Getting a cat to jump over a baby gate - anyone done it?

[Cranky Kitten]

We have an indoor cat who is about 9 years old. His food, water and litter tray are currently in the laundry (quite large, so there is space between litter and food) which has worked well up until now. But now my almost 5 month old DS is showing signs that he's not far off becoming mobile, so we're starting to think about baby-proofing. And the first thing that came to mind was gating the laundry door so he can't get into the kitty litter.

We've already proven that Finn (the cat) can jump the gate because we started with him in the laundry and he's managed to jump out. But now he's not keen on jumping back in. I've put out a dish of wet food which he likes but doesn't get very often to try to entice him, but he just sits in front of the gate and complains. Any ideas how to convince him to jump?

[HotI]

A friend re-jigged their baby gate so their cat could get through, but baby couldn't. they cut one of the bars about a foot from the bottom and then attached bar horizontal from end rail to the bar next to the one they cut to form a square down the bottom corner that the cat could fit through. hope that makes sense.

[minniemouse]

when we had a baby gate up one of our cats who would just jump over it but the other wouldn't and she would go onto the bench and walk along and jump down. could you maybe put a chair or something in the laundry for the cat to jump onto cause it might be happy to clear the gate and land on something rather than the floor, of course this doesn't really help when the cat wants to come out again but i guess he can wait until you can get it out if he can just get in to go to the toilet and eat when he wants too

[Ryatha]

Ignore the complaining? My cat just learnt that she had to jump it or she didn't get food. MM suggestion sounds good, a chair or a stool to reduce the height might help your cat out

[indie24]

Ignore the complaining? My cat just learnt that she had to jump it or she didn't get food. MM suggestion sounds good, a chair or a stool to reduce the height might help your cat out

That's what happened at my house. He got sick of waiting for me to open it

[krysalyss]

If you know your cat can physically jump then I would just try putting his favourite food (especially something he will come running for when he smells it) in the area and just let him figure it out. Alternatively a chair/stool on the other side where the seat is at a similar height is a good idea. That way instead of feeling like he is jumping over, he will feel like he is just jumping to somewhere.