Side by Side Comparison of: My1stPet vs MidWest Homes for Pets

Great product. Very sturdy and easy to open. I purchased this for my three cats so that if ever had to evacuate or wanted to take them on vacation. They hate being in individual kennels, to the point of having anxiety attacks and will start hyperventalating and drooling. I purchased the 42" one and all three walked in and checked it out. Fits fine with room for a litter box, and their food and water bowls mounted on the sides. I anticipate that I'll have to drape a sheet to keep too much draft off them from the air conditioner. Others suggested zip tying the divider to the wall to form a shelf for additional space, but we'll see how this works and go from there.

got this for our 5 month old german shepherd. she is growing rapidly. so much more room with the 48" and she can stand up straight with room to spare. I got the largest one at 48" to be safe since we don't know how much she will grow. very happy with the build and size. we keep it in the living room with us so she can hangout when she has rest time. the tray was a little cracked when we received it. I put duct tape on the bottom of the tray and it's fine. I didn't want to go through the return process. this cage is very heavy so I didn't feel like breaking it down again for return.

Sturdy, reliable, easy to setup, versatile safe haven for our two pups. The divider is a must for puppies! I have sense of relief knowing my fur babies can't escaped this well constructed crate. It'll keep them safe and my house from being destroyed. A very well made product for a very reasonable price. The only con if you can even call it that is the crate is very heavy but if you don't plan on moving it much then this is a non-issue. If you do plan on moving it, it will need to broken down bc it won't fit thru a standard door. I would highly recommend this product!!!

We bought this crate to help with house-training our four-month old Golden Retriever, Jax, and it has worked out perfectly. The crate was very easy to assemble, and I love that it comes with a divider. When we first adopted Jax in November 2016, he was a tiny thing, but he has grown considerably in just two months, and it wasn't long before we were adjusting the divider to accommodate his size. I'm sure it won't be long before we have to remove the divider completely, but I have no worries because the size of the crate is true to Jax's breed. I would definitely recommend following the manufacturer's suggestions with crate size. Don't guesstimate what size you will need! The crate is constructed with very sturdy materials, and house-training has been SO much easier. I would recommend it to everyone.

I purchased many many crates for my dogs in the past 45 years, I bought the cheapest and I bought the most expensive. You used to have to get them at the pet store and pay anywhere from $90-$200 for standard great. Thank goodness for Amazon. I just added to my "stable" of dogs with an eight-week-old golden retriever named Bentley. Now he's just a little guy weighing in at 12 pounds but he will get bigger. Right now he fits in a small crate and I mean fits. He can get in it but he can't lay down or turn around. I needed to get him a crate he can grow into so I went online to Amazon and looked around. I saw my old friends Midwest who stood by me with durable crates during my dog show days. They always made a sturdy crate out of heavy-duty material that was well engineered and well put together. It's been a few years since I bought a crate and a few things have changed. Pretty much now everybody offers a folding crate that wasn't so back in the day Midwest was one of the first to offer that feature and they did it well and they still do. They have a variety of sizes more so than most manufacturers so I chose the middle middle size which is a little bigger than other manufacturers middle size. Some of the features I like was this one has double doors, one on the side and one on the end. Each closes and locks sturdily and securely with two hasps on each door. Nowadays the bottom tray is made of plastic instead of steel so with a little lighter and more resistant to corrosion and easily cleaned. I ordered this crate and it came promptly from Amazon as I am an Amazon prime member. It was packaged well and arrived without damage and I had it set up in less than 5 min.. The only problem was the location where I was going to use it was against a wall and the doors were all wrong. Well I solved that by swapping the ends by bending back four hooks on each end, then squeezing them tight again to finish up, this took all of 3 min. to do in my crate or I should say that Bentleys crate was ready to go. One of the big advantages of having the second door is that when I wanted to introduce Bentley to crate I left both doors open so he could wander in and out at his leisure. I placed a few toys and water bowl in their as well as a wee wee pad and some bedding. He was curious and wandered in and out. I will admit however, the first night he was full of screams and barks and crying for most of the night. It was his first night in a crate. The second night I placed him in the crate and he laid down and was quiet until early morning. When he saw me and heard me moving around a little bit he started vocalizing so I took him out. The Crate also comes with a divider so you can change the size as your dog grows. At this point I'm not even using divider and giving Bentley full run of the crate. I am really glad that Amazon is selling these and the price is phenomenal. If you go to a pet store I'm sure you will easily over $150 for this crate or poorly made imitation. I really recommend Midwest and I think you'll be very happy with the quality and the operation of this crate. if you're a first-time buyer, check the AKC standards for how big your dog will be, then buyer accordingly. Don't buy too small as you will have to buy bigger later on. I give this five stars I love it I know you will too and it's recommended buyIf you found my review helpful please click yes on the button below I really appreciate your support for that I intend to leave reviews to help others make decisions prior to purchase taste upon my recommendations or disclosure and I utilize your reviews to help me with my purchases as well. my reviews are honest factual and accurate thank you

It works! He's trapped!! =D

It's a well made good cage for containing a large breed dog when you need to or for training them as puppies. I'd give it five stars except for one thing - my Rottweiler, who is one and a half, managed to push the door open and squeeze out. Not really the fault of the manufacturer, my pup is a bit of a brat lol. She saw a very big spider and decided she had to eat it (I live rural and we have giant spiders :( ). I was still surprised she managed this being she is 85 lbs, but, I think she is the exception and it never happened again. There's nothing wrong with the cage - easy to pop up and assemble and move around, not very heavy. I actually have 2 of the same.

This was once of those products you think " how can it be 1/2 price of retail and bee good"Well this one is one of those it constructed very well fit our new Chinese Shar Pei puppy which was the dog it was intended to hold, but will also fit my full grown male chocolate lab, snugly but he fits.The tray at the bottom pulls right out for easy clean up and the metal bars seem to have a coating on them that even my puppy has not managed to chew through yet.Took off one star as when i received it it seemed a few of the bars in manufacturing were bent up and they were easliy fixed but not a big deal at all i would def but this cage for any animal about that size of my Shar Pei to a Lab

This is higher quality than the other crates we looked at. The metal is thicker and the bolts are heavier. But the bolts are hard to close, I have to force them shut. And the divider was a pain to get in. But now that it's in I'm really glad I went with a crate that came with a divider becuase I can make my puppy's area the perfect size for her now and it will grow with her. I like the double door option for putting it in the back of my car. It does have handles, but it's too large and awkward to carry unless you take everything out, fold it up, and then reassemble where you want it. This feature is nice to bring it along for trips though. Overall I'm glad we bought this, only wish the bolts were easier to close.

Got the 36" crate for an absolute steal ($37) versus how similar ones were priced at local stores ($70+), so am overall extremely pleased. Before purchasing, I had been concerned about what locking mechanism the crate actually had (some reviews mentioned different ones), as the first Midwest my puppy used had a 'latch' that she eventually learned to pop under and out to open. This features two sliding bolts, although honestly I'm not sure it's any more secure...Probably one of each would be best. I use a carabiner clip for additional security when I leave during the day.My only other concern about the build quality is that the sliding bolts have already started to rust/corrode (after about 6 weeks) for no apparent reason (as in, I only use it indoors). Or just that the black finish is wearing off; regardless, it leads to a bit of 'stick' while opening and closing.

Ordered this crate to replace some older ones. The pan is relatively sturdy and doesn't make a lot of noise when the dog moves. Wire is strong and the crate folds and sets up easily. The two doors provides options for placement of the crate, whether in the house or in a vehicle.I really like it except for two minor issues. One is that the metal 'clasp' meant to hold the panels together when you fold it up sticks out. I kept stepping on it. If I pushed it inside the crate, it poked the dog. The clasp sticking out also made it so you couldn't put another crate flush next to it. Eventually we pried the clasp off - the bummer being when I do have to fold it up it won't be there to hold it together. I've had other folding crate in the past where the clasp was not an issue.The other issue is that the little sliding bars on one door don't line up perfectly, so I often have to jiggle and push to get it to slide into place.I would still recommend this crate as an affordable, quality item.

Having raised and cage trained many dogs from pups, we've usually given the bulky cages away after successful house breaking. We found this to be the best we have owned over the years because:1) Cage is very sturdy. Others we have used have had much thinner and more easily bent wire.2) Two doors. Inevitably you need to place the cage in a position where a side door is needed.3) Divider to constrain puppies. A divider is the way to train a small pup, limiting their ability to relieve themselves to only where they rest. They get it much more quickly. In every other situation, I built my own divider out of plywood. This would have saved me construction time and readjusting as they grew. Another suggestion - Don't use towels or blankets that might absorb urine during taining. Once or twice and your dog "gets it." Introduce a blanket or pad only after they are trustworthy in the crate.4) Best fold and setup of any cage I have owned.5) Price. Checked out three big box pet stores. This was a better value for all the items above at a lower price.6) Liked the plastic tray for our situation as our dog is house broken and not a chewer. Think a metal insert might have been better for pups.Cons:1) Rough spots on wire end edge at doorways. I used a fine file to smooth out the sharp edges I found on several wire ends. The manufacturer should have done the same smoothing they used on the corners at the door openings.2) Clips not fully closed. There are metal clips that act as hinges for set up and fold down. Several were not completely clamped close, again making an unsafe edge for you or your pet. A pliers made quick work of that problem.I really wanted to give this product a five. But I just felt the slight safety issue was significant enough to mark it down to a four. No blood should ever be spilled by either pet or owner.Update: The manufacturer contacted me via Email on this issue. Manufacturing mgmt wanted the date code off the unit to remedy the problem I am very impressed by their followup and attention to Amazon comments!

It has been about 20 years since my last purchase of as dog crate. The fasteners for the panels were becoming weak, so this purchase of Midwest's intermediate weight crate. I avoided the heaviest model because of price and buyer complaints. The good: The price. Less expensive than similar ones in pet supply stores and outlets. Free shipping from Amazon. Comes with a free divider. The bad: Compared to my old crate this is chintzy, with the crate wires much more thin than my 20 year old one. I found it prudent to reinforce the panel fasteners with cable ties. If you have a large, aggressive dog, look for a more robust crate.

We got 3 of these to start crate feeding our cats. Two assembled fairly easily. The first was pretty easy and nothing took much pressure to stick. It also meant it was less rigid so I wouldn't trust picking it up and moving it with one hand. The second took a bit more pressure but feels sturdy. The third took two of us, lots of grunting and some pliers. We will never fold that one back down.So far, they've stayed in the same spot we set them up and have been serving their function since.

We bought this crate for our newest family member and in comparison to the Top Paw, life stages type cage we already have, I don't care for this one as much. Both are sturdy and well made, both are collapsible, both have side doors, but the biggest difference lies in the locking mechanism for the door (front door in this case, as we don't use the other door for either crate). With the Top Paw, the latching mechanism involves a slight lifting of the door to drop it into a series of latches along the edge of the opening. With a handle on the top of the door, this is quick and easy. With the MidWest crate, latching the door involves sliding two, separate, pins into corresponding latches on the frame of the door. These are a pain! You're trying to keep a puppy contained in the crate while attempting to slide these pins into the latches. Because the whole crate has some play in it (it is collapsible), you have to simultaneously pull the frame toward you as you try and press and slide the pin in (yes....the crate is correctly assemble...it comes pre-assembled, you just "unfold" it into shape). Bottom line, the crate is fine, but if I need to buy another one, I'm going with the "one hand" latching design of the Top Paw crate. The Top Paw crate was bought at a local, big box, pet store.

We got this crate for our 30 lb Dalmation/ Border Collie/ Boxer Mix dog. the Crate is pretty good overall. But our dog has gotten it open a few times, I wish that the locking mechanism was better on the crate, it is just a simple slide that the dog can wiggle open after a little time in the crate. overall we are pretty happy with it, give the dog enough room to move around a little bit, and it seems to be made of good material. I would give more stars but our dog has really mastered opening the door with our us using carabeeners to keep it shut while we are out.

I ordered this dog crate for a three-year old rescue dog that we recently adopted. I came to hear about MidWest Homes for Pets from my sister, who purchased a 42" crate for her dog. She had no complaints and said the price was good, so I followed suit and ordered one for myself off Amazon. I chose to go with the slightly more expensive Life Stages model - 36" size with 2 doors.I was very excited to try this crate out as my dog is really in need of a place to call "home" (instead of our couches or beds). My wife and I constructed the crate quickly, which we were pleased with. The quality of the metal seems to be very good and I did not find many (if any) sharp edges on the bars like I had seen some people complain about on their crates (whether from MidWest or another brand). The front door is very solid, creates a nice seal at the front, and the latches are well-made.The one (potentially major) downside that I have with this crate is the side door. I wanted to get a side-door for various reasons - I'm trying to make the crate look more "inviting" for a dog who does not like crates, I want to more easily place his food dish in the "back" of the crate for him to eat, etc. However, the side door does not illustrate the same superior quality as the rest of the cage. It does not create a very tight seal when closed and the latches didn't quite line up correctly. My wife and I had to do some manual adjustment on the door to get it more to our liking - this just involved brute force bending and pulling.Even after the extra effort and modification, there is still a gap on the bottom-right of the side door between the door and rest of the crate. I am fairly concerned about this gap because I don't want my dog trying to stick his paw out (he's shown a tendency to claw at crates) and get it stuck. I noticed that my sister's crate has the same detail, so I'm wondering if it's by design. This isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me but I will be trying to bend that part of the door to create a closer seal. I also plan on contacting MidWest to see if this is expected or unexpected on their part.

I am writing this review after 6+ months. First of all I have two of these, one for each dog. Both are lab mixes. Neither can be trusted alone in the house with no humans. The older one has seperation anxiety and pees. The younger is less than a year old and chews everything. What I like: no one has escaped, the crates fold easy, the trays are easy to remove and hose off. The extra partition to make the crate smaller for the grow with me experience is kind of cool. What I don't like: the coating is coming off the metal around the latches resulting in metal corrosion, one of the cheap plastic handles already broke from carrying a folded crate. What suprised me: the puppy has already eaten two crate trays. I have no idea what to put in there that will be liquid proof and can't be chewed. If you have a chewer, be warned that the tray will not survive.

I am not happy with the quality of this crate. It seems a flimsy and one of the locks on one of the doors does not work because it is not aligned properly. I have a crate from Crate Appeal that is much better quality. Unfortunately, I needed a crate with a door on the long side due to reconfiguration of my furniture and Crate Appeal does not make a 2 door crate, I chose this crate due to the reviews on Amazon as well as other sites. But all I can think is--if this is the best, what must the others be like. I wonder if they even compared this with the Crate Appeal crates or ProSelect crates (which seem to make the Crate Appeal crates). I'm not sure that I will be keeping this crate.

5 stars for Amazon customer service. I gambled by ordering something like this online, and I lost. I should have paid the extra at the pet store. This arrived and was obviously opened/used, though I had ordered a new one. The staples were all ripped out and the box heavily taped to re-close it. The crate was warped and dented throughout, in places it looked like it had been kicked by an elephant.In spite of the damage, we were able to assemble it to get an idea how it would work. Seems like the unit itself is pretty well designed. I have no idea what kind of impact/s it was subjected to, so I don't know if the metal is flimsy. A hard enough impact will damage just about anything. The undamaged parts seemed sturdy enough- but the puppy isn't here yet, so I don't know. I could tell that this size will be PLENTY big enough for a full-grown female German Shepherd.Glad I'm a Prime member. Customer service was great, offering to ship me a no-charge replacement immediately and have the item picked up from our home. Can't complain about that. I think this item will be good, if I can get one that's not damaged!

I have purchased Midwest Crates before and have been satisfied, however this one seems cheaply made and lower quality than any in the past. The latches on one of the doors barely make it past the closure, so much so that a slight rattle on the cage can jiggle it open. This is due to the uneven assembly of the hooks/joints that hold the crate together. The door just doesn't hang right! It took a screwdriver and a hammer to get the thing adjusted so it would latch securely. Two of the rubber rollers that make it easy to slide and keep your floors scratch-free came off as soon as I nudged it onto the carpet. Just overall a cheaply-made, low quality product.However, it gets an extra star because the plastic pan is very sturdy and the kennel is accurately sized.

It's a good product now, but we had a nearly traumatic experience on our first night with our new dog. While crate training, he freaked out, as puppies do when new to their crates. He was sticking his head all around trying to get out. He was able to stick his head through the grates at the top, and got stuck -- had we not jumped in right away to free him, he would have choked right there in the crate. We learned to put lots of heavy objects on top of the crate so he couldn't poke his head through, but we were absolutely shocked at how easily he could get his head stuck like that. Posting this review so the same thing doesn't happen to anyone else!

I bought two of These cages & I was very disappointed, they broke with in 6 months or less & My golden retrievers where only 4 to 8 months old & they love being in there crate at night but for some reason these ICRATE'S broke very quickly. I called Midwest & they upgraded my crates at a cost to me after they saw the picture. I am happy with Midwest's customer service but very unhappy with the crates. My new crates are much stronger so I would recommend if you have questions about the gauge of wire used you call Midwest first.

We ordered MidWest Crates because over the past 27 years raising and showing dogs, they have held up the best. Well made. However, in shipping these 2 to us through Amazon Prime, they both came in one huge box that was so bulky that the FedEx carrier could barely get it out and to the door without some maneuvering. When we unpacked it, the crates were in their original boxes but the bottom box was severely damage BEFORE shipping. Huge gapping hole was taped over with clear shipping tape. It would not come out of the it's box, so we had to cut it away and then saw why it wouldn't come out. The whole one side of the frame and siding were badly bent. If you know how well built these crates are, you will know that it took alot of pressure to bend the whole side. Needless to say we could not even open the folding crate it was so locked up. The box is not fit to ship back so we will not be able to use it. We recommend NOT ordering items like this from Amazon. This is not the first time this has happened, shipping already damaged items. Not a good testimony Amazon and Associates.

The box was in horrible shaped could see it has been returned with the holes and stickers ripped off. Got the box opened and the package for the handle was opened so the parts were everywhere. The crate itself was bent and full of grass. It was clearly used and returned and sold as new again. As a amazon lover I am very disappointed. Ring worm and other diseases are very common and contagious in dogs.

We have had this crate for a while now & my puppy has almost annihilated it! When we first adopted our beagle/visual mix, a friend gave us their airline approved crate to keep her in. But(being plastic) she ate a hole in the side of it. So we bought this crate, thinking it would be sturdy enough to hold her. She was about 6 months old, medium size, The 1st time we put her in it she figured out how to slide the bottom pan out. The 2nd time, she collapsed if on herself. So we put zip ties every where to the fore mentioned from happening. Then she broke the latch right off!

They obviously have no quality control at MidWest. The top of the crate (the only side I checked) had several very sharp and jagged edges at the joints where the wires were joined together. Before I realized there were sharp edges I cut myself. I began to mark the areas and after finding four such areas I stopped counting and marking. Didn't check the sides or bottom. Packed it up and am sending back. Won't buy from MidWest again.

This was a great Kennel... until my german shepherd ate it. It was fine when he was a puppy, but now that he is almost grown (10 months), it does not measure up. He also just broke the second tray. I would not say he was destructive, at least he doesn't act that way when I'm home, but apparently, he is anxiously attached and doesn't like being left alone... or just doesn't like being behind bars. I hate to see what would have happened if we had gotten the lighter weight kennel.

My dog destroyed the front of the cage in 3 weeks. The welds broke and the front door is no longer attached. He is a 50 lb boxer. I have had multiple crates and dogs in my life and never seen one break like this. The welds at the bottom broke on both sides of the front door.I don't believe I can return it since I do not have the original packaging and retuning an item this size will cost more than simply buying a new cage. But at least for me the quality of this item was very sub par.Update: After looking closer it is a design flaw (in my opinion) at the bottom where the front is spot welded to the cage. It is a small weld that is begging to be broken. And since the tray is designed to slide out the front, there are no other supports (like there are in the back). Once one weld is broken, the other is not far behind. Our dog is very curious, and so YMMV.

The crate FINALLY arrived, and I really needed it. But it was horrible- the entire front panel did not line up, and I could not slide the part through that was supposed to keep the door closed, and one side did not meet the other side by about an inch. A session with a hammer got it to where if I try hard, I can get it to close, but I shouldn't have to do that.Midwest is ordinarily a name I trust. What happened?