Hi everyone,
 
I have seen several posts recently about dangerous cages.  As far as I'm
concerned not only may they be dangerous, but they have little room for
romping about.  Not to mention it is difficult to separate litter, food, and
sleeping areas.  I have what is commonly refered to as a Kitty Condo made my
Mr. Pet, and it is very similar to the Midwest Ferret cages.  Because it was
designed for Cats it came with 2 carpeted shelves.  Before it was modified
we had a visiting ferret who decided to climb up the inside of the cage, and
he managed to get his toe wedged in the corner where the panels come
together.  He started screaming and when I ran in to see what was wrong, he
was hanging from the cage by his toe.
 
What I did to modify the cage was:
Cut 2 (1/4 inch) plywood panels to fit inside the cage.  Cut "doors" in each
one.  Covered the plywood in contact paper.  Screwed in three "L hooks" on
each end of the panels so that they would rest securely on the sides of the
cage.  These hooks are the same ones used on the carpeted shelves.  Below is
how it was all put together.
 
____________________
|                   |
|        ------     |
|_______|______|____| <----- Top homemade shelf.
|       |      |    |
|       |------|    |
|___________________| <----- Middle homemade shelf.
|                   |
|shelve   -------   |
|        |       |  |
|     shelve     |  |
|________|_______|__|
 
 
       (note) the top door has access to both top levels and the bottom
       door allows acess to the rest of the cage.  This is important if
       you have a sick or injured fuzzy that you have to get to.
 
This plan has worked well for my boys.  I don't remember what the cost was,
but it is just one piece of plywood, 2 rolls of contact paper, and 12 hooks.
Anyways, might just be one more idea for folks to try.  I personally would
love to have one of those Kritter Kages, but thats a whole lot of raisens.
 
Jill Whitfield
[Posted in FML issue 2200]