Do they work well? If you like yours, would you share the brand?
I am asking because we may need to move our litter box soon to an area that our dog would have access to. Like many dogs, he's a big lover of eating Almond Roca (cat poop). We work during the day and won't be able to keep him away from the box, so I wondered if the self-cleaning boxes might be the answer.
I bought an expensive Litter Maid and my cats were SCARED to death of it! Every time it randomly raked the litter, the cats freaked out and ran away. Having cats afraid of the place they should be excreting in is not ideal in a small apartment, let me tell you! I ended up giving it away. I'd stick with the traditional box if I were you. Also, you had to buy expensive fine grade litter for it.
Do you mean the battery operated type that self-scoops once the cat has left the litter box? At one point, we had one, and my husband began calling it the "shitapult" if that answers your question.
You have to use hard-clumping litter with them (according to the instructions), and the problem is, sometimes the litter will kind of stick to the bottom of the litter box. You know how it is. Anyway, then the automated scooper comes along, and then when the stuck chunk of litter comes loose.... FLING!... off it goes, flying 10 feet from the litter box, spewing litter and cat pee everywhere. Which is gross. But as an ADDED bonus, if the cat is around to see things catapulting out of its litter box, then the cat doesn't want to go anywhere near the litter box ever again. Fun times.
Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.
Do you mean the litter boxes that clean themselves out? We tried them. I don't think they were worth the money; they all started malfunctioning, either by not working at all or by the motor running all the time but the machinery not doing anything. It's just much simpler to do a quick scoop-out once a day! Oh, I hear - er, smell - it calling me....
P.S. I just read your "So What Happened?". For what it's worth, we have our litter boxes in the laundry room. We put in one of those tall gates across the doorway, because we have a big dog. But there is a little gate inside the big gate, so the cats can go in and out as they please. It works beautifully.
If you are talking about those one that have the sensor and clean it every time the cat uses it don't bother!! We had one for eight months, the first one broke in just over a month, it was returned and that one broke two months after that, after the third one broke I tossed it in the trash and went back to scooping manually.
My MIL got us one for Christmas one year. It worked fine for a bit and then started to malfunction. Also, our cats hated it.
I don't own one of these, but I would not recommend them. I have 8 cats so I know a lot about all kinds of cat things. The self cleaning boxes are noisy and most likely, your cat will avoid it because of this. Why don't you try a litter box chest. Here is a link for one: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=13140106
You can also do a google search for 'Cat litter box, chest, enclosure' (look under images) and see some other chests. That is the kind of boxes I have one like this. Mine is much longer tho. I also have a 'double decker' kind where the cat enters at top and jumps down from a panel to get to the box... here is a link to show you the exact one I have: http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/purr-fect-privy-upright-l... unfortunately, I don't think the people who made these are selling them anymore. I love these enclosed boxes because, you can't tell it's a litter box, you can keep it 'out' and not have to hide it, it keeps litter from tracking all over the floor and it keeps the kids out.
I am not a cat person...so no litter box here. But my SIL has one like this that she likes. There are no sensors to break or electronics to malfunction, and is quick and easy to use.
http://omegapaw.com/products/roll-clean-litter-box.html
My mom has 2 and has had them for YEARS and has never had a problem with them. They have never broke, the cats use them without a problem. I think its the Littermaid brand and they used to be like $199. Not sure if they are still that expensive or not. Good luck!
I had one when I was pregnant the first time. It worked as it was supposed to and didn't break, but I did NOT care for it. I didn't feel that it saved me any work. Unless you have a cat who'll pee outside the box if it's not scooped, I'd say skip it.
My mom used to have one. It worked, sort of. If your cat pees anywhere around the edges of the litter box (front, back or side edges) it will not work. So, really, they only work well if the cat pees right in the middle of the litter box.
