~ Pet Cages in General ~

Over the years I have had a few different pets, at one point I had a hamster, gerbil and cockatiel at the same time, this meant I needed three different cages in which to house my pets, I had Harry the hamster first and when I bought him I bought a basic metal cage at the same time, the bottom of the cage consisted of a simple red high sided tray onto which the white box wire cage top fitted, it came supplied with a wheel and water bottle. I didn't really want a basic cage but as buying Harry was a spur of the moment decision and money was tight I thought it would do the job just fine and it did.
After a few weeks I decided to upgrade Harry's cage to a more fancy affair and decided on a blue wire cage, this cage had two floors and plastic tubes for Harry to run around in. This cage also came equipped with a blue plastic wheel, a little blue plastic house and a little wire ramp that allowed Harry to scamper between the two floors.
At three points on the cage were holes into which you could put plastic tubes, so this cage ended up taking up a lot of space as I had the tubes travelling around the cage which Harry really loved to run around.
This cage had two doors, one at the side and another on the top, this makes it easy to get to your pet.
As I had bought a new cage and now had a spare one I decided upon buying a gerbil for my son, Gerry then took up residence in the more basic cage but he would often be allowed to come out for a run around, and my son made him up a toilet/kitchen roll tube run. This cage suited Gerry fine but still it was very basic.
The door of the basic cage was located on the top and simply requires you to pop it open.

A short while later I decided I really wanted a bird and whilst looking in the local pet shop I saw a beautiful cockatiel, I knew she was the right bird for me so I bought her, at the same time I knew I needed somewhere to keep her, so I bought a large white dome shaped cage, it had some pretty intricate wire patterns over it, and it looked a lot more expensive than it was. This cage was pretty much like the hamster cages except it was round and larger, it consisted of a white base and the white wire dome topped clipped onto the base, it came with two feeding/water trays and little bars for the bird to stand on.
There was a door on the cage which opened/closed in the same way as the ones on the hamster cages, it's just a wire grip that clips into the frame, very easy to open and quite secure when closed.
Ellie Jelly Belly as my cockatiel was named very rarely sat in her cage, she was more likely to be found sat on top of my curtain pole, on my head or bouncing on the back of my sons bouncy chair! She did go in the cage every night however and I felt safe knowing that she was secure.

I had Ellie coming up a year when the following happened -

My cousin was moving house and asked me to take in her cat for a few days whilst she got everything sorted so I thought it wouldn't be a problem. As a precaution I decided to hang Ellie's cage from the ceiling and moved the hamster and gerbil onto a large unit in the living room. I thought the living room was the best place as this was the more secure room, my dining room door was easily opened as it did not have a proper door handle as such, it was more of a push and pull door that popped closed (It's hard to explain!) But my living room door closed securely so that I could keep the cat out of the living room during the night when I was in bed. My cousin didn't know what the cat was like with other animals as it had never been around them so I thought it better to be safe than sorry.
On the second night of having the cat I put the cat out of the living room and onto her bed in the dining room, I closed the living room door and I clearly remember pushing against it to be sure it was closed, and then I went to bed as usual, it was about 11.30pm. I was woken in the night at 3am by what I can only describe as the feeling of someone licking my forehead!!! I instantly knew something had happened to Ellie but I don't know how!
I opened my closed bedroom door and ran down the stairs to find the living room door wide open, Harry's tubes of his cage were eveywhere and my poor bird had died. She was stiff in the bottom of the cage, I just couldn't understand what had happened, I was devastated. She had only gone back into her cage at 11pm, the door was closed and she didn't have a mark on her, Harry was in the drawer of the unit his cage was sat on, and Gerry was fine.
It was all down to the cat, I don't know how she managed to get in the living room but sadly she did and she was swiftly taken back to my cousin the next day even though she said she wasn't ready yet.
I also still do not know what it was that licked my forehead. It was very strange.
Anyway, that isn't about the cages but that is how I lost my beautiful bird.

The basic cage and the bird cage were still in tact but the cage with the tubes had not managed to stay whole as the cat had managed to hit the tubes off, so the cage was then open and Harry was able to get out!
As the cat was back with my cousin, we did carry on using the cage with no further problems for the next three years until poor Harry passed away. He was four years old (or atleast I had him for four years) so I think it was an age thing with him, but he had many hours of fun in that cage!

Gerry passed away the year before, again it was a strange thing, as I walked past his cage he was running around, jumping on his wheel etc. as usual, I went for a quick wee, and when I came back he was stiff in the bottom of the cage, it was like he had been dead for ages! I think there was something evil in that house that disliked animals!

Two years ago my son asked for another hamster and I agreed on the basis he looked after it and took full responsibility for it, he was fine with this idea, in fact he loved it so I went and bought a Rotastak cage. There is such a massive variety available with these, I opted for a basic triangle shaped plastic and wire cage to which other Rotastak cages can be joined on. I loved this idea as I thought it would be a good way for my son to spend him pocket money rather than it being wasted on comics and sweets! However this is still in it's box as at the time we just couldn't find any hamsters for sale anywhere!
They have some in the local pet shop now so I think he may be getting one soon!

At the beginning of the summer holidays we got a puppy, she is a cross breed of Whippet and Jack Russel and is such a naughty little thing!
So far she has ripped up the vinyl tiles in my utility room, chewed/scratched the paint of a corner of my kitchen wall, chewed my new dress *sob sob*, chewed and pinched endless socks and also managed to knock over my kitchen bin and pull the rubbish over the kitchen ... Good she is not!
So I decided the best option for Mookie was to attempt to crate train her, she only does naughty things in the night when we are all fast asleep in bed and whenever we go out without her, I thought with a crate at least she would be secure in the night and when she cannot come out with us, and so far I am very impressed. We got her at 8 weeks old and didn't get a crate until about a month ago and we have had her for 3 months. My hubby was loosing the will to get up in the morning as he dreaded what she had done again and it would cause arguments as she is 'my' dog (especially when she is naughty!) so I got out the big bad book which is the Argos catalogue and decided on a crate from there. Argos have a choice of four different dog cages, small, medium, large and extra large and the prices start at £29.99. We decided on a medium sized cage as we have limited space and if a medium was big enough for her then I would be happy, had it turned out to be too small I would have gone for a larger cage but as it happens the medium sized cage is plenty big enough for her, I think even when she is fully grown it will still have plenty of room for her as we seen her mum and she was quite small and she is fully grown!

The cage we bought came flat packed in a rather slim cardboard box, I had read reviews on the Argos website that complained about the assembly instructions being inside the cage, which they were, however I have put something so basic together. There really isn't any reason for instructions as the cage simply unfolds from it's flat packed position to a cage position. You simply need to put the cage upwards and unfold it, it then clips together easily and is very sturdy. Inside is a removable black plastic tray which is handy as it can be wiped down very easily if the dog has a toilet accident during the night, as Mookie has done! It also comes with a padded 'mattress', one side is a shiny black material and the other is fleecy, it's a decent mattress but at the moment I am using two fleecy blankets as I have a funny feeling Mookie would just chew the bed apart in the night, as she has done with two previous beds!
The mattress is machine washable so that's a good thing.
The cage has two doors, one of the side and one on the front, it is black in colour.

So back to the topic!
I have found the cage to be brilliant for Mookie, since having it she obviously doesn't do anything wrong when we are not around. As it is now her bed, during the day (unless we are out) the door stays open and she can come and go as she wishes, but at night I just say to her ' In your bed girly ' and she hops in and goes to sleep, I then close the door, slide the locks and she's safe and secure for the night, and since having it she seems to have calmed down loads, it's worked wonders for Mookie and I would recommend a cage for any puppy owner.

So in general cages and crates are perfect for keeping your pets safe and secure. They are a must with small furries and there is a massive range of cages available, you can get your basic cheap cages which come in at around £15 or there's fancy one's that look like castles or whatever but they do come with a much higher price tag.

The cages I have owned have been very easy to keep clean and I would recommend these to anyone.

With the smaller animals I have needed to buy sawdust to line the cages and bedding etc. But I think people are aware of this anyway. My first cage came with a small bag of sawdust and a pack of bedding.

Sometimes you may find your small furry animal can escape the cage even though you can see no openings at all. One hamster really had me stumped as it would just escape it's cage all the time, I was given a large three tired cage by a neighbour (I am just remembering this!) and my friend gave me a hamster and it would escape the cage all the time, one minute it would be there happily running around and the next minute it would be gone!
I don't know how it managed it but it did, all the time, the hamster, aptly named - Houdini, got out one day and we never saw him again, it happened when I was having work done in the kitchen and I fear that he may have gone out of the front door, no amount of searching for him helped and I was quite sad when he didn't just turn up again after a few days, I laid out food but it was never touched.
So keep this in mind that some furries cannot even be held by their cage, little escape artists as what they are!

I hope this review has not put you off getting small furry animals, they make lovely pets, and I hope you have gained some knowledge on cages and crates.

Thanks for reading :o) x