the pouch.
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It’s a possum and eating the cat food meant for the neighborhood cats. We have 2-3 cats that come by.
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The parents of younger S’ college roommate told us they once had one in their yard and looked dead. The father was going to pick it up and take care of it, and the mom said “I bet it’s just playing dead. Nope, said dad. He went to pick it up and yup! Spring to life and ran away scaring the heck out of him!
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Back in Illinois, I thought our cat had left a dead baby possum at our back door although I hadn’t seen her do anything. The baby was lying on its back, eyes open, little paws outstretched, no movement no matter how close I got. Then I looked closer and the chest was going barely up and down. I scooped it into a shovel and moved it elsewhere in the yard; it got up and stumbled away.
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My husband had a rat trap by the shed in the yard of our House1. Once he caught a possum! The thing was hissing and growling, so my husband decided to let it out someplace where it would not bite anyone. Drove with the trap in the bed of his truck to the woods at the end of our street.. lifted the gate of the trap and decided to film the escape. The thing ran out of the trap, got close to the edge of the truck bed, and… dropped dead. 
Husband waited patiently for the possum resurrection… then got impatient and poked it ! 
The thing went flying!
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In a different kind of wildlife news…grandkids got their first tick of the season.
GS was getting haircut after dinner tonight. SIL was buzzing off his hair with a beard trimmer and there was a tick right at the hairline on the back of GS’s neck.
Guess this means all the littles will be getting full body tick checks every night before their baths.
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I have also already found a tick this year. 
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Exactly where I found one on D when she was about 8, at the nape of the neck. We were camping. She said ‘is it normal to have a bump on your neck?’. Yup she found it.
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In our area (Ohio) they have been predicting an early and heavy tick season. 
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The bold foxes continue to utilize our yards (front and back). SIL has spotted the smaller of the two foxes (one which we assume is a female) trotting with a chipmunk or squirrel in its mouth, heading determinedly in certain direction into the brush several times in the last week or so. We suspect she’s got a litter of kits somewhere nearby.
Tonight at dinner, we saw the larger of the foxes (we assume it’s a male) slinking through the brush around the base of the bird feeder. He blipped around the tree base next to the feeder and was off.
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