Hey, Paula. I travel a LOT and I have learned a bit about the use of
cages. Let me share a bit with you.

I use a cage that came with my fist ferret when I drive. The ferrets
love it and it has always been home on the road. It is all one piece
and does NOT collapse. It is my favorite.

Last year I was traveling with my ferrets and took a SuperPet bottom
half for them. That is the one that was destroyed - totally flew
apart - in my wreck. I had a "My First Home" ferret cage attached to
a wagon. It was NOT collapsible and did NOT fly apart. It did get
squished some and the door popped open. One of the ferrets escaped the
cage and the other was trapped in the bottom. So, my best advice is to
get one that is designed for travel and attaches to the car - I could
not find the links, but someone on the FML talked about them once. And,
personally, I would also use wire ties or clamps to be sure that all
panels of the cages re connected - clips don't hold. Have something
that can't get crushed - like the collapsible carriers here -
<http://www.ferretdepot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=FP298&Category_Code=2Carriers&Product_Count=5>
to put your pets in in the event you have a wreck and the cages are
broken.

Now, I have also traveled with the cages made by Barry Fritz of
Kritter Koncepts <http://kritterkoncepts.net/store/>. And, Skip Martin
of Martin's Cages <http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/ferret/>
I like them a lot. There is room for the ferret to get off the floor,
to hang a hammock and to keep a litter box AND food and water. I like
to put a clip on dish
<http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=17342+17343+19605&pcatid=19605>
on the cage. BUT, I don't really LIKE the ones shown here. I like the
ones that have the little slide on them. And, I learned a trick from
Lori during the Ohio rescue. She uses two plastic pans as litter
boxes, one sitting inside the other. She attaches the bottom one to
the cage and puts the other one inside that. To clean them, lift the
top one out, clean and place back inside the bottom one. They look
like this: <http://www.vannessplastic.com/cat-litter-pans.htm> but are
smaller. I see them in stores like Wal-Mart all the time. To prevent
digging, I put newspaper in them while traveling - paper towels work
too.

Hope this helps. And, happy trails to you.

-- 
Renee Downs
"Eventually we will realize that if we destroy the ecosystem we
 destroy ourselves." Jonas Salk
"The most effective way to do it, is to do it." Amelia Earhart
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if nobody cares who gets
the credit!
Ferret Emergency Response, Rescue & Evacuation Team (F.E.R.R.E.T.)
http://www.ferretemergency.org

[Posted in FML 6517]