Dog cage?

[jopop]

Has anybody used a dog cage as an indoor piggie home?
I rescued 2 sows on Monday and didn’t have a cage for them, I just had to get them out of there! I brought them home and put them in our dog cage for the time being (we don’t use it).
The bars are not wide spaced so they can’t get heads stuck and it has a wipeable hard plastic base. I’ve half covered it with a blanket to help settle them and they have hidey houses too.
I’m wondering... could they stay in this until spring when they can go outside? I know it’s too small 24/7 but wondered if I could attach a pen like this to it during the day while I’m at work? https://www.amazon.co.uk/AVC-Designs-Foldable-Playpen-Enclosure/dp/B01LYX8F2E

I couldn’t leave it on all the time as it’ll be in the way but during day and perhaps overnight I could.
Is this a good idea or not? Total beginner here so please bear with me.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Two sows would need to be housed in a 140cm cage. What size is the dog cage? Attaching a playpen to it is a good idea to increase the space but as long as they will spend most of their time in there with the playpen attached if the cage is too small without it.

 

[jopop]

Two sows would need to be housed in a 140cm cage. What size is the dog cage? Attaching a playpen to it is a good idea to increase the space but as long as they will spend most of their time in there with the playpen attached if the cage is too small without it.

Sorry I meant to state size. The dog cage is definitely too small. It’s 90cm x 57cm. They could have the playpen overnight and during the day. It’s just sometimes I’d have to take it down (eg a bit of weekends) as it will obstruct the patio doors in to the garden and we have 2 kids.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes it’s definitely too small for them to spend any length of time in. They would need the playpen attached all the time. If it was me in that situation, I wouldn’t want them to be in the cage (without playpen) any more than an hour or two. Too small a space can lead to fall outs. I know it’s not quite the same as them living in too small a cage permamently but it is really too small.

 

[Hanlou]

I did this for a while - I did use Correx on the bottom 12” of mine though as I worried about the bar spacing. I had a playpen permanently attached though using C&C grids. It worked ok tbh as a stop-gap.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Hi unfortunately the dog cage is too small. Please see the minimum cage guidelines as stipulated by the RSPCA Cage Size Guide

Please note the minimum size is 120cm not the 140 quoted above. Piggies can squabble in too small a space, before I found this forum I had two sows in a 100cm cage and one kept getting hurt as she was pestering her cage mate and getting pushed off a lot.

The bigger the cage/space you can provide them the better and they will be grateful for it. If it's just a temporary cage and you intend to move them to a bigger outdoor space in spring I would go for a 120. It will then double up as an emergency hospital cage in future (ours lives in the loft until it's needed)

 

[Hanlou]

I should add - the dog crate I used was the largest size you can buy - 120cm wide x 80cm I think. But I still had a playpen attached at all times. The size you mention would be too small, I agree.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes, sorry 120 as a minimum, not 140...I was typing too quickly!

If you intend on them being outdoor piggies, then it is always wise to have a good sized indoor cage spare anyway because you never know when the weather will become too cold for them to be able to stay outside even with the protection required for outdoor piggies. Mine are out in my shed but I keep c&c grids available which are tied together with cable ties so that they concertina up and fold away but can be brought out at a moments notice (together with a plastic sheet and fleece bedding) for an emergency winter indoor cage or summer playpen.

 

[jopop]

Thank you for your advice everybody. I have rearranged the room so we can leave the puppy pen attached permanently
I just need to find a suitable bedding now which is easy to maintain and tidy - bearing in mind this set up it in our family living room.

 

[Claire W]

Sadly it is too small. However, I have the largest dog crate you can buy and when I had outdoor pigs in the winter of 2013 and one of them was poorly, I did move them all indoors in to the dog crate as I didn’t have a spare indoor cage at the time. I did have four piggies at the time so the crate was too small but I built a pen around the crate like to have so they could come in and out as they pleased. I should add that my piggies never did move back out and I brought them a proper indoor cage.

A couple of years before that, temperatures got down to -9 here overnight. It was far too cold to leave them out so I brought them in. Again, we didn’t have another indoor cage as they were outdoor piggies so they had to male do with a large shallow storage box (with the lid off) until temperatures risen.

I would much prefer any piggies of mine to have a bit less space rather than freeze to death

 

[jopop]

Thanks Claire. I have managed to move things about so we can have a permanent pen attached 24/7. In summer they'll go outside but that's a long way off yet so I am trying to sort a nice set up for them in the meantime. I just need to think of what to line the floor with and get a few more toys and tunnels etc.

 

[Claire W]

Thanks Claire. I have managed to move things about so we can have a permanent pen attached 24/7. In summer they'll go outside but that's a long way off yet so I am trying to sort a nice set up for them in the meantime. I just need to think of what to line the floor with and get a few more toys and tunnels etc.

Line the floor with a plastic shower curtain or tarpaulin folllwed by puppy pads and then fleece or lots of hay if you’d prefer not to use fleece. That’s what I did

 

[Reenie]

If the pen gets in the way, you can remove a couple of the sections and make it a bit smaller when you're needing the space, and add them back in when you don't.