Ideas for corralling dogs and cats?

January 18, 2006 7:41 AM

Need room flow control ideas for new dog + fat cat + short person.

Here's the situation: we have two cats - one of whom is a big fatty furball weighing 24 pounds. We are adopting a lab mix puppy (she's about 8 months old) and have set up various inexpensive baby gates blocking off a bedroom for the cats and the small room that houses the litterbox.

Because the bowling ball cat wouldn't gracefully jump over the babygate, we've set it up with a gap below - one that needs to be carefully adjusted so that the cats can get in and out, but the dog can't claw under it. And at that height, I can't step over the gate with my short legs. So for me to enter the rooms involves moving the gate, and then re-setting everything to the appropriate height and is thus a pain in the ass with a puppy bounding around me while I try to do it.

So, I'm looking for any solutions or ideas or magical baby gates that could help with the situation. Maybe there are babygates out there with cat-doors? Or someone with babygate/dog/cat experience with better ideas?

posted by idigress to Pets & Animals (9 answers total)

I've seen babygates that unlatch and swing open, leaving the attached-to-the-door part ... uh, attached to the door. So that grown-ups with opposable thumbs can use it like a regular door, while keeping pets and kids properly corralled.

Don't have more info for you, but they're definitely out there.
posted by occhiblu at 7:44 AM on January 18, 2006

Drs. Foster and Smith have a pet gate with a little door in it, but it may be big enough for the dog to squeeze through as well.

Having had cats and dogs, though, I'm guessing that if your big fatty furball wanted to get away from the pup, she'd get herself over that gate. I had a big fat cat who was surprisingly fast and agile when it suited him.

The other thing you could consider is crate training the pup while you are out of the house.
posted by ambrosia at 7:53 AM on January 18, 2006

Yeah, there are lots of places that sell the gated door gate. But look at pet supply places, and not baby supply. PetEdge is a good place to buy from but the delivery costs can be expensive if youa ren't buying a lot of stuff.

Froogle lists lots of option.
posted by terrapin at 8:05 AM on January 18, 2006

I agree, if your cat wants to get over that gate, it will, so just put it normal so you can get over it. If the cat truly can't get over the gate, it will kick that puppy's ass for any dog on cat transgressions. Maybe twice. The puppy will learn.
posted by bilabial at 8:13 AM on January 18, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks! I was looking at the swing gate ones, but the ones I saw all had a base part attached to the floor, which ruled out allowing the cat underpass. Apparently I missed many options.

And puppy is crate-trained, but even when we're home, we gate off the rooms - as she's deaf, exploratory, and by the time you chase her down to sign "no", she's already eaten all the cat poop.
posted by idigress at 8:16 AM on January 18, 2006

If the cat is having trouble with the gate and a cat underpass isn't working, put something like an step or pile of books next to the gate so she can climb over. Puppies aren't big jumpers and not so agile (as even a fat cat) so that should probably filter out the gate crossers. And cats love to mock from high places, so double plus!
posted by dness2 at 8:42 AM on January 18, 2006

If you are at all handy or have access to someone who is, consider installing cat flaps (or just cutting cat holes) in the doors. If the doors are nice, take them off and use cheaper doors to cut holes in.

It's better, though more frustrating, to put in actual flaps. Young bored dogs can DIY your cat-sized holes into dog-sized ones fairly easily without anything in there to slow them down.

I did this for a while (until the above DIY modifications took place) and my cats seemed to appreciate it.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:11 AM on January 18, 2006

I used to have a gate that had sturdy plastic mesh. I cut a hole just large enough for the cat to squeeze through.
posted by theora55 at 10:26 AM on January 18, 2006

We got a EvenFlow baby-gate and installed it to separate the dog from the room with the litter box. It attaches to the door frame and swings out. It was made of wood, so my husband cut out the bottom of one of the slats to make a cat-sized opening. It's worked really well. It cost about $35 at Toys R Us.

If your cat is really large, you may have to cut out two slats to give him enough room to squeeze through, which would probably still be too small for an 8 month old puppy to get through.
posted by luneray at 11:37 AM on January 18, 2006