Hello all :)  This is my first post to FML, so I've tried to incorporate a
bit of history in with this.  Sorry if it is long.....
 
We had the same problem with the "Fun-nel" type cage we purchased from
Petland as a Christmas gift for Maxx and Shadow, our guys.  I thought my
husband was crazy when he said Shadow had woke him up by licking his nose.
Neither of the guys ever escaped in my presence, and seemed to get better
about it, so we decided to keep the cage, and even joined it with a two
level cage made by the same manufacturer.  Since we got the cage, a lot
has happened.  We added a delightful two year old girl named Tigger to the
group, adding a bit of delicate gentleness to the rough and tumbleness of
Shadow and Maxx.  In early February, my husband accidentally stepped on
Maxx and ultimately he passed away three days later, and a few days later,
to ease the grief my husband was feeling over the loss of Maxx, we added
Hooper and Meesha, two adorable babies, to the mix.  Shadow began escaping
on a regular basis, and we couldn't figure out how.  Since the new guys
were too little to navigate the tubes and big cage, we were keeping them
separate.  Soon after adding the new guys, Shadow seemed to come down with
ECE.  We were never sure if it really was ECE, or just the stess caused by
mourning Maxx's passing.  As soon as his strength was back up, the escapes
began.  We could never seem to catch him in the act.  It wasn't until one
evening we had put everyone to bed and were heading that direction
ourselves that we caught him.  Before we turned the lights off, we heard
one of them shuffle down the top level tube to get a drink or a bite to eat
and we didn't pay much attention to it till we heard a weird sound and
looked to see Shadow half in and half out of the cage... He was real slick
about it, just shimmied right through.  By just looking at it, your really
don't notice that there is a difference in the space between the bars at
that point, but when you "really" look there is a significant difference.
We discussed possible ways to make it better, because we didn't think the
pet store would take it back after two months of use.  What we did to fix
the problem was to drop the floor of the level above down one slot (or
raise it up one slot, I don't remember) so that the panels cover that
particular hole.  It has worked!  No more midnight escapes here.  We are
now ready to move Meesha and Hooper in with Tigger and Shadow, but we are
still working on the litter training for them.  They are proficient
poopers!  I'm talking MAJOR intake and more MAJOR outgo.  We did a one
night trial run with them all in the cage, to make sure they little guys
could handle the tubes.  That they can do just fine.  Finding the litter
box (which is the entire bottom of the added on cage) was the hard part.
They go there during the day (most of the time) but when they were
confined, they just seemed to think that any corner was appropriate so
there they went.  What a mess we had the next day.  Tigger and Shadow were
appalled.  So, now we are trying to re-think the cage set up, to allow
for a smaller litter area in the big cage hoping that they will use that
instead just going anywhere.  Ahhhh life with fuzzies!!!  Isn't it grand?
I wouldn't trade it for anything!
 
~Tami and Larry along with  Shadow, Tigger, Meesha and Hooper=20
  Not to forget Wesley and Ethan the kitties who really run this joint!
[Posted in FML issue 2625]