Pets and Safety Gates

My in-laws have two cats and the gates go up whenever we're over. They don't have any problems getting where they need to go unless they're being lazy about it.

Thank you so much for asking this question. My daughter is onlly 7 weeks old, but already I have been wondering how deal with this issue. I just found a great gate on Dr's Foster and Smiths website. Maybe this work will for you too. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=...

I too had the same problem. I was able to find a pet door for the cats that was intended to be installed into the door accessing the basement. I found this at Pet Co. As for the top of the stairs we installed the gate a little higher.My son could put his legs under it a bit, but not a problem. The cats had the option of going under or over the gate. The gate I found in a catalog, 1st steps, had a battery operated motion sensor light on it. This worked out great for the animals as well as when anyine was up and trying to navigate the dark hallway. Good Luck!
P.S I have seen gates in catalogs (DR. Foster and Smiths...,I think) that have pet doors installed into them. It will keep the dogs or children behind while allowing smaller animals or cats to pass thru...just a thought

I have three kids, two cats and a dog. I still use safety gates. I use the "top of the stair" gates that get mounted to the wall. They are raised a little from the floor just enough that the cats can squeeze under but my kids can't fit under. There are also small pressure gates that you can get that your cats should be able to jump over. Good Luck.

Hi B.,

My cousin has safety gates up in her house and her cats just jump over them. I think your cats will be fine. You may want to lift them over it the first time you put them up so they know it is OK to jump over.

J.

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my cats have never let the baby gates stop them, even when i wanted them to! even my fat cat can haul her buns over the gate when she needs or wants to. the cats will be fine, your first concern is to keep that bby safe. i wouldn't get one with an opening that your child could get through, or into and get stuck. good luck!

B. -
We have been using a baby gate for at least 9 months now and our 6 yr. old cat has no trouble jumping over the gate whenever he chooses. They shouldn't have any problems, especially when it comes to food or litterboxes!

Your cats will be able to jump over the gates. It should be fine to put up the gates.

Hi B.. I have pets as well and while we didn't really come up with any options for the dog, we did for the cat. For the dog, we constantly just moved gates as she wanted through. For the cat, we raised the gates about 6-8" off the ground, enough where the baby could not possibly fit through, but the cat could. It worked very well. There was one gate though that she always just jumped over. Best of luck.

Hi B.,
We also have a cat who's litter box is in the basement. Our son is now walking, so we decided to put a latch on the top of the door that he can't pull it open enough to go down, but we can leave it open enough for our cat to get through. As for the jumping over the gates, our Cat can. The other thing we did at the bottom of our stairs was to put the gate high enough that she can fit under it, but our son can't. Hope this helps.

I have had saftey gates at the bottom of my stairs and had one at the kitchen door frame. and my cat had no problem jumping over. Just make sure the gate is sturdy. I used the adjusting ones that are wood frame/plastic mess for the gate. Hope this helps. The one gate is still up and my youngest grandchild is 6.

Hi B.,

We put up baby gates to keep the dog out of certain areas of the house. Our cat who was quite fat and inactive when we put up the gates had no problem jumping over them. Your cats shouldn't either.

Hi Brook! You can use a regular gate, but just put it up off of the floor a few inches. It will still be sturdy, but the cats will fit under it. Just don't leave enough room for your daughter to fit and you'll be fine. We have done that and it works just fine. Good Luck!
A.

Hi B.,

I have 4 cats ranging in age from 9 years old to kitten. They all can either jump over the gates, and the skinnier 2 can squeeze through the bars. I even saw the fat one squeeze through once and it wasn't pretty!!! I have 2 really big cats and they have no trouble jumping over. Occasionally they act like they can't because they want it moved for them. My cats all figured out on their own, and very quickly how to get themselves over the gates becuase they were fleeing the pursuing baby.

HI Again, I just noticed someone saying to make sure your cats are declawed. I have 2 kids 3 1/2 and 1, 4 cats. The cats are NOT declawed. My youngest has never been scratched, my oldest never got scratched until he got older (3) and at that point he knew very well how to treat the cats gently. My cats stay away from the kids for the most part, not the kitten she is their best buddy and plays with them and endures all the manhandling - it's amazing. But, I wouldn't just run off and chop the poor kitties fingers off just yet. Teaching the little on how to gently pet is fairly easy, and most cats are smart enought to take off at first sight of pursuing baby. I worked as a vet tech for years while I started veterinary school, declawing is the equivalent of amputating their toes at the middle knuckle, very painful! Now, if you run into trouble with them cohabitating safely then you have to make the best decision for all of your family memebers, I just don't think anyone (especially a NON-CAT owner) should be advising you to do it just beacuse your child is becoming mobile. Many cats and kids coexhist peacefully!

Our cat had free reign of our house for years before our son was born. At first kitty didn't want to jump over the gates but he did. He adapted very well to the new restrictions. Don't worry your cats will be fine.

I have two children and two cats...I had the cats before the children and my furry little freeloaders make it just fine over the baby gates to get to their food, water and litter box. I've always lived in multi-level homes and baby gates at the stairs will only limit the cat to one floor of the home if they are too lazy to jump over the gate or crawl under it.

Now, about the person who suggested you declaw your cats, don't do it unless you really feel it's necessary. There is a general consensus among feline veterinarians and they all agree the declawing is cruel: it's the equivalent of cutting off a human's finger at the first knuckle. You don't HAVE to declaw your cats to protect your children.

My cats have not been declawed and yes, my oldest cat (10+ years) has scratched both of my children only once: the children learned to quit following the cat under the furniture and tormenting him, and the cat got a swat himself. After that, my cat pretty much went back to ignoring everyone in the house except for me.

Hi B.,

We also have two cats. Even my older cats could get over baby gates when the kids were younger. Our litter box and food is in the basement off of our kitchen as well. The previous owners of our house installed a cat door on the basement door and except for the very skittish cat we adopted as an adult from a shelter all of our cats have used the door with out a problem. Taking the actual cat flap/door off and letting them go through the hole worked. The previous owners also installed a lock on the door. I always thought this was a great solution for the situation since the basement is unfinished and the stairs were enough to give any mother nightmares.

K. L.

We had our cats before our kids, and we still have 4 cats. We raised one gate enough so that the cats could crawl under it but not the kids; and for the other gate, we cut some of the mesh so that the cats could walk through it.

L. Wossidlo

We have a wall mounted gate at the top of the steps that my cat can squeeze under - it's a retractable fabric type material so there is a slight bit of wiggle room - the gate is still mounted maybe only 1/4-1/2 inch off the floor but cats can get in tiny spots. The pressure gates we use on the first floor don't slow our cat down. She gets over them just fine when she wants. We have our liter box (and food)in the basement off the kitchen too, but we always keep the door shut when kids are awake. Actually it interupts traffic to keep it open. Our cat will go to the door and sit or cry to let us know she wants to go down. She'll even wake us in the night if we forget to leave it open.

B.,
We have 3 cats. My son has had 2 cats since he was born and we just adopted another from the local shelter 2 weeks ago. The cats jump over the gate or wait patiently next to it until one of us lifts them over it. They are all young kitties: 1 yr, 7 mo, 5 mo. So they are quite capable of jumping with no issue. Have another littler box on the other floor or in another room incase they want to get away from the baby. I know it is a pain to do, but it is worth it so there are no accidents. We never moved the food or box just have been training our 17 mo old son to 'not touch'. He listens for the most part but he has eaten a piece of cat food or 2. He has not touched the kitty box 'yuckies' but has looked in it out of curiosity. Your cats will adjust. The worst thing is keeping my son from pulling their tails, ears, whiskers etc... but he loves them and they love him! The first 6 months of crawling/walking and getting into everything will be hard at first but she will grasp the concept of leaving the kitty food and box alone. Just keep an eye for the kitties and what their needs are too. The gate with the kitty door sounds great, but make sure your child can not fit through it or get stuck in it.
Good luck and feel free to email if you have questions!
Christina
P.S-We use the pressure gates.

I also have 2 cats, and will eventually have to baby gate them off.

When I stayed with my parents for a time, I had my cats with me and they had a dog. The dog was only allowed on the first floor, so everything else was gated off. the cats had no problem getting up and over the gates (even the fat one), so I don't anticipate them having any difficulty when I go to baby gate off areas for my daughter.

They may even enjoy the new obstacles, you know how cats are with something 'different', LOL. Good luck!

The gates should not bother your cats. We also have two cats one is ten yr. old and the other is a big cat weighting in at 17.5 poungs and the both go over our gates.We have one at the top and one at the bottom of are steps. Hope this help your you need the gate.

Those are good questions you asked. I have 2 dogs, 2 cats and a newborn here at my house and i think of the same things. i have kept my living room gated off for a while now. i want that to be an area where i can allow the baby to play on the floor or lay on blanket without encountering tons of pet hair. its hard on the dogs because they are so used to being everywhere i am and i have my laptop set up in my LR so i do still spend a bit of time in that room. the cats on the other hand have no problem. i have one older cat and one young cat. both of them jump the gate anyway. so i wouldn't worry about them being restricted. an option for the food in the basement is a pet door that could be installed in the basement door. they are available in locking models so when the baby is on the move you could simply lock it for the small amt of time she would be crawling in that area. hope this helps!!

Hi Brook,

I don't have any cats, but I do know about them. I had one when I was a kid. They will get use to the gates, and will jump. It will take some time to get use to (like evergthing else) But, they will learn. My sister-in-law has a cat and as to keep her food on the canter in the kitchen otherwise the dog will eat it, so I know they can jump and get use to things. It will just take some time. the first thing is to make sure the house is ready for your daughter. Lot's of luck.
B.

I have 2 cats, one 11 yrs old, and neither of them had any problems getting over our baby gates. In fact, they will both even jump over the one at the top of the steps... doesnt even phase them at all!

You should have no problems at all with the cats.

We had cats before we had kids. And used baby gates for both kids that blocked the steps and the littler boxes and food were both behind those gates. The cats had no issues. They were 5 years old when my son was born and 10 when my daughter was born and they could both still get over.

I did use the ones that were like 3 feet tall versus the ones that were like 5 feet tall. I needed to get over them too!! LOL

Hi B., My babysitter had numerous cats & a couple of dogs when our girls were little. she used babygates all the time and the cats never had a problem with them at all. We had a cat for a while and had to use a babygate with the basement area as well, as little as he was at first, he still didn't have a problem climbing over it. My best advice to you is to use the babygates, but also start teaching your daughter about how to use the stairs safely as she learns how to crawl. Good luck and best wishes.

We have a cat and our cat did not experience any major problems with our safety gates. We have 3 safety gates placed at the top of the stairs, bottom of stairs, and bottom of the basement stairs. When we installed them, we tried to place them high enough for our relatively fat cat to squeeze under but not high enough for our baby to crawl under. If I remember correctly (it was 5 years ago that we installed the gates), we checked out the width of her head (she did have a pretty decent size noggin) and then tried to have our cat slide under to see how low we could go...most cats even if they are hefty can stretch out their bodies fairly "thin" to squeeze through under the gates. This is how we resolved the problem. Hope it helps.

Hi B.,
We had the same concerns about our cats not being able to get over the gates we have set up as well. Our situation is the same as far as the litterboxes being in the basement But you shouldn't worry, our cats can scale the gates no problem. We even have an extra tall gate that has a walk through on it and they can get over that too. So all in all, if they can jump up on a window sill, chances are they won't have a problem getting over it!

My cat jumped over them---even on the stairs. I wouldn't get the pets ones, they are not safe for the baby!

I had the same issue when my lil man started crawling and walking. They got used to the gates pretty quickly and had no problem jumping over the one. The other is slightly taller, but luckily they can slip thru the railing to go upstairs. As long as your kitties aren't out of shape, lol, they shouldn't have any problems. You may have to help them over a few times, just so they aren't afraid. I hope this helps!!

Our cats either jump the gates or wait patiently until some one opens them. We leave them all open if we are out of the house. We have the kind that have a step on to open them like a door. These are the easiest to use IMO.

Good luck

Make sure your cats are de-clawed! We don't have any pets, but when we visit someone who does my daughter who is now 10 months likes to go after them, it would be best, if you want, to get them four paw de-clawed, so your daughter doesn't get scratched by one of them. I know this wasn't what you asked, just a suggestion. Sorry if it was unwelcome.

My cousin has a two-year-old son and two cats. The cats have NEVER had a problem getting over the gates from the time they were kittens. You may be surprised at how well they can jump!

Unless your cats are old they should be able to get over the gates. We just got a puppy and sometimes I confine him to kitchen so I can get things done and my cat just jumps over the gates. My best advice is to start using the gates now so that you have time to come up with another solution if necessary

B.,

baby gates are perfect for cats. Most can jump over them. As for the steps, just put the gate about 4 inches off the floor, that way the cats can go under and baby is still safe upstairs. (this worked for my parents when my nefew was little). Or, put a kitty door in the basement door. Not sure where to get them, but have seen them at friends homes.
Hope this helps,
K.

I worried about our 2 cats when I put up baby gates for my son too. The cats didn't miss a beat and either jumped over the gates (I had 3 up when my kids were little) or went under the gate. It used to freak out guests to watch my one cat squish under the gate--the other one jumped it. It was not a problem for the cats at all, even by the stairs, they jumped over it. Even now, they will sometimes jump over the gate instead of going through the door part of it.

Good luck!

We encountered the same problem with our cat and children (23 months and 4 months). For our basement door we used a hook and eye lock at the top of the door. It keeps the door open enough for the cat to fit through to go to the basement to his litter box and closed enough the kids cannot get down. For the stairs, we use a gate that swings open and closed. The cat has learned to sit at the bottom of the gate and meow to get upstairs.This was a worry for us also b/c he has water on the 2nd floor. We just let him up and down at his request. You may find as your daughter becomes more mobile your cats may prefer to be on another floor!!!!

I didn't read your other responses so hopefully I'm not repeating anything too much!

We have three cats (four before) and one dog. Each time we brought a new pet home we would try to keep them seperated using baby gates but all four could jump them no matter what we did.

When we brought the dog home we would stack two on top of each other (we didn't have a door to the room we kept her in at first) and the cats would either jump/climb to the top or sqeeze through the middle! So I don't think you will have to worry about your cats feeling pent up, if they want out they will go. And BTW one of mine is VERY fat and he would also jump the gates and clear them with no trouble. So maybe they were actually good for exercise? hehe

Hope some of that helps you!