Friday, 27 January 2012

A Cagey Tail ........

From the off, I'd decided I wanted a cage for safely containing dogs, be they rescues we are transporting, or our own.

With my recent plans, the cage is to go in between the wheel arches at the back of Nina, with a partition and shelving to be built up around it. I wanted a removeable cage so that it can be regularly cleaned, or left out altogether for extra storage, should I need it.

Building the surround, or 'sleeve' for it to slot into, is relatively easy. I want that to be wipe clean too, so preferrably lined in plastic and sealed.

The cage itself, I had been looking at making myself. We did start off with the idea of using normal fold flat wire dog crates, but these are noisy, and I wanted something that looked and felt more permanent when fitted. I like the design of the Lintran cages, and had intended sourcing materials and making one myself. We had a Lintran cage made for our Vauxhall Combo Animal Ambulance Van, and it cost us well over £600. With that in mind, I reasoned that if I could source the materials for under £200 and end up with almost the same thing, I was on to a winner. Actually building them is easy, once the metal work is welded and plastic welded together to form a watertight seal.

Anyway a couple days ago, Jen had been looking on eBay at cages, and a Lintran cage, very similar to the one we already have, came up for auction. Its dimensions were almost perfect for where I needed it to go, it needs a good clean, and apparently it has a damaged lock on the door, easily cleaned and fixed. Second hand Lintran cages go for around £200 upwards normally, so we expected this one to as well.

Today was the end of the auction, and Jen placed a bid in the dying seconds, hoping to get it for around £140-£150, knowing what they normally go for.

Imagine our surprise, and shock !, when we won it for £56 ! :). An absolute bargain, even with travelling to Northampton to go and get it.

So, Nina has a cage now, and I have definate dimensions to now plan the rest of the partition and kitchen area. Also, I'm saving myself some work as I no longer have to build one from scratch.

Bargain :).

These photos are the ones that the seller used to auction it on eBay ...









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Gloucester

No comments:

Post a Comment