Cat passable baby gates

[AllTheLaundry]

So we have 2 cats and a soon-to-be-crawler. One cat is a climber & can jump high. The other is large and can't jump well at all, so he won't be able to jump over a standard baby gate, especially on the stairs. The one who can't jump is also not smart and can't open doors himself, so we will need something super simple to work.

They will need access upstairs and downstairs for food & and their litter trays (may house configuration doesn't allow this to change) so I need to find baby gates to keep my child safe & my cats fed & toileted.

If anyone can recommend tried and tested gates, please share links with me! Many thanks & here's my cat tax

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BabyDan-Multidan-Extending-Metal-Safety/dp/B008MVF5WW/ref=ascdff_B008MVF5WW/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=208079534581&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11107973932324368839&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006530&hvtargid=pla-421336805882&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Look at Argos? All of the wall fix ones don’t have a bar at the bottom.

Gate with a cat flap Gate with Lockable Cat Flap Pressure Fitted Gate 75cm - 148.7cm Stair and Pet Gate (75cm - 84cm, White) amzn.eu/d/6cNF7zF Here

Ours just squeeze through the gap at the side. One will hop over going upstairs but neither have ever done it going down, they learned quickly just to squeeze through.

If you were a true cat slave you would have cat shelving and not allow their precious paws to touch the floor.

Ours goes underneath the one on the stairs. It's a screw in one, so doesn't have the bottom bar. You wouldn't be able to fit the tension ones higher than floor level because of the trip risk.

How old is your child? As we put stair gates up on living room at 6 months as he was crawling, and at 7 months he managed to stand up at them, pull himself up and over! Then repeatedly did it for a few days trying to launch himself from the top. So we took them down as lethal. Cat was delighted

So maybe you don’t need them?

@RandomMess they're sibling maine coons. Older girl on the left, younger boy (ie problem cat as I've realised - but he's such a sweet, gentle giant, he's going nowhere, sorry @Hoppinggreen!) on the right.

The Argos one linked by pp is no bottom bar - and the pp said it is wide enough for her cats to slip through the bars anyway.

@CatOnTheChair we have a small house so there's no other configuration that we feel would work for us.

@Travelfan2021 I have seen a few gates, but at £50+ for 1, I was looking for recommendations as this is a common thing.

We have one with a cat flap in it, but had to remove the physical flap due to lazy cats. It's worked brilliantly for 2 years.

Could you not get one with a cat flap then just remove the flap? Although I suppose that may be too tempting for a crawling baby. Our Maine Coons did learn to go through a cat flap with lots of training. And no, they wouldn't have jumped a gate either. One got stuck up a tree and I had to get a tree surgeon to get him down (I really, really miss that cat!)

The retractable mesh gates have enough give for a cat to get underneath.

@Travelfan2021 it's a combination of the price, needing 2 or 3 of them, and hoping not to buy a gate that we find doesn't work either for the cat or baby so I was hoping to tap into the wisdom on MN and see if there was a general consensus of cat/baby gates.

@PoppyBlunt I've not come across this type at all, thanks will take a look!

Gate should be on bedroom door not at the top of the stairs. As for cats, mind just walked through the gaps.

I dream of this!

Ah jeez, another reason to find wisdom on MN before spending potentially £150. I can kind of see this happening to us too... DS's (4mo) dad was a climber from the get-go, so we're prepping early.

@AllTheLaundry - sorry to say, but Ds also used to get himself wedged in the cat flap also! Head and one arm outside, butt stuck! Cat sitting there looking puzzled

If it’s any help, we had to watch him like a hawk from about 7-15 months, but by then he was pretty good about just not going upstairs alone. And he’s a really good climber now at 2.5 years. He’s never fallen on stairs and cats run about happily with him.

Here's a baby gate with cat flap from SafeTots. We have gates from SafeTots and I like them.

We have the white Lindam Extra Tall Pressure Fit Stairgates - suitable for babies, pets and some vulnerable adults. They are well made and very easy to fit - no drilling/tools.

From a parent's perspective, please think very carefully - about the potential of a strangulation risk to a baby - before doing any DIY adjustments to any stairgates, such as cutting a cat access hole in them or fitting them higher up the wall to leave a cat access gap below.

From a cat slave's perspective, I'm amazed to hear of cats who can't jump over stairgates. Even most dogs can jump over stairgates. Our cat can jump onto the narrow top of a door without even a run up, and even higher than that - 9ft easily and we suspect 11ft.