Baby gate vs cat

[Ella0909]

I have an issue....I recently installed a baby gate at the top of my stairs. My DD's room is upstairs and literally right next to the top of the stairs. She can't walk yet but she's not far off and she sleeps on a double mattress on the floor as I sometimes go in to co-sleep.

I can't put a gate across her room as it's a weird double door and also at some point I'm hoping she'll come to me and hop in our bed so I don;'t have to get up in the night!

So I discovered at 2am that our cat can't fit through the bars and is a little too 'cuddly' to jump over..so she'll just meow until let down / up stairs.

I checked out other baby gates and you can get ones with cat flaps but they're pressure gates so not suitable for top of stairs.

Any one have any ideas? This must be a common problem!

Our Old Boy cat was getting older when the DC were baby/toddlers and did the annoying miaowing in the middle of the night thing - and he was loud! So eventually, I'm afraid he had to sleep downstairs. We shut the door to prevent him even trying to get upstairs.

Now we have Podgy Girl Cat and she is not one for exerting herself but can get over a stair gate or other obstacle if necessary. However she will 100% never use the cat flap never not ever, to the extent of being locked outside while Young Boy Cat comes and goes, so they can be stubborn idiots.

Either put up with a few days/nights disruption while she figures it out, or shut her downstairs at night.

And yes, it's probably the difference in levels/the drop that is putting her off, but they can still figure it out. They usually do a two-parter jump - from the landing onto the top bar of the gate, then leap down to the next step.

@NoSquirrels Thats exactly how our cat tackles the baby gates at both top and bottom of our stairs.

@Changi Not sure how safe it would be to pull a wider gap between a few of the bars? Wouldn't want toddler squeezing through or getting a head stuck!!

I agree, but surely the cat can't be fatter than the toddlers head.

Can it?

Fit a cat flap in the baby gate?

Success...we raised it off the ground a little then kept it shut all day today so she could get used to it. Still meowed until I called her for her dinner then miraculously figured it out..although it was amusing to watch as her belly definitely needed an extra wiggle to get through!...hopefully she remembers in the middle of the night. Thanks for the advice..weekly cat drama over