baby gates and cats

[catmom]

We are about to get our house babyproofed, and we need to gate off our stairs. However, we have 2 cats who need to be able to go up and down the stairs, and I'm not sure how this is going to work. I know that one of them can't jump high enough to clear a baby gate, and I'm not sure if the other one could or not. One suggestion I read was to install them 4" above the ground so the cats can crawl under them, but I'm not sure that's high enough for our cats. I'm afraid if I install them high enough for the cats to be able to get underneath them, DD will be able to get under them as well. How have you ladies with cats handled this?

[Jenyfer9]

We have two cats and neither one of them ever had a problem going over the gates, so I'm afraid I'm of no help.

[emschwar]

Our cat won't go over gates. One, we leave open when the baby's not around. The other is installed a few inches off the ground because of the baseboards (I can measure if you'd like) and she scoots right under it.

There is a pressure mounted gate at drsfostersmith.com with a pet door in it. The price isn't bad, but I'll warn you, the thing is REALLY tall.

[bluhimmy]

We have 4 different kinds of baby gates around the house. A couple of them, the cat can jump over, and/or get through from underneath. But there's one gate where she cannot clear. We leave that one open at night and when no one is home. I think 4" or 5" is enough for them to crawl through. Also, I think you can only get clearance under the gate if you get the wall-mounted gates. I don't believe it's possible to do that with the pressure mounted ones; at least that's how it is with our 4 different gates.

The other thing I was thinking about doing was placing the scratching post/cat condo or step stool on each side near the gate. But the potential problem I see there is your DD might want to climb or play on it. My DS gets into absolutely eveything, but has no interest in the cat furnitures.

[nancy drew]

we leave the gates open unless dd is running loose in that area and we are unable to give her full attention (like while cooking dinner). they are never closed longer than 45 minutes. and they are only at the top of each flight of stairs, so that may not be a feasible option for you.

[ce_Kathleen]

the way our gate is installed at the bottom of our stairs the wall is on one side and there is a banister on the other. The cats can squeeze between the gate and the banister to get upstairs. When DS is napping or out for the night we leave the gates open.

At my parents' house the cats just jump over the gate (after much whining they learned just to jump over)

[catmom]

Thanks! I am hoping this won't be a problem... it never occured to me to leave them open some of the time.
emschwar: that gate from drfostersmith is a neat idea. I don't think we can use it on the stairs since it's pressure mounted, but it would work really well in our utility room, which is where the catpans are.

[lady1297]

Our cats learned to jump over them, even our klutzy babe (she's broken a few teeth because she can't jump well). But we usually just leave them open when DS isn't running around (naps, night, etc).