Golden Staph
One of the most recent outbreaks for
Brushtail possums is “Golden staph”. It is when the
possum has bare patches of skin (usually around face,
nose and bottom) which is red and can be weeping in the
center of the red patch.
This can be due to a number of reasons:-
1)
Over population, trees being cut down
for houses. Around 5 to 8 house blocks could mean loss
of 15 to 20 possums. They become stressed due to loss of
food and no where to live.
2)
Another reason is the possums
scavenge through bins in picnic areas or people feed
them human food etc in dry seasons especially. Not all
human food agrees with possums.
3)
Wet weather, rainy seasons don’t
agree with possums as they don’t go out to feed, loose
weight and get stressed.
Click
the above pictures to see in high resolution.
If the possum is in the wild and they
have a healthy natural diet the Golden staph should
eventually disappear naturally.
If a possum that comes into my care has
Golden staph then I treat it with an Antibiotic called
Keflor which is a children’s medicine that you get from
the doctor. It works well and it has a strawberry
flavor which they love.
You
can also use a dog wash called Malaseb, which you can
get from your local vet. On a dog you leave the shampoo
on for 10mins before rinsing it off. But with a possum
(especially a small one) you should only leave it on for
a minute or so and rinse it off over and over to make
sure that the Malaseb is all off. As if the possum licks
its fur with the shampoo still on it, the possum will
get sick and start to froth at the mouth.
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