I was wondering if people have had positive experiences with these? My parents asked me for one for their anniversary present (lol, I know!).
My parents have three cats-two male, one female. Is PetCo. adequate or are their any online companies you guys have ordered from successfully? I just need to get it in time for their Alaska trip in mid/late August. To date my parents have been using cheapass stones and changing the litter every day but I don’t think the catsitter is really going to put up with that.
If you are referring to the LitterMaid, I would have to tell you that my experience was unfortunately not the best. The machine worked fine, but my cat was apparently defective - she would aim her urine stream right into the raking mechanism, thereby “gumming up” the works (and those things are a BITCH to clean up!). YMMV.
I haven’t used one ( neither has my cat), but a friend said her cats were freaked out by the sound it made, and started peeing on the floor after she got it.
Liked mine for a while, but like Padmaraga, the cat would pee straight into the gubbins, making a right royal mess of it.
Additionally, the amount of litter has to be exactly right. Too little, and the rakes don’t get all the clumps. Too much, and the freaking thing jams…goes back to Go, restarts, jams…goes back to Go, restarts, jams…ad nauseum
My Littermaid was absolutely fantastic…for one cat. Once I got the second, it was being used too often and would start scooping before things settled. The result, like that of others here, was a gunked up machine. Nothing like tines gummed up with litter, cat urine, and feces. BLEH!
My sister-in-law and her husband love theirs – it solved their “cat peeing everywhere” problem. They’ve owned one for several years. I have no idea what brand, but I think they got it at Costco. However, they only have the one cat, so I don’t know how well it would work in a multi-cat household.
I had one. I had to use really good clumping litter to get it to work. I also had a problem with the rake getting gummed up when the cat would pee right at it. Also, if she’d pee near the electric eye, it would cause a clump blocking it which would make the darn thing run continuously.
Most of the time my cat peed right in the center of the box, so it worked okay overall. But it wasn’t really worth the money. You still have to clean out the box full of clumps. And the once a week or so that I spent cleaning up a gummed up rake far outweighed the benefit of avoiding daily scooping.
Yep, one of my friends got one as well, and one of her cats was so scared of the noise it made- for the first four months she had it- that it crapped on the floor instead of using thescary litter box. Turned me off the idea of getting one, that’s for sure.
Had one for about a year (the smaller unit) for 2 cats. Made a lot of noise so I would recommend you put it on a timer at night. It sounds like a can opener on steroids. If you use a timer it will cycle when it is turned back on.
Mine broke after about a year and it was a toss-up whether it saved much time. It’s great if you are are remiss about cleaning out the box daily. the cats weren’t afraid of it but would watch it from a distance everytime it turned on. At some point it will need cleaning and it is not an easy thing to scrub down.
For $100 I would expect a sturdier design. 3 cats would suggest the larger model.
I’m totally happy with mine - I’ve had it since my cat was about 5 months old (she’s 3+ years now), and she’s never had any problems with it. I’m used to the noise it makes, so I hardly notice it anymore - for me, the biggest benefit is odor-control - my apartment doesn’t smell like ‘cat box’. I use clumping litter (Tidy Cat, I think) and Arm and Hammer litter odor controller stuff.
We have the large size Litter Maid for two cats. Love it. The house never smells like cat piss and the cats love using the always pristine box.
Two caveats others have mentioned;
Do not overfill - EVER. That causes the continuous cycling mentioned above.
Choose your litter brand carefully. It must complete the clumping process before the 10 minute deadline or problems ensue. We found that Ever Clean works purrrrrrrfectly with the Litter Maid.
If the noise disturbs you at night you can take up the food dish before you retire. They always poop right after they eat. Or you can unplug it at night. We have not had a problem because the box is in the next room and the noise isn’t much louder than the refrigerator cycling on at that range.
our office cat, “Miss Kitty” got one for Xmas. It works fine, sounds like maybe one cat is OK. I agree with the racket, it sounds like … eh … a pencil sharpener gone mad. But, she agrees with it, and Miss Kathy doesn’t have to clean the litter box so much.