Yeah, My ex-wife is moving in with her bf next month. The trouble is; he’s deathly allergic to cats. So begrudgingly, I have to either take ownership of my son’s cat or let the ex send kitty to the pound for a dirt nap and letting my son cry his eyeballs out.
I already have a cat but it’s an indoor/outdoor cat. I’ve never needed a litter box for it because whenever he needs to take a piss or what not he always goes outside. The cat I’m getting has been declawed so outside isn’t an option.
Which leads me to the question:
Are those auto-kitty litter boxes worth the money?
I have one. I have a love/hate relationship with it.
Love: I want to do litter box maintenance once or twice a week, not every day. This keeps both me and the kitties happy.
Hate: If the cats toss the litter in front of the raking arm, it won’t be able to go back into its original position, which means it will cycle over and over and over again, and you have to go clear the jam.
The one problem with it is that the plastic boxes are kind of flimsy. I always make sure to deposit the box immediately into a plastic bag. Don’t try carrying it across the room to a trash can; you’ll be sorry.
I have the Litter Robot. I bought it b/c the “rake” kind kept breaking down on me. This one is a giant ball that rotates clockwise to empty out the litter, then rotates back and re-settles the litter evenly.
It’s got an 18 month warranty and a 30 money-back guarantee. It is loud, (not a problem in my house, but I wouldn’t want it next to the bedroom), and it ain’t cheap, and if the cat weighs less than 5 pounds or more than 15 it won’t work.
But I love it. I change the litter for two cats once per week which involves me pulling out a tray at the bottom and emptying it. It also looks rather bitchin’ - like the Death Star.
I don’t think that it really matters being the reality of the situation is, if you have an indoor cat you at some point do have to come in contact with the litter box.
It just seems that whatever someone comes up with, the litter never makes it to the garbage for pick-up on it’s own! When that happends I will stop using the clumping litter which I like.
I tried one. The Littermaid. The noise from the motor scared my cat so much she wouldn’t get back into it. Plus, the plastic catchers are really flimsy, as others have mentioned.
Well, I have a different style of litterbox…after long research and talking with my vet I settled on one that rolls…
google “Self-Cleaning Litter Box from Omega Paw” it keeps the critters from tossing out the litter, and has a cute little mat for them to wipe the litter off their paws, and you just roll it back and forth once a day and slide out the drawer and chuck out the litter and crunchies. I have a friend who after the kid got out of diapers started using her diaper thingy [it has a long plastic garbage bag sort of tube, you put the diaper in and give it a twist and it encapsulates the doaper] to containerize the used litter crunchies, but on looking at the website, you can google on “LitterLocker Plus® Cat Litter Disposal System by Petmate” for a similar pet specific item.
My vet says that the most prevalent complaint about the auto literboxes is that the clumping litter needs longer to get a good solid clump made, and when the rake goes through the soft lump it clogs the tines of the comb and makes it screw up.
When I first got mine, my cats were fascinated by it. When it would start to scoop, they’d charge across the house to go and watch. Eventually, they figured out that going inside was what made it go, and so they’d jump in as soon as the rake completed its cycle…which meant it scooped every 10 minutes until they got sick of it.
After a month or two, it ceased to be a source of entertainment.
I’ve had a Littermaid for about five years now (two cat household). I like it but it is a little tempermental:
NEVER overfill with litter.
Don’t place it close to your bedroom (cats set that motor off at night quite often).
Try several clumping litters until you find the one that clumps the fastest. (We’ve found Everclean extra strength works perfectly.)
If you follow these suggestions, you won’t have any complaints. I love not having to clean the litter more than once or twice a week and the cats love having a pristine box to use every time. Also, their is no cat smell in my apartment EVER.
The motor on my box is starting to slow down for some reason so we seem to be reaching the end of its useful lifespan. However, five years of less work and no odor seems worth the price. We plan to replace it soon.
Eh, I had a LIttermaid and didn’t like it. Like other posters have mentioned, the thing rakes too soon so the litter doesn’t have time to clump properly. So the tines were often kinda gross. And I found emptying the little container a huge pain in the butt and it would frequently get over filled which was also gross. (I have two cats, one of whom drinks a lot of water and that container would fill up about every two days) I finally just chucked the thing and got an extra large and deep box which I just scoop everyday when I come home from work. Much cheaper and it seems cleaner to me as well.
I must have a defective cat. She’d just as sooner crap on top of a telephone pole rather than go near one of those automatic things, especially after it moves on it own for the first time.
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I had one. It got stuck in mid-rake after a couple years and now it’s an expensive piece of garbage.
Other problems:
-The gunk getting stuck on the rakes, as has been mentioned.
-My cats seemed to enjoy peeing on the back and sides and I suspect that part of it’s break down had something to do with cat piss in the place where they electric cord plugs in (that isn’t very well designed).
-The box does fill up fast with more than one cat so you still have to “clean the litter box” frequently.
-My cats always seem to pee in the corners which makes the urine spread out, not clump into a nice little ball.
-I had a frequent problem with them peeing outside the box because they were used to covered boxes.
-I think the normal sized one is too small for most cats and the “mega” sized one is barely a comfortable size.
Advantage:
-As long as it’s working you can let it go a couple days without cleaning it which was helpful for me when I was busy for a couple days in a row and the last thing I wanted to do was clean the litter box.
Given that I own two Maine coon mixes, I use a regular igloo style litterbox. Unfortunately, I suspect they’re now getting too big for that thing due to all the litter flung out around it instead of just in front. :eek: I might have to go with an open design litterbox.
[hijack] I don’t suppose anyone knows of an enclosed box that’s big enough for a 12+ pound kitten to use without bumping the cover up? [/hijack]
But I also have that litter locker thingy, or one very much like it, and it works very nicely. I would caution that:
– always, always have a refill on hand.
– The refills with the plastic tube don’t tell you when you’re getting close to running out – they just flap out and you’re left with crap and used litter falling down inside the container, so be careful.
The downside to the Littermaid is that it is poorly made and loud. If you buy one then plug it into a timer so that it shuts off at night. The plastic trays are flimsy.
Mine lasted a year with 2 cats. Neither cat lost their fascination with it. Everytime it operated they would rush up to watch it.
I would look into other types before committing to one.
My two Main Coons were bigger than the box (Mega Littermaid) by the time they were 5 months old. Seems like it would be OK, just OK, for one small cat.
I had a Littermaid and it worked all right. I did have to experiment to find the right litter that would clump up fast enough. I also had to figure out exactly how much litter to put in. Too much and the cat would pee on the sides or on the rake. Too little and she’d do the same thing.
As mentioned, the plastic containers are flimsy. And you’ll still need to clean the thing out periodically as some stray pee still manages to get on the sides/tines.
I guess to sum it up: they can work okay, but you’ll need to figure out the exact brand and amount of litter to use. Also, you won’t totally avoid having to deal with cat waste.
