Anyone tried the Litter Robot?

[crumbandharvey]

It's kinda my new obsession. It seems too cool to be true, though. And it looks like THE DEATH STAAAARRRR...

http://www.litter-robot.com

Reviews are pretty good on Amazon, and I watched a few videos on YouTube of it in action too. With my work schedule (for those out-of-the-know, I perform about 18-20 shows a week for children plus I have another part time job... and a babysitting gig... yeah.) I really don't scoop as much as I should. Luckily my boys are awesome and have never had any complaints or problems with using the litterbox, no matter how bad I've been. For when I've gone too long, I try to keep some sifting liners in the pan's bottom to be able to just lift and sift, but when I resort to that, we go through SO much litter. Plus in a 2 bedroom apartment in NYC, the smell can get pretty righteous pretty fast.

I've found some on Craigslist for under $100-200 within driving distance, and I feel like I'd save that in litter and liners in no time if it works as well as it says. Has anyone had positive or negative experience with them?

 

[thembcat]

I don't know from personal experience but I have heard bad things about any litter box that you separate clumps by rotating the unit. I've heard that some cats don't like using it because when the unit rotates, cat urine pretty much gets transfered all the inside surface when it turns and some cats find it unpleasant. Kind of like people when they go into a bathroom that smells like pee and has pee and poo stains on the walls. I'm sure if you wipe down the inside walls it should be fine though.
Personally the automatic litter box that I'm most interested in, and if I ever have an extra $300 laying around, I'm going to buy is the CatGenie. http://www.catgenie.com/ It literally washes and sanitizes the litter. All you do is attach the unit with a T-adapter (supplied) to a cold water line (like your toliet or washer) and plug the power cord to a 120volt ac electric outlet and you're good to go. The granules are 100% biodegradable so what few granules that get flushed away won't clog up your lines. Pretty much, from what I understand is that, the only litter you have to add is just to replace what gets tracked out.
I've heard some bad reveiws about the original generation mondel but it seems like they got all the kinks worked out in the newer models. The only real bad reveiws I now see, seem to be because they got a defective model but from most people they said that customer service is great and they will send you a new replacement one right away.

 

[ducman69]

Originally Posted by TheMBCat

I don't know from personal experience but I have heard bad things about any litter box that you separate clumps by rotating the unit. I've heard that some cats don't like using it because when the unit rotates, cat urine pretty much gets transfered all the inside surface when it turns and some cats find it unpleasant.

It would depend on the timer. We have boxes that you rotate, and the litter clumps are hard as a rock by the time I get around to it, and would not transfer any moisture onto the box surface. In fact, the Omega Paw rolling box is the #1 selling litter box on Amazon, with complaints generally only about tabs that hold the top to the bottom breaking. My four still have all their tabs. *knock on wood*

The Litter Robot has a risk free trial, so you really have nothing to lose but your time.

However, this is why I didn't buy a it:
1) Both of my cats like to go to the bathroom at the same time. This means I would need two Robots. That's $700.... $700.
2) The units aren't large, and I don't think Wesley and Buttercup are smart enough to realize that one is in its cleaning cycle, and they need to go to the other closet to use the fresh ready one, and the unit has no means to block a cat from entering.

There are over 265 verified Amazon reviews for the unit though if you count the other listings for it, and they are VERY positive though:
http://www.amazon.com/Litter-Robot-A...owViewpoints=1

But again, plastic box that you merely have to roll = $30. plastic box that rolls itself = $350. I'm lazy, but not $320 lazy. That said, I did decorate my Asus black stealth gamer laptop to look like the Battlestar Galactica Blackbird which gets "oohs and ahhs", and I bet a gray litterbox with some artwork to look like the Deathstar would be... well... EPIC!

 

[crumbandharvey]

I do know from videos online that Litter Robot has a motion sensor so that if the cat enters during the cleaning cycle, it stops its rotation. It's a good point about a bathroom with pee on the walls... but it supposedly waits 7 minutes before it rotates. My boys never go to the bathroom together, they just like to wait for one another to come out to playattack. I know we should have more, but we only have the 1 litterbox... we just don't have room for more in our apartment. And since they have no problems with potty behavior... yeah.

Also, I don't have $300 to blow on anything!... but I found 2 online on Craigslist for around $100-$125. The one I'm talking to the guy right now about is cream colored and he still has the original receipt. So while I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the trial, I'd be able to send it in for repairs if anything went wrong with it.