STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

TexasGal · Kenneth Cole

Automated Litter Boxes?

mikacat · Coach

i had the littermaid and loved it at first but then it just got annoying and the plastic things were expensive and filled up so fast. it was about 120 bucks for the litter box and filled up fast b/c i had too cats. The idea is wonderful. it sometimes got hung up on a big clump and quit working. Also you have to use the clumping cat litter and it is expensive. Finally I gave up and taught my cats to go outside and now they are housetrained!! It is wonderful!! Best thing ever. They have been for two years now so maybe the litter box is improved.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

I don't have one but I know LMonet has one. She is in the process of unpacking but I bet if you pm'd her about it she can tell you what kind she has. If I remember correctly she really likes it.

TexasGal · Kenneth Cole

Thanks guys! I'll definitely do a bit more research into it. It's just such a pain to have to scoop poop every day...sometimes more than once a day. My kitten gets a little carried away when he's digging in his litter box...needless to say, if there's old poop in there..that stuff starts flying. An automated litter box just sounds so tempting.

RyanJ · Coach

I had one for a while, but my cat hated it. She was a little freaked out by it.

I work @ vet and people come in all the time thinking their cats has UTI or some sort of bowel problem because their cat is going to the bathroom all over the floor, but actually that cat is freak out by the self cleaning litterbox.

Cats can be really weird about changing up their litterboxes. I know people who moved the box or switched it and now they can't get their cat to use the litterbox anymore. Not trying to freak you out just want you to be prepared. Cats can be crazy.

shkitty · Nine West

I had one of those. I have two cats. And I swear they liked to use it just to hear that "whhiiiirrrr" sound that it makes when it's scooping up the poop. Not but 2 minutes after the machine stopped making noise, one of them would be back in there going again.

After a couple months of this, the motor died. I also found I had to turn it off at night, so I wouldn't get awoken by it. Granted we had a small apartment, but I would get startled when it went off. So I switched back to a regular pan and just store it in that tent that I bought for the automated one. I don't think I'd ever buy one again.

HTH

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

I had one for a kitten and a year old cat, and it broke after a month or two. Although the cat did have unusually large poop. I'd save my money for something more interesting than an automated litter box. In the end you still have to scoop poop.

-gd

Elle · Hermes

LSU is right - I do have one. I like it, but there are definitely some drawbacks. We've had ours for 2 1/2 years or so and it's still going strong motor-wise.

What I like about it is that my kitty always has a clean litter box and I don't have to deal with it being stinky. I H.A.T.E. scooping poop so anything that saves me from having to do it daily is a godsend! I just have one so I only have to empty the box weekly.

What I don't like about it is that it's LOUD when it goes off. We also live in a small-ish apartment (like shkitty) so we turn it off at night. Also, occasionally if the litter gets pushed to one end of the box the scooper can't move and it will keep trying over, and over, and over until you come move it around. For whatever reason, my cat always goes on one side of the box, so that side of the container gets full and I have to open it and move stuff around in there so it can close again. The plastic containers are a little flimsy and I've flung litter into my face more than once trying to get those things in/out. To keep it from getting too expensive, we reuse the containers if there isn't anything stuck in them.

Hmm, the drawbacks seem to outweigh the benefits when I type it all out, but we still prefer it to a regular box. It's quite entertaining when the cat figures out that he can 'work' the box - mine sometimes makes it go off 3 or 4 times in a row, or he'll pee and wait for it to go off and then poop so he can have clean litter both times. He also likes to stand on the container lid when it goes off so it can't open.

For scared kittens/cats:

When we first got our automated box, we set it right next to his regular box and left it unplugged (for about 3 days). Then we took away his old box, leaving the new one unplugged (for about 2 days). After that we plugged it in. He was curious about it for awhile, but never scared enough to not use his box in favor of the floor.

beachgirl · Kenneth Cole

How much did you girls spend on the automated boxes? I was looking at some the other day, and some were as much as $500! I wasn't expecting to spend more than $100...although even that seems high for a litter box.

I had a friend who trained his cat to use the toilet...I would love to do that, but have no idea how he did it. That would be worth spending money on!

Update: Well, I got curious and did a search on ask jeeves and found a site with the info on toilet training a cat...it's http://www.citikitty.com/. I think I'm going to try it...

-- Edited by beachgirl at 18:07, 2005-06-29

Heather · BCBG

I don't understand that citikitty thing, when you remove the rings, doesn't litter get in the toilet??

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Heather wrote:

I don't understand that citikitty thing, when you remove the rings, doesn't litter get in the toilet??

I'm sure some gets in the toilet but I think you don't really fill up the seat. I think you just put enough to cover the bottom so the cat will think its a litter box.