Dog Crate Help – Problem Solved!

[Colie]

 So, due to some financial constraints I am moving to a smaller apartment.  (Don’t worry we have plenty of vet money and all that!! Especially after the move)  Anyways, my landlady will allow Moose and Dale to live in our giant bathroom (something like 6’x7′), but Torri unfortunately does not get along with them so she needs her own enclosure.  The landlady is requiring that Torri be in a “real” cage, so no pens or cubes.  We have a limited amount of space as well, but Torri will be free range whenever we are home, which is at the very least 16 hours out of the day, so I am hoping she will be okay.   No cages are really large enough, but we found a 48″ x 30″ crate for her.  

Does this sound like an okay set-up for Torri?  Any tips from members on converting it to be suitable for bunnies?  Torri was spayed yesterday and in a month or so we had been hoping to get her a friend, but now I am not sure if that is fair considering how small her new cage will be, any thoughts on this?  There is also a chance, my landlady will come around to the idea of Torri free-ranging in the kitchen after they get to know each other.

 

Torri has a cage she really loves now and is really enjoying all of her out of cage time!  Thanks for the help!

[Monkeybun]

I think someones bun lives in a dog crate right now with a shelf put in it.

[Colie]

Thats a good idea, that would definitely add to square footage and give her some more jumping exercise up and down.

[KatnipCrzy]

I use a dog crate and I have a shelf added to it- I made the shelf out of Coroplast cut to size and then used 3 dowels that I cut a notch out of- to lay flat on the bars so I could lay the shelf across it.  But Griffin is such a little snot and was knocking it off all the time (Cotton or Schroeder never did that) that I had to cable tie the dowels in place and then he was still goofing around with it so I had to cable tie the Coroplast down to the dowels.

Once I came downstairs and he had knocked the dowels and Coroplast around so that he was stuck in about a 6 inch wide space that the Coroplast was keeping him in at the back of the cage.  Serves him right- but I “Griffin proofed” it now.

I think dog crates in general can make much better bunny cages that a traditional rabbit cage- I like that it is secure and folds down so it is out of the way when not in use.  I prefer pens- and when Griffin gets more mature and more littertrained I will try to switch him to a pen (as long as he does not jump out- he has long, long legs).

I tried to use the divider that comes with many crates (for crate training growing puppies) but I was not able to use it in a way that I was comfortable with at all.  I was afraid if the Coroplast moved that Griffins foot could fall thru the slats and that he could break a leg.  So I would recommend using dowels or something else as support and then using a solid piece of something like coroplast or even wood if it is cable tied into place.

If you need to see some pics for ideas- just let me know and I will take some pics showing the set up.

[Colie]

That sounds like a great way to make a shelf! Thank you very much.

[jerseygirl]

Now that she’s spayed do you think you might try bonding her to Dale and Moose. (I’m still remembering that pic of her squished up alongside Dales pen!).

[Colie]

Well… I am sure she would love Dale. However, come to find out first hand (Torri jumped into their pen somehow) and from Moose’s previous owner, Moose hates other females, so I am not all that confident they will be housed together. Particularly after Moose tore apart Torri’s ear (in the pen incident) She was in and out of the vet’s with several abscesses and now she is not very trusting of Moose. Of course, never say never!

[jerseygirl]

Oh gosh! I’m sorry to hear that. Poor little thing! Perhaps her own little friend then….down the track.

[Colie]

I felt so bad for her, but she did pull through, tough little bunny that she is. I am thinking I might just have 2 sets of 2.

[skunklionshow]

I like ferret cages…if your bunny isn’t so big.  We had about 3 of varying types/sizes in our pet therapy program and they worked great.  They had varying shelves and were officially cage-y, which met the needs of custodial staff.  At one point I had an AWESOME bunny cage that was on casters and huge.  Actually much bigger than the home-made condo/cage I have now, but too big for my apartment.  All our cages were bought 2nd hand on craigslist for substantially low prices.

When we first moved Jessica into our home she lived in a dog crate (medium to large size).  I eventually built on top of the crate w/ the cube thingys.  I kept the original crate as the base for the rest of the condo.  I still have that original crate and built on the sides and on top.  I guess i’m just about the recycling.

[Colie]

I have looked all over for suitable ferret cages and none were wide enough! I have been surfing craigslist a lot though in hopes of finding a suitable cage. My landlady actually put down our idea of the dog crate. The biggest “cage” I could find that meets her criteria was 47″ by 24″, but she will be free range most of the time. BTW, Torri is done growing according to the vet and is 4.5lbs.

[skunklionshow]

What about cat/kitten cages?  They usually have multi-levels and are bigger than dog crates.

[Colie]

My walls all slant at 30″, so anything taller than that does not fit into my apartment!! I have the oddest constraints ever for cages! That is a good idea though if I do find any lower level ones. Torri already has a cage though, like I said in my last post. She adores it. When she has her out time (which is all the time) she hangs out in her cage to rest still and hops back in willingly when its time for me to go to work.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Or a ferret cage maybe?

[Colie]

Ferret cages are tall with smaller floor space, so Torri’s cage is actually more more suitable for her than the ferret cages we looked at, and we looked at a ton!! But she already has a cage that she loves, so it worked out well.

[Beka27]

Exactly what are your landlady’s criteria and what are her concerns?

[Colie]

She wanted Torri in a cage and then the cage needed to fit in our kitchen and our whole apartment has sloped ceilings that start about 30″ (or less) up from the floor, so we also had some height constraints.

[Beka27]

Oh so it’s a height issue, I see. Do you have a laundry room or linoleum utility room that would work?

[Colie]

I don’t have either of those options. I had wanted her to free roam the kitchen, but the landlady says she has to be in a cage unfortunately.

[Boysclub]

catnip, please post pics of the dog crate. i have stu and onyx in a dog crate but they have a 10ft x 4ft funning area they are always open to. the crate is just their escape and i have been trying to figure out how to put a level in it to use more space!!!

 

there is a not soo good pic of their space and you can see apart of the dog crate, the black steel

[Colie]

Okay, an update on Torri’s cage. While it has been working well for Torri to free-roam all of the time except when we are out of the house and Torri seemed satisfied with her cage, I decided to rent a studio apartment in my building for an extra $150/month so that we could move our living/sewing room downstairs and Torri could have room for a nice big NIC cage where the living room was. She will have to share her room with the rats though, so she’s not tooo spoiled.

A big thank you to everyone who helped me out with Torri!!!

[Author]

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