Hi, Kalee.  We have a wood frame (was it you I emailed all about our cage?)
and I may have forgotten to mention that we used stain on the wood and then
a sealant to protect it and waited SEVERAL days before putting our ferrets
in.  We have had no problems with odor, and the wood is okay for the
ferrets-nontoxic.  All wood surfaces they walk on are covered very well
with linoleum squares (the ramp is carpeted and has a linoleum back) and
the framework has not gotten peed on-it'd be tough for them to do that).
I don't know about the hardware cloth-don't even know what that is; we
use wire mesh with squares that are about 0.5" x 0.5".  You can also put
Plexiglas strips along the edges where the wire meets the wood to protect
ferrets from staples (that's how we attached our wire to the wood frame)
and help keep urine or water from getting to the wood frame.  We really
have had no trouble with the wood frame getting wet or the wood underfloor.
They also have a pretty big, cat-sized litter box with sides that are
about 4" high, so they never even get anything on the floor (it helps that
they're perfectly litter-trained).  It's a pretty big cage.  Hope this
helps!
 
-April
[Posted in FML issue 3377]