Automatic Litter Boxes...

Ok I know we've discussed these plenty, but my brother's b-day is coming up and I've decided to get him and my sil one of these as a joint gift.... (their box is always disgusting as they play the 'well I did it last' game and it goes days on end without being cleaned:yuck: and they only have two cats!!!) :frustrated:

With my little nephew walking now I think one of those would be welcomed by both of them and definitely by their kitties! I know some of you use them so I would really appreciate tips and opinions on the ones you have or have used. I need one that can be set to scoop a couple times a day/ or only when needed as I think if it did it right after the cat got out, their poor Zeke might never use it again (very skittish cat). The toilet one that washes itself looks cool but is much more than I can spend.

I am planning to research them on the net, it's just always nice to have advice from someone who actually uses them (and not from their website testimonials cause who knows if they are really true).

Thanks in advance! :D

I never found one that handled six cats very well but I tried two. The first was the Litter Maid which I figured HAD to be good since it was over $100! :yell: Unfortunately, the box part was so shallow that the cat's urine stuck to the bottom of the box successfully foiling the mechanism:yuck:. On top of that the mechanism had a tendancy to fire before the litter had clumped enough and I ended up with broken clumps strewn throughout the litter:yuck::mad:! To top those matters off, you STILL have to clean the receptacle and that was a PAIN - and it's MUCH more important that you do it regularly so if you're not that good at cleaning the box in the first place, you might end up worse off than with a regular box!!!:wall:

The second one I tried was much cheaper and much better:cloud9:. It was the Omega Paw. This one isn't exactly self cleaning; it's actually just round, so you roll it over onto it's top, and roll it back. When you roll it, the unclumped litter falls through the screen and the clumps get dumped into a pullout drawer. This worked much better than the Litter Maid and it didn't have to be plugged in which was a huge plus:thumbs up. All in all, I liked this until the plastic tabs which attached the top and bottom together weakened and broke (making it kind of useless). Once that happened, I didn't replace it mainly because my cats had never liked it as much as my regular box - I think that's because it's covered and my cats have a definite preference for open air boxes. If you don't give the cats a choice :laughing: or if they are less picky than mine, this would not be an issue for you (or your brother).

All in all, if I were going to get another one, it'd be the Omega Paw. It's quite cheap and had none of the issues which made the Litter Maid such a waste of money. As it turned out for me, I don't really mind cleaning the boxes unless I don't do it. I know that sounds odd, but I don't mind doing it if it takes a minute and a half, so I just do it more often making it less of a chore. That said, I'd go for the Omega for your bro. Just don't waste your money on the Litter Maid!

The omega paw sounds like the litter-robot, except manual ? If that's the case it would probably be really good since reviews for the litter-robot are great (but its freaking expensive) :thumbs up

may I ask where u bought the omega paw? (sorry to butt in on ure post krdahmer), but this is one of those things i keep thinking about every once in a while

Butt away onster.... :D

Anyone seen this one before? I saw a video of it in action on ebay and it seems to even scrape the sides as it goes around...

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B00134CTWE/102-2586061-6976101?ie=UTF8&ref%5F=sr%5F1%5F21&qid=1204286902&mqnodeid=16367331&searsBrand=core&lang=en

And my brother only has two cats, both around 10 lbs...

And I like that it's at sears... easy to return if they don't like it (the only thing I don't like about ebay... pain to return things) :thumbs up

I personally want one of those flushing ones that look like a toilet... don't think it could keep up to six though, and for $350... not now.

lol i searched it on youtube and came up with this

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0Eby6c7YpOw

now THAt is a weird contraption. 30 mins? holy. hahaha my bunduq would take a joyride on the conveyor belt.


Do u have the link for the one u posted in action krdahmer? It does seem small, but if ure bros cats are tiny :shrug::)

yeah...when I have my own house someday, there will be toielt for the cats where I can attach those flushing ones :D except id have to keep buying that sani-solution stuff...*sigh*

Man I don't think that lady ever scooped her litter box... and why would you dump the old used litter into a new box??? :headslap: Plus it says right in the ad that you have to use high quality litter (I imagine they mean like wheat or the like)...

Here's the other action one... you have to scroll down to about the third or fourth pic and you can see that with one clump it works pretty good.http://cgi.ebay.ca/Petsafe-Simply-Clean-Automatic-Self-Cleaning-Litter-Box_W0QQitemZ180111098220QQihZ008QQcategoryZ29853Q QtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

That Omega rolling one seems good too, I'm just afraid they'll be too lazy to be bothered rolling it over like they are now! :rolleyes:

I'm getting them some of the Swheat Scoop litter too for sure... I think part of why they hate cleaning it is that the cheap Costco litter really stinks when it gets dirty. Sometimes my mom and me scoop it and clean it for them when we visit... how's that for hospitality! :laughing:

ohhhhh its the same thing :lightbulb: Just with the conveyor uncovered.

lol...

Yep, omega paw seems the best choice IF they can rotate it every once in a while...otherwise sears one seems like the best option. Maybe u could get them an omega-paw for now (its pretty cheap) and if they still dont clean...eventually get them the sears one? apparently u can get the omega 4 $24, so not so bad.

Butt away onster.... :D

Anyone seen this one before? I saw a video of it in action on ebay and it seems to even scrape the sides as it goes around...

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B00134CTWE/102-2586061-6976101?ie=UTF8&ref%5F=sr%5F1%5F21&qid=1204286902&mqnodeid=16367331&searsBrand=core&lang=en

And my brother only has two cats, both around 10 lbs...

And I like that it's at sears... easy to return if they don't like it (the only thing I don't like about ebay... pain to return things) :thumbs up

I've seen this one, but it doesn't seem to give any room to move around.

I used to have a Litter Maid. It held the litter and I was it's maid. I hated it. I was scooping more often than before I had it, and don't fill it too much or the rake will keep going back and forth until you take some litter out.

At the time I only had Vlad and Oksana, and I was changing the plastic container several times a week. The containers can get expensive and they are tricky to get in.

I found that scooping it myself was the best option.

I've also seen the Cat Genie, I wouldn't mind trying it, but I don't have enough room to put one in my bathroom, and it's too expensive for me now.

Good luck with it. If you find anything that sounds promising post it please!:D

Sorry for the long delay...

Unfortunately, unless you have a cat fence and can train your cats to go outside, there's some scooping to be done. The Cat Genie does look cool but one of the problems I've found (and seen based on the links posted on this thread) is that most of these boxes are made for pretty small cats. I've an enormous litter box and they still manage to get clumps right up against the edge - I can't imagine using anything smaller!

I got the Omega Paw at Amazon.com. It was a good box too.