So this was bought for a very specific purpose, and served that purpose well, but likely won't survive much beyond that single purpose. I have a 15 year old cat who gets anxious and carsick. And we decided to move to a new city around 3 hours away, and I was the one moving the cat and our 2 year old human child, so stopping on the side of the road or at rest stops was something I wanted to minimize to all extents possible. But this cat has never been in a car more than 15-20 minutes without vomiting or pooping all over whatever carrier she was in, sometimes multiple times and on one traumatic (for all of us) occasion, necessitating a bath at our destination. After a ton of research, I determined that my best bet short of medicating her (which, at her age, her vet wasn't thrilled about, nor was I really looking to add "take carsick geriatric cat to the vet" to my to-do list on a day I'm supervising the packing and loading of my entire house with said cat and 2 year old), was buying a larger carrier and hoping for the best. Now as I said, cat is 15. I was honestly having some doubts about whether the trip might be the end of her, and even if it's not, she won't be taking too many more long car trips, if any, so I was not about to shell out three figures for some Cadillac carrier. I just wanted something that would contain her for the move, fit in my backseat with the car seat, and allow her to not feel claustrophobic for three hours. This thing fit the bill for about $20. Now, it didn't fit the bill neatly. First of all, it never stood up straight when opened. It has a lilt to the side about 20 degrees that I can't figure out how to fix. That didn't hamper it fitting in my backseat, but it does limit its utility as a long-term cat bed or anything like that. The fabric is 100% cheap-as-it-comes nylon. It will not hold up to a scratchy cat, or any type of excitable small dog or anything like that. The zipper barely worked, and the windows are... Let's just say I wouldn't put an animal with any drive to escape in this thing. Thankfully, my girl is docile and just yells when she's somewhere she isn't happy, until she goes to sleep. She's no kind of Houdini and I've seen stealthier donkeys. That said, it popped open easily and stood up, if leaning. I was able to layer several old towels and pee pads in the bottom and she still had plenty of space, and it fit behind the drivers seat in my newer model Forester across one side and the middle. It was a little squished between the door and my son's massive rear-facing car seat, but the door closed and it stayed on the seat (though I drive very far back, and the carrier needed the support of the drivers seat. If you're one of those drivers who likes to chew on your steering wheel, you may need to put it behind the passenger seat and move that all the way back for support). And most importantly, it got her from point A to point B in much calmer fashion than I've ever seen her in the car. She was clearly displeased with her lot in life when I shoved her in (I carried her in my arms from the house to the car, this thing will NOT bear weight, plus it's too big and clunky to try to maneuver with an annoyed animal inside), and she gave me a stern talking-to for the first maybe 20 minutes, then she laid down and went to sleep. I had grand plans of putting a tiny litter box in there with her, but alas, that didn't happen, so when she started yowling about an hour from our destination I pulled over to find she'd pooped. So I just took the top layer of towel and pee pad off, right out from under her, shoved it in a trash bag, and continued on down the road, and there was more than enough space for this maneuver without removing her from the carrier. Once relieved of her bowel movement, she curled up and went back to sleep, and that's how I found her when we arrived at her new home. I never did get it to fold completely again. I got it flat, but not back into the little dinnerplate shape. But whatever, it lives tucked behind a shelf now, and occasionally my son plays in it. If and when it dies, I will not be disappointed. It served its singular purpose with honor and dignity, and I have no complaints. I bought a cheap carrier, I got a cheap carrier, and it performed as one would expect a cheap carrier to perform. For that, it gets a good rating from me.
