YITAHOME Cat Cage Indoor Cat Enclosures DIY Cat Playpen Metal Kennel with Extra Large Hammock for 1-2 Cats, Ferret, Chinchilla, Rabbit, Small Animals

Great for keeping a wild cat calm and separate from other cats when you can’t supervise them
I bought this because we got a new kitten and he has a horrible habit of biting legs and pouncing on faces and needed a place to cool down when he gets too excited. Also, our older cat isn’t very fond of him, so it allows them to have time apart without our kitten being trapped in an uncomfortable space because we don’t have a room in our house that we could shut an excitable cat in safely.It’s spacious enough that once he’s full grown it will still be comfortable for him and there’s plenty of room for comfy beds and a full size litterbox plus a bowl of water all time, which is important. Also the top door makes it super easy to feed him his food at feeding time without having to fight him to keep him in the cage which is great because our cats eat at the same time, but our kitten always finishes first and will harass our older cat to get her food too. So having him eat in his cage makes everyone safe and happy. He enjoys being in the cage as well and will hang out inside when the door is left open and he goes in on his own for food most of the time if he’s hungry. It’s great and I’m so happy I bought it because it means I can sleep without being attacked and our cats can coexist more peacefully until our boy grows out of the kitten phase. It also helps with being able to do certain things around the house like sweep because he attacks the broom and dustpan and being able to get things out of certain rooms that he’s not allowed in and tries very hard to sneak into. Overall, it keeps everyone safe and happy, and once the weather warms again, he’ll have a lot more time outside of the cage whereas right now he has about half the day in and half the day out, though we’re trying to transition our older cat to spend more time in the upstairs because she doesn’t get into trouble and he can’t get up there, so he’s got most of the daytime to roam the house and just spends the night in the cage. Most of the time he just sleeps or plays with his toys, so we don’t think he minds.I waited to review until we’d had it awhile to see if the construction holds up. I’ve actually owned several of these kinds of things and I use them for my work, so setting them up is very easy for me even by myself and I’m not very big and I have chronic illness. I took a lot of breaks and I was very tired, but it wasn’t hard at all, just a lot of bending which my body particularly doesn’t like.It was super sturdy when I put it together, but I did put lots and lots of the zip ties they provide on all the connection points. Helpful tip: put the zip ties on AS YOU GO because it is not easy to reach in and put ones in the middle and inside the cage in general once it’s assembled. It would’ve been way easier to do that, but I was a bit scatterbrained that day, so I did them all after which was a pain, but they make a big difference in the sturdiness.I’m very familiar with these building pieces and I know how to get them into place where they won’t separate without extreme force, but I also know from experience that stress over time will cause the pieces to separate a bit which can be dangerous in the case of the levels being jumped on. If you put a zip tie in every corner and multiple on the bars and pull them as tight as possible, this basically prevents any separation. Another tip to keep it sturdy: don’t put the doors all on one side because it’ll leave it open to sag and separate around the opening and it’s also hard to reach into the whole cage from one side. BUT keep in mind where you’re going to access the cage the most before choosing the door positions. My mom is physically handicapped and she struggles with bending and I wish I would have put the front door on the second or third level for her to be able to open and close it easier if she needs to because trying to unlock the bottom is not an easy task when you’re tired or it’s dark, but I’m not taking the thing apart now and we’ve found how to work around it.Another thing I will say is that I tried to find an alternative lock to the doors because the ones they provide are just lobster clasps and lobster clasps suck to use especially if you have motor or joint difficulties, but honestly they knew what they were doing. The lobster clasp is the exact size to keep the door from opening at all even on the top and bottom if you lock it in the middle and I could not find anything that did not create a gap (even with multiple “locks”) that posed a chance of my cat getting his head stuck and choking himself or that was significantly more difficult to use than the original clasp. I bought tons and tons of different clips and carabiners, but in the end, the best, most convenient lock, albeit a bit fiddly especially in the dark without glasses on, was the lobster clasps that came with the cage. Maybe if my cat was larger or my family didn’t have so many mobility and joint issues I would be comfortable with one of the options I tried or I’d be able to find something better, but for now the clasp is great at keeping my cat in without being impossible to get the lock on or off.My only real dislike of the cage is just that it’s not terribly easy to clean. My cat had an incident where he vomited all over the top level which was very difficult to clean based on where the doors ended up being and because the open support pieces (metal square frames) create a blockage on the surface of the level, but also leave a groove underneath the frame. Everything is easy to wipe down, but getting the vomit out of all of the grooves was not easy at all. Similarly the open frame pieces made sweeping litter out of the cage bottom difficult, but I am able to get most of it with a handheld vacuum. Ultimately, it’s a small inconvenience that I can work around, so I’m not mad about it at all.Overall, I’m very happy with this purchase and I’m confident that if we make sure none of the pieces shift that the cage will hold up for a long time. The only places I’m worried about are the vinyl pieces which he jumps up and down on, but they seem very sturdy, only time will tell though. This thing has really been a life saver and I don’t think I’ll ever get a cat again without having something like this to make transitions easier and to make sure everyone is safe and comfortable (especially because my mom has a lot of health problems and mobility issues and making sure that the cat is not able to get underfoot or bite ankles means she’s less likely to fall or get hurt when she’s having a bad day). I think this item is great for the price as long as you are familiar with putting these types of things together. It also looks very nice if you make sure the pieces are tight together so it doesn’t sag. A big plus is also that it’s not very heavy in the event you have to move it and it does come with feet pieces to keep it from sliding, though it does make it harder to move on tile.

The tool included to assemble this is worthless
Be sure to have a small rubber mallet to assemble this. The connectors are not very durable, and a regular hammer can break them.It’s held together with plastic connectors and plastic strap ties mostly. They also include these little white things that are meant to be connectors but pop off easily.You will most likely want to buy carabiner clips to replace the large jewelry-type clips they provide for the doors. You will need 4.The top hatch has a very flimsy guard that any kitty can break out of easily. You will want to secure that exit as well. This can accommodate a small litter box no more than 11 1/2 inches wide. The ‘Sfozstra Open Litter Box’ fits perfectly.This was a nightmare to assemble for me. I am happy with it now, but I was not a happy camper building this.It is perfect for our kitten when she cannot run free. She still has some room to roam among the 3 levels. I am ok with my purchase but when need of an indoor enclosure in the future I would not by this one again.