Automatic Kitty Litter boxes

Oreo's 1st poopy! - Photo of our kitten Oreo taking his first you know whatsy! My husband took this photo... of course. lol
@koalatbs (2229)
United States
January 10, 2011 8:44am CST
Has anybody ever owned an automatic kitty litter box? If so, what did you think of it & what brand was it? We are thinking of getting one since we now have 3 cats and cleaning it 2 to 3 times a day is getting really old. Thanks!
4 people like this
15 responses
@shaggin (71573)
• United States
10 Jan 11
I just have a regular kitty litter box that I have to go out in our back room to scoop the poop out. Its gross. I dont think automatic kitty litter boxes are any better at least the models that I have seen. The ones I have seen will constantly sift through the litter. If the poop is really really fresh it gets all over the sorting thing and just makes a gross mess. When poop is like that in the litter box I carefully roll it in the kitty litter so I can throw it in the garbage without getting it all over my sifting thing. Also the automatic kitty litter box I saw just pushes the poop out of the cat litter box and dumps it in a little side section. It didnt cover up the poop like in an enclosure or anything so the poop just sat there stinking.
1 person likes this
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
10 Jan 11
That for the reply shaggin & CatGods. I hope some other people respond who have had an automatic litter box before. I want to find out their opinion as well. I understand what you mean CatGods but with having a dog too that likes to get into the box and eat the stuff before you can get to cleaning it doesn't help either. I just had an incident this morning where my dog must have ate a bunch of the litter and it's contents because he has thrown up twice this morning and my oh my does it stink. I can tell that it was the litter because of the consistency (don't mean to be gross but there's no easy way to describe it). Anyway, I'd love a fresher smell in the air and a safer alternative for our doggie too.
2 people like this
@shaggin (71573)
• United States
10 Jan 11
Oh my gosh that is so disgusting lol. I know that my parents dog used to eat the rabbit poop if it fell out of the cage. It would have such bad breath from it. I think I would vomit myself having to clean up after my dog puked up cat poop. So gross. Maybe they now have automatic cat scopping litter boxes that dump the poop into something that closes after the poop is placed in it. That would make so much more sense and be so much better. It would cut down on the smell as well as your dog eating the poop lol.
2 people like this
@LadyMarissa (12148)
• United States
11 Jan 11
koala... I used to have a dog like that. I mentioned it to my vet & he gave me some stuff to put on the cat's food so her poop would taste NASTY to the dog. He said the cat's system wasn't processing er food properly & her poop still smelled & tasted like it just came out of the can. I laughed when he told he what he was doing; but, it worked. Fortunately, she didn't have to take it for long. That cat lived for 15 years & the dog for 10 & he never ate her poop again after about 3 days of the med!!! I don't remember the name, but you might want to mention it to your vet.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Jan 11
well i have had a positive and negative experience with littermaid automatic cat boxes.. the 1st one i got back in 2005 was AWESOME! it worked great! when it broke and i got the new improved upgraded one it was AWFUL! the rake never seemed to scoop low enough to it would pretty much skim everything and not scoop anything! it also had digital settings and i could never figure out how to adjust the time so it was stuck on every 10 minutes after use the old one didnt have adjustible settings and was like 2 minutes after.. also getting the right litter is hard.. i was using arm and hammer clumping but recently switched to natures best which clumps well and i would think would do good in it.. honestly im scared to waste another $100+ for a box in fear ill have the same bad luck.. they have some really fancy ones that you can hook up to your plumbing and it works like a toilet but thats really really expensive.. no matter what you do search and see if there are any complaints on the box and maybe you can dodge a bullet.. i tried to contact customer service over this last box and they told me i had the rake in the wrong place.. umm only one track to put it on *head to desk*
1 person likes this
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
13 Jan 11
I've always said they just don't make things like they used to!
@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
10 Jan 11
I've had the littermaid, and one other one. The littermaid lasted better, but you still need to think about more than one box. Now, I have a friend who has one of those "never touch litter again" ones, and she loves it, has 4 BIG cats and no problems.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
11 Jan 11
Is it actually called "never touch litter again"? I've never heard of that before. Would love to know exactly what kind your friend uses.
1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
11 Jan 11
http://www.catgenie.com/
1 person likes this
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
12 Jan 11
Thanks Maggiepie! I'll check that one out.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (45226)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
10 Jan 11
My sister had one (not sure if she still does...). She found it very useful.
@BarBaraPrz (45226)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
10 Jan 11
Or maybe not... Here's what she wrote back: [i]"No, we sold it a couple of years ago. It was the “littermaid” automatic one – you could program it to only go off during the day if you wanted to. They are okay, but the containers are expensive. We just kept re-using one by putting in the green kitchen garbage bags and throwing that out to save on cost (10 containers for about $25 - $30) and if you have more than one cat – they fill up quick and then the door that “seals” it doesn’t close, defeating the purpose. And the gears that run the rake to scoop crap out get noisy after a while. Long story short – we wouldn’t buy one again."[/i]
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
11 Jan 11
Thanks so much for checking with her BarBaraPrz! I really appreciate you doing that for me.
1 person likes this
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
10 Jan 11
Next time you talk to her, can you ask her what kind it is? I'm trying to find out which ones work the best. Thanks a bunch!
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
12 Jan 11
My sister has one for her cats, and she likes it. But my cats (2 out of 3) spook at electronic noises, so I'd say it's a no no for my household.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
13 Jan 11
Thanks Dawn! Anyway that you can ask you sister what brand/model she has? That would really help me a lot because I need to know which ones work and since your sister likes hers, I'd really like to know what kind it is. Thanks!
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
14 Jan 11
She's going to check for me tonight when she's home.
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
15 Jan 11
Litter Maid Plus
@Shar19 (8231)
• United States
10 Jan 11
My husband bought one years ago when we had cats. I don't remember what the brand was but I think it was the first one that came out on the market. It worked for a few weeks and then something happened with the motor and it broke. So basically it was a waste of money.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
11 Jan 11
Good idea Shar19! I'll definitely check out the consumer reports online.
1 person likes this
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
10 Jan 11
That is what I'm worried about... wasting our money on something that expensive and then it either not working properly, breaking completely or the cats not using it. That is why I'm asking around to try to find out which brand has worked the best from others people perspective. Gotta do my research before investing.
@Shar19 (8231)
• United States
10 Jan 11
Maybe you can check with Consumer Reports. If we ever get cats again, I would just stick with the regular litter box and buy better cat litter.
@jwfarrimond (4473)
11 Jan 11
No never had an automatic litter box for several reasons. 1/ The cat's would probably not use it. 2/ I'd need several of them ( 7 cats) and that would be really expensive and even more so if the cats did not use them anyway. 3/ they still need to be cleaned / emptied and I saw that as being no different from scooping a regular open tray and actually probably more work than with an open tray. 4/ They use electricity and a plastic tray does not! As I mentioned above, I've got seven cats and five litter trays scattered around the house. Scooping them is one of the jobs that I do in the morning and then during the day I try to scoop as soon as one of the cats has used a tray. I use "Worlds Best Cat Litter" which is probably one of the best that I have ever used though it is more expensive than other litters, I'd sooner pay more for a product that actually works rather than less for one that is not as effective at absorbing liquids or smells.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
13 Jan 11
Arm & Hammer Essentials Kitty Litter - I found this to be the best kitty litter that we have tried and believe me we've tried so many. This one is 100% natural and virtually dust free, which is great.
Wow... that IS a lot of cats! We tried Worlds Best Cat Litter but didn't like it. I thought it smelled too much. Right now we use Arm & Hammer's Essentials Natural Clumping Litter and like it the best. It clumps really well and the litter doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the box like with other litters. Here is the link to it in case you want to check it out... http://www.armandhammer.com/pet-care/cat-care/Products/arm-and-hammer-essentials-natural-clumping-litter.aspx It is also 100% natural and dust free (the dust free part is why my husband likes it so much). If we do buy an automatic kitty litter box, we'd still use this litter in it.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
11 Jan 11
I'd tho9ught about getting one myself but then my nephew told me they'd had one but before very long it stopped working, probably because he has too many cats and the motor has to really work hard. He has 7 and I have 5 so 3 might not be too many because they're pretty big, as I understand it. They're also rather expensive, which is why I don't want to take a chance on something that will only work for a short time. I know what you mean about cleaning the boxes constantly! I have two boxes for my 5 cats and we clean them about 4 or 5 times a day, I'd guess. It seems that every time we clean them they get in and go some more...lol! Annie
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
12 Jan 11
I know... I know... I've been procrastinating going to clean the box all morning! Guess I better go do it and get it over with. ugh!
• United States
14 Jan 11
i haven't-but friends have..and some of them have told me their cats were scared by it.the one took almost a month to get used to the sound it made,and pooped outside the box. with 6..i think i'll pass.that's a lot of potential poop.
• United States
18 Feb 11
the "kitty toilet" you hook up to your water/sewer looks promising tho. that,i think they might try.my bunch would need kitty stairs to get to it tho,4 of 6 are elderly.maybe the next bunch.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
26 Jan 11
That is sooo true! I don't know if I'd be up for that potential poops either! lol We have three cats so I'm nervous about buying one too. You just never know how they might react. We haven't decided yet if we are going to buy an automatic litter box yet or not, and if so, which kind we'd get. But, only time will tell and I'll be sure to let you know what we decide to do. It is a big investment, that is why I wanted other people's opinions who've actually tried them before.
1 person likes this
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
10 Jan 11
We had one. I can't remember the brand but it was round. At first, it scared the bejeebers out of me whenever it would start because they aren't quiet! It scared the cats a few times, too, if they happened to be nearby when the thing would start cleaning. (They do this automatically a few minutes after the cat has left the box.) We bought this particular brand because it was the largest of all that were on the market. The others were, in my opinion, too small for the average cat to be happy with. It was okay but didn't do a great job. Sometimmes, the poop would get stuck between the tines of the comb. Sometimes, it would push the clumps to the sides where they weren't touched by the tines. I didn't find it to be any less "labor intensive" than the old-fashioned boxes that you clean yourself, since you also have to clean the receptacle every day as well as scoop out the missed clumps and, occasionally, have to get clumps unstuck from between the tines.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
11 Jan 11
Yuck... cleaning out the tines full of poop doesn't sound fun at all. Maybe I need to rethink this.
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
10 Jan 11
I can definitely relate to you on this. I also have 3 cats and have to clean it constantly. I don't understand how something so small can produce so much poop. What the heck? lol. I have always been interested in automatic kitty litters, but I always suspected that they would be quite costly and I don't really want to spend the money. Well if you find a good-priced one that works well, please let me know. :)
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
11 Jan 11
I will _sketch_... I'm looking & looking for the best out there!
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
10 Jan 11
I was going to get one until I went over to a friends house and saw hers. She said it was horrible and much harder to clean. There are the grooves and such where poop sometimes get stuck. I decided to stick with the regular litter box and scoop it out with a scooper.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
11 Jan 11
Ewwww JenInTN! Doesn't sound fun.
@katie0 (5203)
• Japan
11 Jan 11
that's really amazing, i want one! i have 4 cats, that's a lot of ...you know, lol sorry i don't have one but would never know about it if wasn't for this topic
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
12 Jan 11
Well, I will let you know if we ever buy one and how well it ends up working.
• United States
11 Jan 11
We bought a littermaid automatic litter box that was refurbished. This is not recommended. The blades kept getting stuck. We would have to get up and turn it off, clean the blades then turn it back on. Sometimes it would try to sweep the litterbox with the cat in it because we had a cat with obsessive compulsive disorder that spent twenty minutes digging even if the litterbox was clean. It got to the point that we took the batteries out and used it as a regular box then we had problems with the cat sitting on the ledge and using it as a toilet. We got rid of it and got a regular cat box and have had no problems since. My cats developed a fear of the rake and would not go in the box even after we turned it off.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
13 Jan 11
I definitely wouldn't want to purchase a refurbish automatic litter box for our cats. From what you said, it wasn't a good idea, huh?! I don't know if I'd purchase a refurbished anything, too much of a chance of problems down the road, I think anyway. I've heard several people mention that their cats were afraid of the sound that the automatic box makes when it cleans. That might be an issue too. Gonna really have to think about this before we actually decide to make a purchase or not.
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
10 Jan 11
We had on and we loved it. I had 2 cats. It was awesome. Try LitterMaid! I no longer need it. We had to find our cats homes when my daughter became allergic. But I still recommend it any chance I get.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
10 Jan 11
Thanks ersmommy1. If there is any way you can find out exactly which Littermaid model you had that would be great. There are so many of them out there. Glad your cats like it! :)