Does anyone have any experience with self-cleaning cat litter boxes? I’m curious if any particular model of self-cleaning litter box is any good. We now have 4 cats and it would be nice to not have to clean litter boxes manually 1-2 times every day.
Do they separate pee/poop from litter well? Are cats afraid to use them? Do they stink more than regular litter boxes because pee/poop are in them for longer periods? Are they a hassle to clean? Do you have to buy propietary supplies (custom litter? special trays?)?
Thanks for your input.
This is going to sound like hyperbole, but this thing changed my life and I always love it when I get a chance to share it with somebody. It requires no electricity, it has no moving parts and in the 11 years I’ve been using one, it’s never broken. I give you: Omega Paw.
It requires clumping cat litter, so if you use that you’re golden. When it’s time to clean, you roll it - and as you roll, the loose litter flows through a grate, but the clumps and waste stay on top of the grate. As you continue to roll it, the waste falls to the ceiling. When you roll it back, the waste all falls into the drawer, which you pull out and dump. Cleaning the litter box takes literally 10 seconds. It’s awesome.
And what happens with the cat?
It learns after the first time or two
I had one when my cats were kittens, unfortunately one of my cats is freakishly large and can’t turn around in most lidded litter boxes so I had to replace it but it was very convenient. It’s easy to use and the monthly clean out is about the same as any other manual litter box.
Did you have the large one? I have a 17lb long-haired Maine Coon and he has no issues with it, but I do have the large one.
It was the large option at the time but it is not as large as the one in your link. Mine is also all grey. I got 2 cats from my local animal shelter, they were about 2 and 3 months old at the time and the younger one was a little bigger than the older which should have been a warning sign. They are both American shorthairs. My older cat is white with a calico saddle and is only a little bigger than average, she is 14 lbs. My younger cat is almost solid black with 2 little white toes on one of his back feet. He is 22 lbs, over a foot tall, and from his nose to the end of his tail he is 39inches. He can stand on his back feet and get stuff off the kitchen counter.
So, am I missing something? Is my cat just really good at how she uses the litter? Most of the time it takes me 2 seconds to bag my hand to grab a poop, and every other day I’ll also clear out the few clumps of pee she always leaves in the same spot (knock tray back a bit, clumps stay behind, again just grab with bagged hand then spread the litter back). No need for all this extra manual labour and tumbling of poops, it just seems like a lot more work than it has to be? Not having a go, genuinely curious…
Edit: I do realise more cats mean more work and I appreciate it might help then, but still, it seems like making more work for yourself…do you use clumping litter? not everyone does, which can make it messy if you leave it for them to kick up the next time they go. Not to mention the smell… if you’re really leaving your cat’s pee go for days at a time you might be nose blind to the smell it makes.
Honestly I don’t see why anyone would use litter that isn’t clumping, but obviously my habits are different to others, so what do I know… As for the smell, the pee seeps to the bottom and clumps there, where it’s buried under the rest of the litter which keeps the smell trapped. When I shift the litter every other day (so not “days at a time”), yeah, it smells, it’s cat piss, so no smell blindness here, just a system that works for us… ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I hate an open catbox. I also don’t want to directly pick it up, bag or not. So I had to unclip the top and use a scoop, and I had three cats so I did it every day and I just effing hated it.
Fair enough…
I thought it was pretty cool.
We stopped using it because one cat was sick and suffered from diarrhea from cancer. And the clump litter couldnt clump enough, leading to diarrhea wetness when we rolled. That lead to diarrhea on the top part. And the other cats were not happy.
Had to switch to open air litter boxes to meet all their fickle demands. But it was great while it lasted.
Omg thank you for this! I have to go over to my mom’s to clean her litter box all the time. With this she’ll be able to do it herself!
Bought a litter robot 4, wouldn’t do it again for the price. It’s a pain to clean and the cats are always peeing/pooping on the sides. It constantly stopped it cleaning cycle, and ended up growing a ton of bugs inside because the design had some cat poop inside the machine where I couldn’t get to it. I had to dismantle the entire thing taking out every screw to clean it. It’s currently sitting in my basement. I left a similar review on their website and they decided not to post it, I guess they don’t like unfavorable reviews.
I had a Cat Genie for years and loved it. Like others, they’re a bit of a pain to take apart and clean when you need to.
It also had a draw back of sometimes missing a small piece, washing it, then blowing hot air on it to stink up the whole place.
But overall I was happy with it. The only reason I don’t have one now is my living situation changed and I don’t have room for it (requires water hookup and a drain).
Yes what I mentioned may sound annoying but consider this: we had ours hooked up to a laundry drain and had to do no scooping. Ever. We didn’t even have to flush the toilet. Every once in a while we’d plug in a special cartridge to do a self clean cycle, and once a year we’d take it apart to clean the internal section (but honestly it didn’t need this except once due to hard water buildup).
You don’t have to do anything and it always had washed and clean litter. Every once in a while it got a little stinky but what litterbox doesn’t?!
Seriously, highly recommend.
100%
We have 7 cats and 2x Litter Robot 3, and they’re a life saver. I only have to empty the bags every 2ish days, and litter lasts longer since they’re not digging in clumped waste.
They are a bit of a hassle to clean if you don’t keep up with it, though. A full breakdown of the sphere will take a few hours of work. But, if you wipe it out every time you change litter, you will only need to do it every 3-6 months.
3 cats with a litter robot 3 after 3 years. It’s great, easy to repair and parts are available. Save your money and buy a litter bot 3. The 4 has some improvements (it’s quieter) but has some new flaws and a pretty stiff price increase.
Also check out one man six cats on YouTube who has been doing a litter bot mega test of all kinds of brands/styles with his 7 (yes 7) cats.
3 cats, two little robots. They’re a hassle to get calibrated right but once you do get them set up they are great. I would buy them again, can’t imagine going back to scooping every day.
wait, you have robots?
*Litter Robots™ probably
Yes, they’re quite small.
I agree with this.
I also agree, we’ve had one for years and even if it breaks they are easy to repair.
This, plus we’ve gotten a couple replacements from the manufacturer
I had a litter robot 3 for a couple years. The internals corroded and stopped working shortly after the warranty period expired. Bought a popur and it’s been a dream ever since.
I just bought a Litter Robot 4 and in the one week I’ve had it, I just emptied the bag for the first time. No scooping or anything! You can use regular 10-gallon trash bags in the compartment. No proprietary bags required, although they do sell them. The pee/poop get dropped into a compartment below the area where your kitty does its business, so there isn’t any smell.
I’ll go against the grain here and say that no, I don’t think they’re worth it. The litter that automatic litter boxes have to use doesn’t clump and isn’t as effective. Tried it for about a year and then went back to low-tech.
Those were 1st gen, we’re way past that now.
It seems the newer ones do allow more varieties of litter these days but that’s a good reminder not all do.
The one I use only uses clumping litter.
I’d like to go on record and state my opinion that the old school manual scoop method is the best and easiest if you do it twice a day. Takes no more than 30 seconds each time and gives you the added benefit of actively monitoring your cat’s waste for any warning signs of digestive or urinary issues.
Having a dedicated garbage pail for litter purposes only right next to the box makes things super easy and dirt cheap.
I used my Litter Robot for about 6 months, and ended up selling it because:
- It still has to be cleaned. Once a month you are supposed to disassemble and clean the various parts. I found this experience to be pretty nasty. Definitely worse than scooping a box.
- I have a Maine Coon, and she ended up with dirty litter in her fur all of the time.
Edit: - The drawer is small and has to be emptied often if you have multiple cats. I get that you’re still supposed to have multiple boxes available, but that thing cost exponentially more than other litter boxes, so it’s hard not to see it as an attempt at an all-in-one solution.
Once a month you are supposed to disassemble and clean the various parts. I found this experience to be pretty nasty. Definitely worse than scooping a box.
This is why after considering them whenever they come up, I’ve always decided against them, the poop isn’t magically gone, it’s just been moved, and still needs cleaning, now potentially after being manipulated by and/or getting stuck in moving parts… No thanks lol
Litter robot is pretty good. I have 3 of them, and while the new ones look nicer, my older ones work better imo. You have to use a good brand of clumping litter, or it won’t work at all.
There is also Cat genie, which requires a waterline, and it uses reusable little balls instead of litter. After your cat goes to the bathroom, it self cleans the balls and flushes out the poo and pee, and then it dries itself with hot air. I would love to get one of these but they are fairly big and I just don’t have the space for it.
I use a pet safe brand autoscooping litter box. It has disposable litter containers and reusable ones. It’s hella expensive, but worth it cause one pack of litter lasts 2-3 weeks for me. I’m also lazy, and it eliminates daily scooping.
I also have the pet safe for about 2 years, it’s been great so far. Definitely recommend the reusable tray if you want to keep costs down, the disposal trays are pretty pricey. I just dump the tray every 40-50 uses and it’s good to go. You have to use crystal litter though and that’s more expensive than clay stuff.
I got the reusable tray recently and it’s been great. I save like $30/month using it. A lot of people think I’m crazy for shelling out so much on a litter box, but it’s totally worth it. It’s so easy.
i have like 9 cats using a single catlink space ship looking thing and it is a miracle basically. use clumping litter and check the tray at some regular interval depending on how many cats you have.
Can you share the product? Every single one I used was hot garbage with just two cats.
you don’t need anything fancy, but you want this general orb design. you need to get cat litter that clumps, and has pieces small enough that dry litter passes through the sieve thing. the clumping property is the key to piss.
if you have a shitload of cats, check the tray once a day. if you have one cat, maybe once a week. if your wife yells at you, just look at her sideways and then unplug it and plug it back in so that it cycles once.
Squeeze your cat like a tube of toothpaste into your back garden.
I’d say it depends, do you have any long-haired cats?
I have had no luck with them in in the past, and have had to avoid them now as we have long-haired cats, which clumping kitty litter with long-hairs is usually a disaster with litter getting stuck on them.I just think its part of the daily ritual, or in my case multiple times daily due to having a herd of cats. I don’t enjoy it, but its better than the house smelling like cat waste.
