I'd like to put in my $.02 about cages:
 
The cat playpen (made by Midwest, i think) has so far proven to be
inescapable, even with 6 very clever ferrets in it who want out.  The door
design might be useful to those of you who make or resign cages, so I'll
describe it (it's very simple).  The door is a rectangle with a bottom
hinge, so when it's unlatched it swings down and forms a shallow ramp up
into the cage.  When the door swings up to meet the cage, its top overlaps
the cage bars by about 1/3 of its height.  Attached to those cage bars is a
loose bar, hooked to vertical wires on the cage frame at either end, that
slides up and then can be slid down over the outside of the cage door,
securing it.  This makes secure points on the door (which is very stiff wire
as it is) at the bottom and then almost in the middle, guaranteeing 1) that
the ferrets can't push their way out and 2) they dont have the coordination
to move both ends of the securing bar up so that the cage door falls free.
 
     ._____________.    <-- cage door with vertical wires
     | | | | | | | |
    .|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|.   <-- bar, attached to cage frame at dots, slid
     | | | | | | | |        up, then over the top of the door, then down
     | | | | | | | |
     `=`=`=`=`=`=`='    <-- hinged bottom
 
The only possibility for escape would be through the bars, which are set 1"
apart, but the door method would work on almost any cage with vertical
wiring.  Instead of a bar that slides up and down, a bar that is hinged on
one end and that swings shut to clamp over a bottom-hinged door would also
work very well, i think.
 
Melissa
 
 ___ Melissa Litwicki __ [log in to unmask] ___
 By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing
     it after scarfing fork and laughters
[Posted in FML issue 1832]