Stairgates and Cats!

[Manfwood]

Have just put up first stairgate as 8 1/2 month ds has just started crawling. However we have two cats and not sure what they are going to do. One of them has can jump over the bottom one but dont think she will be able to do the same at the top - however the other one (who is older, fatter and lazier) hasnt tried yet. Suppose it could be a way of getting them to stay downstairs but just wondered how other peoples moggies coped?? i thought i might be able to leave them open at night and when i am at work but they have a safety device (which is obviously a good idea!) that if you leave open they close a bit and cant be pulled open without lifting up.

Thanks

We tried leaving ours open at night but it kept falling off the wall! (obviously distributed the weight wrongly.) We had to do something or the wretched cat just sat halfway up the stairs mewing to be let through (waking up the baby).

Our final solution is to lift it up a bit higher. The cat can just squeeze under it but the baby can't. Obviously depends on the relative sizes of your cats and your baby... Cat seems more prepared to squeeze than baby though...

We are terribly mean and leave our cat in his own room downstairs at night so his miaowing isn't a bother but it's hilarious how he does sit there miaowing unable to get upstairs !

Also, dd, 11.5 months loves Clyde now and chases him everywhere. Needless to say said cat is petrified of her ! She goes to grab his fur and I try and explain gently to her and she says "Guur" which is her way of saying Clyde. He is so gentle and good with her.

Our cats only live in the kitchen, so we're really mean to them! Unfortunately, neither of them are very big, so if they manage to make a break for freedom they can get through the bars of our stairgates, and so get upstairs!

We blu tack it open at night - By that I mean we have a big ( golf ball sized) blob of blu tack on the wall and if you squash to gate against it it hold enough to stay open.

We have a rather fat cat (and a very skinny one) and it is amazing the small spaces they manage to squeeze through - the bars of the stair gates seem to be no problem - especially when being chased by a baby!

Yeah - mine get through the stairgate when they want/need to - mind you they prefer it being left open. But then they also prefer being carried up the stairs .............

My poor cats have the same problem - at night and when we are out I prop them open with my old juggling bean bags - they also double up for doorstops - much safer than the large pebbles I used to use. After a bit you do get into the routine of kicking them into place on the way out of the house or when switching the lights out last thing at night.
I am amazed to read that some cats can squeeze through them! My moggies have absolutely no chance of doing this as tthe distance between bars is only 2 inches. There are either some very skinny cats out there or the bar spacing on gates must vary hugely

JayTree - read your post a bit quickly and thought you were talking about kicking your cats into place.... then again, maybe you were.
My two can scale the bottom stairgate no problem - as approaching it with a height advantage. The top one they're not so keen on - so they jump on to the bannister and then over, leaving lovely claw marks in the fresh paint. AAAARGGH