Carlson Extra Wide Pet Gate

This was quite easy to assemble. It looks nice. Is quite sturdy and was not difficult to install. The ‘small animal’ door allows our cat to get to her food and litter box, while the gate itself keeps our dogs from getting to the cat food and litter box!The full gate opens easily when we need to go downstairs.Very good quality and good price.

I bought this gate over 4 years ago when my youngest dog was an untrustworthy pup. The doorway to my tiled den is extra wide so I needed a gate that could accommodate that width. I also needed a gate that was walk-thru because there are some physically challenged people in my home who would have a hard time stepping over conventional gates. This gate installs easily and securely, adjusting for a perfect fit in my doorway. It comes with two extension panels and you can purchase additional ones if your doorway is wider than 44".It's tall enough that my little dachshund mix (who can sometimes fly when properly motivated) cannot jump over it, but adult humans can easily operate the latch that opens the walk-thru gate. The kitty door at the bottom of the gate had to stay closed at my house because it was perfectly sized for a wiener dog, but my cats were not interested in going into the den with the horrible little dog creature anyway so it wasn't a problem for me.Fast forward to last month. My little dog has become sufficiently trustworthy that the gate has been stored in the basement for a couple of years. However, my eldest daughter has added an indoor miniature pot belly pig to her household of 4 cats.Mookie the pig is now 7 months old and about 45 pounds. He is also an adolescent and a little more stubborn than he used to be. Last month, he decided that rooting around in the cat litter box was loads of fun and seemed to plan his day around this delightful activity. My daughter and her cats were less than thrilled since the pig was vigorously flinging litter everywhere!I remembered the gate in my basement and took it to my daughter's home. She really needs the kitty door because one of her cats is elderly and has only 3 legs so she cannot jump over a gate anymore. After installing the gate in the doorway to the laundry room where the litter box is, Mookie promptly showed us that if he maneuvered just right, he could get thru the cat door in the gate. Luckily, I saw the customer images which demonstrated using cable ties to keep the cat door from opening completely and it worked perfectly.Fortunately, Mookie has grown enough that he cannot get thru the cat door anymore no matter how hard he tries so we've dispensed with the cable ties. The gate works perfectly and my daughter no longer comes home to dirty cat litter strewn around her laundry room floor.The gate is made of powder coated steel and the white paint is extremely sturdy. My household has multiple cats and dogs and children and it still looks brand new after 4 years. The style is fairly innocuous and seems to look as good in my daughter's modern home as it did in my 100 year old house. (Let's face it - a pet gate is not an accent piece so innocuous is about as good as it gets.)If you are looking for a pet gate that will fit extra wide doorways and can be easily walked through by humans, I think this gate may be just what you're looking for.

We have used these gates for years (I also have an older one that doesn't have the smaller pet-door in the middle) and find them reliable and mulit-functional. Without the outer extensions, in the picture, this would be just the main center piece, without the two extensions on the sides, the "smallest" space it will fit is a narrow inner-doorway (think smaller half-bath door frame). The center piece also perfectly fits a traditional bedroom door frame (we have two of these installed on standard bedroom doors in our house). With the two extensions (included) it can fit even larger spaces (use one, or both).First-time setup may take a few minutes, just to make sure you get it right, but it really just takes a couple of minutes to install the door (I did it, 6 months pregnant). In short, there are long dowel/screws that stick into the outer edges, which brace it against the wall. Now, this is not flimsy, which was my original first-thought when I opened the first gate years ago. These are very sturdy, and really, really hold! They brace right against the wall. For your convenience, the box also contains some sticky rubbery pads that you can adhere to the wall, which should stop skid, if you have slippery walls (I don't know why you would, but I'm not one to judge...lol). Another option, and this is important for top- or bottom-of-stairs, is to screw in a permanent bracket against the wall. The instructions note that this is for safety...I imagine that the bannister the dowel presses against could give over time, which may make the gate loose.But if this is not going at the top of stairs, installation is super-easy and fast, with an easy-to-open handle. The handle is different than our older one. Its larger, but I like it better. You simply lift it up on the non-hinged side (has a stapler-like action) and it pulls back the latch. For added security, there is a red "lock" button. If you press the handle all the way down, the red spring-loaded lever will catch. This is optional- if you simply don't press the lever all the way down to snap it in, then you just raise the handle to open the gate the next time (we don't snap the lock yet, as we just have the dogs for now). Once in the "lock" position, it requires that you slide the red lock backward, then you can lift the handle as normal to open the gate. Again, not required that you "lock" it, but a nice option.The gate is white metal, works very well, super-sturdy (including the wall braces). I'm satisfied with this purchase, and wouldn't hesitate to buy this brand again!