Self-cleaning litter boxes = less smell?

I'm getting to my wits end here! Two cats in a small apartment isn't that bad, except put the two litter boxes together and peeeeeeeee---uuuuuuuuuu!

I'd like to eliminate one of the boxes (the one they both use the most) and possibly replace it with a decent self-cleaning box (which might give me a break for a day from cleaning instead of my at-least-once-a-day cleanings).

So questions...

1. will this help with the smell?
and
2. which do you recommend (price, noise, etc).

This might need to be moved to the care and grooming forum!

Oops!

what kind of litter are you using???

Clumping non-name brand from a large grocery store here. I found it was the best with the odor masking/absorbing.

But still stinky.

What are you feeding the cats? Feeding a higher quality food will sometimes reduce the smell.

Originally Posted by gayef

What are you feeding the cats? Feeding a higher quality food will sometimes reduce the smell.

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I beleive food and allergies have been trouble for Home....I totally agree on the higher quality the less smell...

I have the Littermaid Mega. I LOVE it!! It was expensive and I researched a lot before I bought it. Seemed as if it got the same amount of good reviews as it did bad. I took a chance and bought it anyways, and never regretted it. Of course it takes maintence but no more than scooping a litterbox, and the cut down on smell was incredible. I was an avid scooper and never left the litterbox dirty therefore I thought it didn't smell. When we put the littermaid out we could smell the difference immediately. I couldn't believe how bad the other stunk!!! Like I said....LOVE IT, but it seems to get a lot of mixed opinions. Hope that helps.

I'm feeding them Wellness and Wysong.

I'll move this to Care and Grooming for you

My main concern is smell and noise.
If the littermaid really noisey?

Patches and Beauty are too big for the Auto-Litter box, but Luna loves it! The only time it smells is if you don't change the plastic box in time and the cover can't close.

It's not terribly noisy though...it becomes a part of the background noise. Your cats will probably get YOU use to it right away. When we first got ours, Luna kept sneaking in there and not doing anything, but just wanted to set it off. She's very particular about the Litterboxes and just loved watching it scoop!

Does anyone have advice for non-clumping litter? We use Hartz and my mom really doesn't want to change to a different type of litter. The cat box is in the basement so sound really isn't an issue. The only one I've found is the Litter-Robot... but it's around $300.

Does the litter really matter for self-cleaning boxes?

Originally Posted by home.slice

My main concern is smell and noise.
If the littermaid really noisey?

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We have now had three Littermaid boxes; each time one would fail we'd replace it. Fortunately the first was under warranty. I think it helped the smell a little, but changing the containers was a pain.
It is incredibly noisy to me! And all three were the same! You do get used to it, but it takes a while and if your cat uses the box at night...
I finally gave up on LitterMaid and just bought the Litter Locker--like a Diaper Genie for cats. Although it requires scooping, it is by far the best product I've ever had for the litter box and it's so easy to keep the box clean that we never have a problem. It also makes disposal a snap.
After lots of research, I doubt we'll buy another automatic box unless something really new comes out.