I have one of those. I love it- it’s easier to deal with than the automatic Litter Maid, IMO. But you do have to have cats that will tolerate a covered litter box, and that’s not 100% of cats. When that was our only litter box, one of the cats started thinking outside the box a bit. We added an uncovered Litter Maid, and that seemed to solve the problem. The problem could, admittedly, have been either our cat not liking covered litter boxes or our two cats not wanting to share a litter box any more.
I have never had a problem with the LitterMaid scooping while a cat was in the box. I have, however, had problems with the Litter Maid breaking. I’ve also had problems with one of the cats creating a “hill” of litter on one side of the box, and that making the Litter Maid oscillate back and forth because it couldn’t go all the way to one end of the box or the other. I had to even out the distribution of litter with a scoop when that happened.
I only have two cats, but I’m lazy and have occasional back pain, so I don’t like scooping litter boxes myself.
I think I am going to save up for a Roomba. I can isolate the dogs while it’s running so it doesn’t roll through any puddles. Or I can at least let it clean the critter-free zones of the house, so I don’t have to do those.
Nature’s Miracle is awesome, but since I no longer have any carpet or upholstery there’s no need for it. All my hard surfaces are sealed so a little soap and water will destroy any odors.
And one of those litterboxes may be worth a try–we have only covered litterboxes here so that won’t be a problem. Scooping isn’t my most hated chore exactly (what I really hate is folding laundry, but that’s not pet-related), but it is a little time consuming.
One thing that has saved me a ton of time: Get a large Rubber Maid storage bin. Cut a cat sized hole in one end with a box cutter. Place litter box inside. This keeps all the litter bits inside the storage bin and keeps the dogs away.
I love, love, love the Scoop Free automated litter box; it’s way cheaper than the Littermaid, and there’s no risk of overfilling. Changing the cartridges is a snap; one cartridge easily lasted 2-3 weeks with our two (they’re allowed to go out into an enclosed courtyard so they don’t use the box all the time).
I also highly recommend the extra-large Swiffer broom; I spray it lightly with a pledge-type product, and it picks up all sorts of things which enables me to cut back to once-a-week mopping.
Hm. We had a roomba, and it wasn’t worth it for us. It sounds like you have minimal furniture, so maybe it will work for you, but it took longer to prep our house for the roomba than it does to just run the little cordless vacuum I mentioned earlier around. It got caught on our computer chair, all our barstools, any cords that were touching the ground, various pieces of low furniture, etc. And then the roomba takes maybe an hour or so to clean the floors, and doesn’t get everywhere, and I then have to listen to it for that time…we ended up rarely using it, and gave it away. But if you have almost nothing else in your place, it would probably do OK for you. I do think a regular cordless vac will be more efficient, though.
Bed
Dresser
Vanity
4 end tables
dining room table
Jackson Press
Zenith TV/record player cabinet
3 dining chairs
tv stand
desk
2 bookshelves
computer chair
filing cabinet
That includes the entire house. So not much prep needed. I am in posession of an antique DustBuster, so I may pull that out of storage and give it a try too.