caged/free

If I'm on my own I sometimes just bob in to check on the hamsters before I go to bed. Discovering that one cage door was wide open was a bit alarming as the dog was lying in the same room, and they'd been alone for the last 5 hours. That hamster could be anywhere. Rather than panic I shifted the dog into his own cage and began a methodical search of the upstairs of the house, trying not to imagine that I might come across the savaged remains of a dear pet each time I lifted up a dressing gown or whatever. (Having an untidy house is not helpful at times like this.) Like life in general, listening proved to be the answer and I eventually located him in the storage cupboard under the bed in my boy's room. I don't know if I would have spent the entire night searching, but I do know I was mightily relieved to recapture him. I have taped down the bit of the cage he busted out of. I feel a little torn about it tho. I'm really not convinced that the hamster enjoys his life in his cage. To my (untrained) eye he always looks as if he's desperate to get out. I feel my desire to keep my children content blocks out my inner doubt that maybe I'm being mean by confining a hamster. I know he probably wouldn't survive long if I were to liberate him, but would he be happier with that short, unbounded existence??
In thinking about caged existence, I recalled an interesting discussion I had with a colleague many years back. I said I couldn't buy caged eggs for the project, even tho it would cost the project more for us to get free range eggs. She suggested it was perhaps a middle class luxury to be able to afford free range eggs. I am aware that there are principles I'm able to keep to perhaps only because of my middle class privilege. I'm also of the view that everyone's struggle is bound up with one anothers. It might be a romantic and ridiculous notion, but I do think class oppression is also linked to the thoughtless way we treat caged hens, and think it is only good for everyone if we speak up for both at once.
I have my own cages (metaphoric, obviously) and in some ways am comfortable with what I know and the thought of breaking out of them both exhilarates and terrifies me. Where are you caged/trapped? Do you want to break free, or is cosiness a good thing?????