Gates

We have had baby gates up in our home for a couple weeks now. One thing we didn’t think of when we put the gates up is how much Hoshi, our cat, hates to jump high and over things. Turns out our baby gates aren’t just baby proof, they’re cat proof too. So to make it so Hoshi can get to her food, water, litter box and “throne” (the chair she thinks is her's), we’ve had to make a couple adjustments.

The pressure gate that we use to keep Kayley out of our room sits about 3 inches off the ground so Hoshi can crawl under it.

Silly cat

As for the gate that cuts our apartment in half, well when we plan to have it closed for a lengthy amount of time we place one of our table’s stools on one said of the gate, and another one on the opposite side. We don’t know why, but Hoshi will jump onto the stools, though she won’t just over the gate… Go figure… Otherwise we just open the gate for her when she sits and meows or scratches at it. 

Our third gate blocks the heater that Kayley thinks makes wonderful music when toys are hit against it. We discourage this because when the heater is on, the vent gets hot. We don’t want little burned fingers. Hoshi could care less about this gate and has completely ignored it. 

Oh yes, and we keep a box in front of the entrance to Kayley's room (you can see it in the picture above). She can climb on top of it and push it, but she rarely does either (now). But it's easy to move and step over for Andrew and me.

We still need to figure out how to baby proof our entertainment unit or purchase a new one.  Currently we block it, and divide the living room in half (to keep Kayley away from the fireplace) with our coffee table and two stools lying on their sides. Hoshi just walks right through those. Our home might look weird if you come over and it’s set up like this, but it keep our precious little one out of danger. 

Keeping Kayley away from the fire.