[kelnos]

On the topic of cat freedom... I had the opposite problem. A few years ago, for a while I had to separate our two cats so they wouldn't fight while we weren't home (long story, but we couldn't let them fight each other like most cats will do for fun, due to some medical reasons).

It was basically impossible. I wanted to set it up so one cat could be downstairs, and the other upstairs, so one wouldn't feel like they were being "punished", by being closed in a bedroom and only having that small area to roam in.

I built a "gate" for the top of our stairwell, the height of the railing, out of carboard and some pet-safe window screen material. First one of the cats managed to wriggle under it, so I reinforced it and gave it a "skirt". Then the other cat climbed up the screen mesh, and I found her just sitting there, perched on top of it.

Eventually I managed to make it sturdy enough. But then one of the cats realized he could jump over it.

I mostly gave up after that, and focused on training him not to fight with his little sister.

So this is a long winded way of saying: your cat might not really be bothered by things like baby gates. Might actually view them as a fun challenge to be (fairly easily) overcome. Unless of course your cat is older and/or has mobility issues.

[milquen]

Yeah, my cat is getting older and a total wimp at jumping over things. So I will have to figure out a way. Of course this is all an excuse to build an elaborate ramp or tunnel system.

On preventing cats from climbing things, apparently attaching a rolling bar at the top is very effective: https://catrollers.com