Babygate dilemma

[marydell]

Not Babygate-as-in-Watergate, sorry.  We're getting ready for Charlie to become a scoocher or a crawler, which means we need to put up baby gates.  However, here at La Casa Tripodesta, baby gates will be an insurmountable cat barrier.  Poor Ahab has had to deal with lap displacement and other indignities, and we really don't want to mess with his world any more than we already have, so I'm hoping we can find a baby gate that a 3-legged, non-jumping slender cat can get through easily.  Any suggestions? 

Comments

[gryphynshadow.livejournal.com]

I've seen people put steps on either side of their gates. Little babies can't manage the stairs, but kitties can. Or, a low table or trunk nearby... I've also seen some with upright rails that might work, depending on how slender your kitty is. The gaps aren't that wide, since you don't want Charlie's head to get caught in it, so your kitty may be able to get through, or not.

You could teach the kitty to meow when he wants to be lifted over the gate. See if it rubs off on Charlie. :D Somehow the idea of a meowing baby amuses me.

You've baby-proofed the house, right? Fixed all the cabinets where they won't open without an act of God, put those little plastic things in all the outlets... (I have so much trouble getting those out!) Whatever else is needed to make sure he won't get into too much trouble...

They're so cute when they're learning to pull up. Soon you won't be able to stop him from running from place to place. (Once they're up, they run. There is no slow meandering walk. Unless there's interesting stuff to examine, in which case he won't know the meaning of 'hurry up.')

Yay! Baby milestones!

[marydell.livejournal.com]

We have totally not baby-proofed the house. Like, TOTALLY not. He's not scooching or crawling yet, but we're hoping that by starting now we'll be ready once he's running around upright. Otherwise we'll just have to stick with cage-training :)

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

Could you mount the gate high, so Ahab could pass underneath the gate, but Charlie couldn't? (Or, depending on material, could you cut a cat-hole, too small for Charlie to get stuck in, in the gate, without it losing structural integrity?)

Otherwise, does Ahab not jump at all, or not jump enough to clear a baby gate from a standing start? If the latter, perhaps strategically-placed chairs or other objects on either side of the gate might form a cat-ladder?

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

This is what we do. We have the gates that you screw to the wall on one side, and then they swing like a door. We just mounted them high enough so that the cats can crawl underneath, but Cassie couldn't. We still have them up to keep the dog downstairs.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

This sounds like the way to go...I'll test the placement out with one of the pressure-mounted gates we already have (for putting up when friends bring their kids over). Ahab's a small cat so it should work. Yay, thanks!

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Good idea, we're going to try that! Ahab can only jump a little bit, and only when a lap is the destination. Even then he tends to not make it and grab on with his claws instead--ow. He's about 14 years old and has been missing one of his back legs since before he was a year old.

Which, actually, makes him a very easy-to-manage cat, since he can't hop up onto the counter and get into stuff.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

The Fosters-and-Smith's catalogue sells screw-in swinging gates that have a smaller (7"x11") swinging gate in the middle of the bottom for cat access. Like all F&S merchandise, it is overpriced by about 25%, but at least it's a place to start (can pass on our copy of the catalogue if necessary.)

-Nameseeker

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Ooo, new catalog to check out! I looked at the site and it's cool. However, pet gates with a cat door apparently let the baby stick his head thru the cat door and get stuck. Urk. I think since Ahab is a small kitty, and Charlie is a giant baby, mounting the gate a few inches off of the floor will work.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

LOL, I just remembered why Fosters&Smith sounds familiar--we get their fish catalogs. I didn't realize they were also a general pet place.