I snitched this caging option from a visit to Paradise Gardens Animal Haven in nearby Woodhull, NY.
You take two standard wire dog crates of the same size, fold the back doors in flat on the floor, cover the bottom with towels, and provide attached bowls of food and water for mom, and low bowls for the kittens. The cages are held securely together --back to back-- with plastic wire ties (cable ties, zip ties, etc.) This provides room for the kittens to play. I added a sling in case mom wanted to get away from the kids. So far she has not wanted to.
In this set up, there are doors at both ends, so you can easily clean the cat box, or replace food, and play with the kittens.
To get mom and her babies out of the previous cage and into this one, I placed the plastic lid to the Rubbermaid bin that is her bed right over the top of her and her kittens. And held it SECURELY when I moved the bin from the small cage to the new set up.
SECURELY! :)
Isn't it a great setup? This is the second year I've used it, and it works great. The best way to learn new things is to visit other rescue organizations and shelters.
6 comments:
Harper and Ramona came from Paradise Gardens! How are the shelter doing?
That's why we call H and R our thousand milers, we drove there and back in one day because I saw the kittens on the internet and had to have them.
Worth every mile, we often say. Last night Olof had a stomach ache and Harper spent the night cuddled up to him. He's our Comfort Cat.
How are the shelter, come on Zuleme, speak English!
No way! Really? Did you come to Woodhull, or adopt them when they were in NJ? I had no idea they came from Paradise Gardens! They have an open house in the spring...maybe we should both do vacation sometime and get together?
What a brilliant cage idea, it looks so practical. Also being off the ground must give the feral Mum a bit more security.
We make sure all of our cats are off the ground. We've discovered over time that cats seem to be very intimidated by crouching humans, and they seem to tame up faster when they are at eye level. Since cats like to be "up" anyway, it's a comfort thing. It's also a big help cleaning cages for those of us who are....ummmm...over 40...and crouching ain't as easy as it used to be. :)
We drove to Woodhull when they were just starting up. They had the feral enclosure and everybody else in a barn and a community room.
H and R were only seven weeks old but the vet said the best thing for their health would be to get them out of the shelter. Mom got adopted even before the kittens left! She was a beauty, as you can guess looking at Ramona.
Yes, I'd love to get together sometime and share some stories!
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