Foldable cat baskets?

[cakedup]

I'm looking into buying a foldable cat basket, like these and wondered if anyone had one and if they recommend it.

I like the space saving quality, however, one of my cats is like the devil possessed when made to go into the cat basket and actually broke the current plastic one. Are these quite secure or is there the possibility of a cat going completely mad with it's claws out might make an exit hole?

I use one for the vets and it's fine but she's calm and just does pitiful meows. I only paid about 7 quid though from b&m.

Do they zip? I spent a very entertaining 5 minutes outside the vets a day or two back, watching as five people tried to get an escaped cat into a soft cat-bag, only to have her unzip it again with an indignant claw and ricochet off the walls a bit more.

I have seen cats break out of them on several occasions, they too always seems to sag in on the cat and they always look miserable in them.
If you have s Houdini cat you need a wire top loading basket nothing else will hold them.

Be careful. If you have a small and very docile cat it might be ok. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend them. I've seen quite a few cats break out of them. I've also seen one of mine (yes I tried one too) carefully open the zip from inside.

Our cat was a master escapologist and broke out of his hard plastic basket, we never had a problem with him and his soft basket though. He actually loved it and slept in there so didn't seem to mind when he was in it. The drawback with the one we had was that to fold it you needed to take the rigid supports out which I never did as I was afraid they'd get lost. So it never folded and we didn't save any space!

Oh, and he was a massive, muscular, bruiser of a cat.

I try to think 'worst case' when buying a bigger ticket item like a cat basket - eg long journeys, peeing or pooing in it by accident, airline travel etc etc.

(And never forgetting the time I had to transport one of my mother's cats on a 400 mile journey and the then carrier I had only just lasted the course because the little blighter (only 14 weeks old) spent the entire journey carefully 'deconstructing' the less than robust carrier that we'd bought for him: his claws were just fine at the end of the journey, the carrier was not. )

I think now I'd always buy a decent sized rigid one that is going to withstand knocks and can be washed easily. Do you or eg a close friend or family member have a loft or garage where it can be housed if storage is a problem?

I have got 2 of the top one in your link, OP. It's called small but it's massive, room for 3 standard cats if they like each other . There is an extra-small but zooplus don't do it. I think Pets at Home might have one.

Anyway I've had no problems with teeth, claws or zips but my cats are all fairly small & placid. One of them hates the car, panics & then poos & wees, but the cushion is washable. Neither carrier has collapsed yet, the sides/top are pretty sturdy.

Previously I had rigid carriers & it was way harder getting any cat into one of those. And I love the way these fold so flat.

Seems like it won't be an option for Crazy Cat then.

ProfYaffle I just don't see Crazy Cat going docile in it, he just gets freaked out leaving the house, car journeys, the whole vet experience etc.

Seems like I'll have to get a cast iron one then that takes up lots of space.

Lancelottie I can just imagine that happening with my cat. Well the ricochet bit anyway. I don't he'd bother with the zip, he'd just claw his way out.

I think you're right Lonecatwithkitten, a wire top is the way forward although I've looked on zooplus and Argos and so far no sign of them. My cat was managing to escape through the tiny millimetre gap between the metal wire door and the basket, impossible as it sounds. And he is a big cat!

Type wire car baskets into search engine and you will hundreds I found this one on cages world.

Damn auto correct that would be wire cat baskets