Hello~
I own two cats and ended up bringing home two more due to circumstances. I have a baby gate setup on my second floor landing so the cats can't venture downstairs and run through the front door to never come back. My cats have never attempted to jump over the gate and too big to squeeze through the railings. The two new cats however jumped right over it starting day one. Right now it's not that big a deal because of the quarantine and rarely ever open the front door but my original two cats are seeing the other cats escape and have attempted the same couple times now. Also, I'm going to go back to working and living after the pandemic ends, and I don't want them to think this is an acceptable behavior. I tried using the sound of a vacuum to scare them whenever they jump and even placed the vacuum facing the gate but no progress there. I put down double sided tape on the top of the gate and it doesn't even faze them. I know they jumped over it while I wasn't looking by seeing the new collection of fur on the tape.
My kitchen, also, has a baby gate because my cats had the tendency to walk around the counter when I'm cooking and even almost hurt themselves on the hot stove. Once the baby gate went up, I finally had peace cooking and doing the dishes. Then... the new cats showed them they can jump right over it as well. I found my girl cat inside today and I saw red that my efforts for the last year is going to moot. I have to admit the new cats are better behaved than my cats who chews and knocks over everything. I just need them to stay within the safe boundaries and feel we can all be happy.
I own two cats and ended up bringing home two more due to circumstances. I have a baby gate setup on my second floor landing so the cats can't venture downstairs and run through the front door to never come back. My cats have never attempted to jump over the gate and too big to squeeze through the railings. The two new cats however jumped right over it starting day one. Right now it's not that big a deal because of the quarantine and rarely ever open the front door but my original two cats are seeing the other cats escape and have attempted the same couple times now. Also, I'm going to go back to working and living after the pandemic ends, and I don't want them to think this is an acceptable behavior. I tried using the sound of a vacuum to scare them whenever they jump and even placed the vacuum facing the gate but no progress there. I put down double sided tape on the top of the gate and it doesn't even faze them. I know they jumped over it while I wasn't looking by seeing the new collection of fur on the tape.
My kitchen, also, has a baby gate because my cats had the tendency to walk around the counter when I'm cooking and even almost hurt themselves on the hot stove. Once the baby gate went up, I finally had peace cooking and doing the dishes. Then... the new cats showed them they can jump right over it as well. I found my girl cat inside today and I saw red that my efforts for the last year is going to moot. I have to admit the new cats are better behaved than my cats who chews and knocks over everything. I just need them to stay within the safe boundaries and feel we can all be happy.