I am using Fresh Step Multi-Cat with a Littermaid Elite.

The rake gets stuck all the time. Other times the rake breaks up what it's supposed to rake.

I think it's the litter causing the problems. Sometimes it cements to the bottom of the pan, other times it breaks up. I wonder if another litter would work better?

I would love to get rid of this loud squeeling when the rake is stuck. The box is much louder than I anticipated.

ETA: also, what is the best place to buy the receptacles? Petco wants $26 for 12. Target was a little more reasonable at $18 for 15... but even that seemed high for disposable plastic receptacles.

You can just dump out the receptacles and re-use them....no reason to replace them every time. Only when they get too nasty.

Best results for Littermaid I've heard of was a fine crystal-type litter. I think they sell one at Petsmart. But I've never used a Littermaid, so I'm no expert.

crystal litter? I thought the Littermaid manual specifically said not to use crystal litter? I don't know why, but I think that's what it says.

Also, on the subject - is a LitterMaid Elite ok for 2 cats? I got it because I couldn't get the Mega in the spot I wanted to put the litterbox without it blocking the door to the cleaning supplies closet from opening. I'm wondering if I should have found a different spot and gotten the Mega though. :rolleyes:

Well, I heard it has to be a very FINE crystal litter, with the granules no bigger than the granules of a larger-grain scoopable litter. Let me see if I can find the info I saw before......hmmm, can't find it, but if you Google "using crystal litter in littermaid", you can see some interesting discussions. Evidently if you use crystal litter and your box burns out (which they seem prone to doing no matter what litter you use), Littermaid will tell you it's your own fault.

Also, Littermaid makes a scooping litter "especially" for their box. I don't know where you'd buy it or how well it works, but it might be worth a try.

I don`t know if this is good but I use a half and half mixture of Fresh Step and Johnny Cat. "The Dark One" seems to like this blend better than either product alone. I`ve heard some people sprinkle a little bit of baking soda in the box. Is that worth doing?

ScoopAway seems to clump the most firmly, altho if you have cats that pee near the rake [like i do] then you can still have problems even with a super-hard clumping brand.

spraying the bottom & sides w/non-stick cooking spray before adding litter to a clean box seems to help some.

this is the reason the litter scoop they include has those little notches - it's for cleaning out stuck litter from the rake. that's all i use that one for - i have a metal scoop for other things. the metal one works really well at loosening anything that sticks to the bottom, btw.

i line my receptacles w/4 gallon trash bags [the store brand seems to work best, & it's also the cheapest!] & that way i only have to change out the receptacle when it starts splitting [which it does, eventually].