Is there an easier way???

Yeah, I think those self cleaners are a gimmick. Nothing beats the best litter.

X

I think any electronic type of box is going to break down eventually. We had a Littermaid for a few years and it was great, but it eventually stopped working (it would get "stuck" more and more often). We ended up going back to scooping by hand; it's easier than fixing the Littermaid every time it jams.

I had one of the self-cleaning myself and it never swept right from day one. My cat likes to dig and bury so it wasn't getting everything and the pee was getting stuck to the bottom. What I started doing is turning it off and running it myself a few times a day by plugging it back in, that just caused more problems. It was also a pain to clean because his business was getting caught in the spokes. Eventually I was scooping myself anyway and threw the thing out after about a year. I got a run of the mill dome box and he loves the privacy and the depth of the litter, he can dig and scoop without making too much of a mess. Sometimes sticking to the old fashioned way of doing things winds up being better.

good ol' scoopin' it by hand.

Being a stay at home mom I'm able to scoop a couple times a day so I'm kind of like my own 'automatic' litter scooper LOL!

In the morning before the kids get up, I scoop the boxes in the afternoon & in the evening after the kids go down for the night.

I'm paranoid of my house "smelling like a litter box" I know it doesn't and wouldn't... but our neighboors have 4 cats & man when they open their front door... it smells like litter. BLEGH! When they come to talk to us, the smell is stuck to their clothes, etc... it is SO gross.

Litter Robots take care of all pee and poo and will work until their motor wears out...years and years from now. I'll never be without one.

I guess I just don't get the whole "automatic litter box" thing. I'm sure a lot of you guys have them here, but I will never buy one (even though the thought has crossed my mind).

The reasons why I won't buy one:

1. It only takes me about 30 seconds to hand scoop mine. I do it before bed as a daily routine. With an automatic one, you still have to bend down and empty the poop and pee. While you're down there, you might as well scoop it!

2. It must be a pain to disenfect. Once a month or more, I empty my entire cat box and disinfect it by scrubbing it out in the bathtub, then spraying Clorox Anywhere Disinfecting Spray, dry it out, and refill with fresh litter. How could you do that with a huge, bulky, "machine" that you can't get wet?

3. My cat would absolutely freak out at any noise it made, no matter how quiet, and would probably avoid going into it altogether. No point in hiding it... she's a scaredy cat.

4. It's just one more appliance to take up my already overused electrical outlets. It's expensive and if it breaks, you have to buy a new one.

Okay, okay. I understand most of you have more than one cat and find automatic litterboxes extremely helpful. I guess I've just never had the pleasure of being around one or really know much about them. (Who knows, if I tried it I might change my story completely!).

I guess I would need major convincing before I shelled out that much money for one. I'd rather put that money into a vet fund for her in case she needs it. Seems smarter to me.

indeed... I agree with the above.

When I had my previous kitties Alley & Rylan, we had a LitterMaid... I paid BIG money for it as I got one when they FIRST HIT the market and I got the BIG version.

Rylan used it just fine... it scard the tar out of Alley when it turned on once and she became TERRIFIED of it and she began to use my PAPAZAN chair as her litterbox... I bought a new cushion & unplugged the Littermaid... & bought a new papazan chair cushion, she continued to use the PAPAZAN chair!

(I lived in an apartment at the time)

I took the papazan chair piece by piece... and THREW it in the big DUMPSTER at the apartment complex. THEN I went inside... and picked up that big ol' LitterMaid & stormed outside and HUCKED it into the Dumpster! (costed $199.99 plus shipping at that time... RIGHT into the dumpster, along with that $90 papazan with the $60 Cushion I bought the day before)

I walked in, put the old hooded litterbox(es) back out... Alley jumped right in and used it...

lol.

That was my journey with litterbox technology and my 21-22 year old temper tantrum (I don't remember how old) at the time.