What would you say is the best automatic litter box?
My multiple cat owning parents are getting older and I want to get them something that will help with their daily “mining for cat gold”.
There are two basic types, the main difference being what is the moving part: rake-type and rotary-type. Rake-type devices have a rake or grate, usually at about a 45 degree angle, that pushes feces and/or clumps forward to a receptacle. In rotary-type devices the rake is stationary and the pan itself moves, very slowly, pushing feces and clumps onto the rake, which may clear itself automatically, or it may require manual clearance.
Some require you use “special” litter, while others you can use any clumping litter you like.
I can’t recommend a specific model to you, but the general advice I would give you is that for something like this, involving highly unpleasant messes and lots of very dusty granular material, the fewer moving parts involved, the better.
I use two and will give you advice on both:
Littermaid: this use clumping litter. It can make a fair amount of noise, although I haven’t heard this one too much. (I have been using this brand for years.) The cats got used to it quickly. I have used it for up to 4 cats at a time. They had a dip in quality for a few years when they moved manufacturing, but lately they seem fine again. This is a moving rake variety. The bin will need to be emptied at least once a week, or more often with more cats. I line the bin it comes with with plastic bags to make this easier. I also do a quick scoop of the litter and rake at this time to make sure no bits are missed. Then I refill to make sure there’s enough littler to form clumps.
Second one: Scoopfree automatic box. It uses crystals, which most cats need to adjust too. I did this by adding their regular litter on top, and slowly decreasing amount. This thing is awesome, if the cats like it. Get the hood, which helps contain scatter. It pops on and off easily, unlike the hood that the LitterMaid folks sell. It really is extremely quiet. They sell pre-filled trays, if your parents want the absolute easiest route, but I bought a refillable tray (get the seamless one - I found out the hard way that the one with the seam will leak out the bottom), and use crystals that I buy myself. I have to clean it out about once a week, which is fairly straight forward. All of the poop is moved to the far end, and I take out the dirty crystals. If you want to make it painless, you just pick up the whole trap and drop the contents into a kitchen garbage bag. Put the unit back on the tray, fill with crystals and you’re done.
Of the two, I vastly prefer the ScoopFree. It’s amazing. I never have jams (although to be fair, I have yet to have a jam with the new LitterMaid either - older units did). It’s very quiet. No smell if you keep to your cleaning schedule.
Both are available at the large pet retailers or at Amazon.
I use a litter trapping mat in front of both. There is a lot more litter coming out of the LitterMaid.
As far as the rotating units, I have checked them out several times and have always been scared off by the prices and the reviews (baking poop, etc). Maybe someone who was braver than I can chime in.
There’s a couple more out there, depending on how much you want to spend.
The Litter Robot - Not pretty, pretty big, but all you have to do is replace the bag every so often. I’ve had one for 6 years or so and it’s been great, and I have 10 cats.
The CatGenie is really virtually a hands off box, other than slipping in a new cartridge and adding granules every 6 months or so. It does require a fair amount of space and access to water though, either in a bathroom or in a laundry room. I’ve got 2 (see the above mentioned 10 cats) and it was by far the best $$$ I’ve spent. LOVE the things!
Neither one is cheap though, and it’s a little horrifying to think about spending several hundred dollars on a litterbox. That said, it absolutely has made a difference in the way the house smells, and in my back and wallet since I’m not buying and lugging mountains of litter into and out of the house.
Oh! And for both the Litter Robot and the Cat Genie I bought refurbished units. It saves a bit of money, and they’ve worked just fine. Both companies have also had really good customer service for the infrequent problems or questions I’ve had.
I had very good success with the Litter Robot… for a while.
It was great for a few years, with the only complaint that if I didn’t clean out the bin often enough, the poop pile would reach the outer surface of the sphere and smear across the diameter. That kinda sucked but not hard to avoid.
The problem is that my cat just stopped wanting to use it. Eventually it got to where she pooped outside of it, which she’d never otherwise do. I’m not sure what happened, but I suspect it turned on when she was inside and it scared her. It has a safety mechanism such that it can’t injure the cat, but I can see why she’d avoid it if that happened. So I switched back to a normal box.
Nothing to contribute, but I had to pop in to say I misread the thread title as “best aromatic litterbox” and gave myself a good chuckle over the thought. They are all pretty aromatic.
I misread it as “Best Atomic Litterbox”, and thought to myself, *“Damn! Cat owners will fall for anything!”
*
Alternatively, one could train a cat to use the toilet. Some cat owners have had success with the CityKitty training product.