Cage for queens and kittens?

Hi everyone! My FI and I are going to be fostering a pregnant queen and her kittens soon but we only have a 2 bedroom apartment. We were planning on getting a dog crate to put them in in the spare bedroom (locking our other cats out). I was looking for suggestions for a cage that would be big enough to house them while the kittens start growing up but still small enough to make the queen feel safe and secure. Oh yeah, and we don't really want to spend a fortune on it!

I took a pregnant cat last year. I used a cage I ordered from petedge.com(89.99 and shipping and I got a few accesories) it is 2x3x4. Worked well for her pregnancy and when kits were still in the nest-after that I went to target and bought these stoprage cubes-near the closet section. they are 14x14 inch panels and i think it came 25 to a box..I zipped tied them together to make a 4 1/2 cube cage. very cheap and gave them plenty of room. also bought a 20 something dollar cat tree off ebay-it fit in perfect and it was safe for them as it wasnt to high. good luck and great thing your doing. BTW watch the big dog crates as some of the wire spacing might be a bit to large

Originally Posted by jkrodger

Hi everyone! My FI and I are going to be fostering a pregnant queen and her kittens soon but we only have a 2 bedroom apartment. We were planning on getting a dog crate to put them in in the spare bedroom (locking our other cats out). I was looking for suggestions for a cage that would be big enough to house them while the kittens start growing up but still small enough to make the queen feel safe and secure. Oh yeah, and we don't really want to spend a fortune on it!

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I bought a collapsible model metal dog crate for 69.99 at Petsmart. It worked really well....I was able to put a towel over it to give mom and kittens extra privacy. One word of warning however regarding metal crates....once the kittens figure out that they can climb it..they will be like little monkeys.

If you are going to be fostering for a rescue group....ask if they have any crates they can lend you.

Katie

Also check sites like craigslist.com, freecycle.com, yahoo groups for free stuff. Just post something under wanted. I have acquired a sectional, as well as many many dog crates and cages and cat carriers this way.

Thanks, I'll try posting under the wanted. I know the Humane Society will supply us with a crate, but last time we had a litter we were given a big dog carrier with little ventilation and it was VERY hard to clean. Also, even though it was a large carrier, it didn't give the kittens much room to play, and they could only climb up the front of the cage, which means they were extra hyper when they actually got let out. I'll post a pic of their carrier. Plus, I know when spring hits there are going to be tons of queens so I'm kinda tempted to let the HS keep as many of their crates to give out to other people that have no option. We have a little extra money and will be buying a puppy in a couple of years, so if we get a collapsable crate, then we know we'll be able to use it later on, even if we can't foster in our new place next year.

I got a crate from the foster agency that was actually two dog crates wired together. So it is about 2x3 feet on the floor, but about 5 ft tall, so there are two shelves in it for Momma to jump up on to get away from the kittens when she needs a break.

Thanks! I was wondering what to do when Momma needs a break!