Do you have an automatic litter box?

As I stated in the review below, I have found The Grail. I have a Litter Robot.

http://www.epinions.com/review/Litte...t_208449736324

It's not that I did not want one. I just never felt there was one which worked, until I discovered the Robot.

What about yours?

Hehe that would never work with my crew
I have a couple of litter flingers, one super-sized kitty, and boys who won't use a covered box
With six cats, that thing would be going all the time

So, I get to envy all of you with agreeable cats and automated boxes

I share your sentiments about the Litter Robot. I've gone a step further, and had a custom made "hider" made that looks like fine furniture with a kitty sized door cut unto it. Makes it even more quiet, clean and odor free (I put an open box of carbon filtering material in the corner of the hider.

I have 3 cats, one of which is a 6 month old kitten I got 6 days ago. He went from regular litter box to completely converted to the robot in 4 days. No problems at all, even with my 16 pounder!

Long live Litter Robot!!!!

When we brought Butzie home from the shelter, I played with her when my engineer husband went to buy the accessories which were really high tech. Our automated litter box is open with an arm and the round litter box rotates. Butzie took one look at it and immediately went to the bathroom. She loves it and it is easy to clean.

I would post a picture of it but my personal URL on our service provider is currently down.

Originally Posted by Werebear

As I stated in the review below, I have found The Grail. I have a Litter Robot.

http://www.epinions.com/review/Litte...t_208449736324

It's not that I did not want one. I just never felt there was one which worked, until I discovered the Robot.

What about yours?

Click to expand...

I'm looking into buying this litter robot but I am curious whether this will work with Miracle litter. What kind of litter do you use on your litter robot?

Thanks.

Its definitely a very unique solution and looks great.
I wonder though if people are aware of some potential issues such as this amazon review (and there quite a few of those):

"First, the good. The motor is much quieter than my previous LitterMaid litter box and although it is taller, is takes up less space than the LitterMaid. The Litter Robot is solid and well-made, whereas the LitterMaid was poorly made. Also, the Litter Robot takes 13 gallon trash bags so you won't be a slave to overpriced proprietary waste containers. The maintenance on the robot is minimal. It's easy to put in a new trash bag, and I need to install a new bag every 1.5 weeks with 3 cats. Also, the customer service is extremely nice (and apparently are very aware of the bad news I am about to tell you).

Now for the bad. The first problem is that not every cat uses the device "properly." The cats are supposed to go in and turn around (as shown in Amazon's picture of the device). One of my cats doesn't turn around, and because the edge isn't very high above the litter, she proceeds to urinate/crap over the edge and onto the step of the litter box. There are holes that drain into the container at the bottom (but not into the waste receptacle). Also, the next cat will step into the urine when they go to use the box. It is a disgusting mess!

The controls for the litter box are located such that they get urine on them as well. I've heard from some people that the urine got behind the controls and ruined the circuitry of the device. What a horrible design! The designers HAD to know this was a problem because I've heard of many other people who have had this problem also. Why didn't the designers just move the controls a little left or right? I read about these problems in reviews but I was just hoping that none of MY wonderful cats would do this.

Also, I had a VERY hard time getting 2 of my cats to use the box because they are apparently claustrophobic (I suppose they associated it with the pet taxis used to take them to the vet). If the Litter Box just allowed the back end to be opened up to (even temporarily) my cats would have been MUCH more comfortable to get in the box and check it out. Getting my cats to use the box was a frustrating week long ordeal complete with urination on the floor. Some people's cats won't have this problem and to them I say, "Good for you. Consider yourself lucky."

If I can ever get my cat's to start turning around and quit urinating on the step, the Litter Box will be perfect. However, they could have designed this product so that cats wouldn't be required to turn around. I consider this a MAJOR design flaw so I can't justify giving it a better rating."


I am all about doing a lot of research before spending big amounts of money. I hate returning things.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cus...&s=home-garden

Friend of ours had the exact same problem -- their cat would just pee over the edge, or on the step, rather than go inside and turn around.

I haven't made the leap to the LR yet...waiting to have room and $$ to buy one...maybe they'll come out with an LR3 that addresses the problems of the LR1 and 2 and is cheaper.

I currently have an omega paw rollaway box...like the LR, but YOU roll it. It works well and at ~1/10th the price of the LR, is fine with me right now.

I do have a Q for those of you that own LRs though, how large (heigth, width, etc) is the LR? I've heard that it's huge and hard to hide, but "huge" can mean different things to different people.

Art

Oh, I'd say our robot is about the size of one of those fridges you might use in the dorm at college. Not the small square one, but the taller rectangle one. I think they have the dimensions on the LR site.

Hope this helps.

The great thing about the Robot is that the litter doesn't have to clump hard for it to work. As long as the litter is small enough to fit through its screen, there shouldn't be a problem.

I had no odor until we got a starving kitten, who made it stinky, so I added a cup of Cedariffic litter to the mix and that worked like a charm. Cedariffic doesn't clump of itself, but it doesn't interfere with the clumping litter enough to keep it from working.

The Robot's rolling action not only take stress off the motor (most of the busted LitterMaids I hear of have burned out motors from trying to get a clump off the bottom of the pan... anyone who has given their biceps a workout the same way will know what I mean, it's like cement!) but it "breads" the clumps so that even if the cat doesn't cover, the Robot will do it for them.

My cat Puffy loves covering, and took exception to the Robot uncovering his clumps during the cleaning action, so at first he'd actually stand on the step (which stops it) to cover his stuff up, watch the Robot until it started again and uncovered it, stop it to cover, etc. In a week or so he figured out that it went away anyway, but that was a simple enough problem that fixed itself, and amused both us and Puffy.

I think most automatic litter boxes are dependent on the cat not hitting the wrong spot; one of the things that appealed to me about the Robot was that it offered relatively few ways for the cat to mess up, the but the edge problem is certainly one of them. If your cat or cats routinely has stuff on the edge of the box instead of in it, or dislikes hooded boxes, that's something to think about.

My James Bond is a big boy who likes to perch, but even he got seduced by the Robot's always-clean litter. He loves it now.

Imagine two regular litter boxes, side by side. Now go up a yard. This square space will contain a Robot.

However, it doesn't need anymore space than that; where it fits, it operates.

My husband was apprehensive about putting a litter box in the kitchen, where we have it now, the only place where there is room and an outlet. But it's all enclosed, and we have a mat at the front where most of the scatter winds up, and no odor, and it's about the same as a lidded garbage can where we put food waste. There was no room in the bathroom, where I'd prefer it, but the good news is no more stepping on litter scatter with wet feet after a shower, so on the whole, it's not a problem.

I've found the noise while operating is no more than a microwave, to me. And I've taken the Zen approach. If I do hear that noise, it's the sound of me NOT scooping litter.

Thanks for the information on size... That gives me a better "mental image" than specific measurments.

Art