Self Cleaning Litterbox

My daughter had a Littermaid. It wore out and she's been researching the market for another one. She presently has 5 cats, 4 inside, one outside. She said a new one is out that has a larger container than the original Littermaid. She's considering getting it. She loved her Littermaid. I thought it was messy. I had cats and used a litterbox I found at Wal-Mart that had two pans with a strainer pan. All I had to do was pick up the strainer pan, dump it, place it in the other pan, and dump the clean litter into it. I kept the spare pan under the one that was being used at the time. That's what worked for me. Now we have dogs!

I feel your pain with the litter boxes! I have had one in the past and it was nice. They do get clogged sometimes.

One word or caution, I don't know how old your cats are, but mine were 8, 12 & 13 when I introduced the automatic litterbox. The 8 & 12 year old cats were scared to death of it and would not even go into the laundry room near it to use their old boxes, so they stared going in my house. I had to move the automatic box to our half bath and queen kitty had her own private litter in her own private bath! After several months, I was able to slowly move the automatic box back into the laundry room. I did that by slowly moving it from the bathroom down the hallway. My two cats never did use the automatic box, but they could eventually be in the same room with it. Mine lasted about 3 years and my oldest cat passed away, so did not replace it.

If your cats are at all skiddish, I would not recommend it. My cat that liked it was a very easy going cat and did not scare easily. I don't know how old your cats are, but most adult cats don't embrace change. So, you must determine first if you think your cats will adjust to the change. They make a lot of noise. Also, if you are not using the clumpable litter you may want to change to that first. Not all cats like that litter. Good luck!!

I am a pet sitter and I have a client that has a self cleaning litter box and they do work but you still have to dump that container where the litter box remains go. The reason for the size limit is because the box is made of plastic and the bigger the cat the bigger the clumps which makes it hard for the machine to work. Also the little plastic container that holds the remains does not hold that much and you have to dump at least every other day.

It's been several years since our kitties passed, but when we had them, we bought the largest littermaid box available at the time, which I believe was the mega. We had to get one because when our cats got older, for some reason, one of them would absolutely not go in a dirty litter box, even if he was the only one to use it. We had to find a way to get him to use the box or he was going to have to go, and after 14 years, we weren't really wanting to do that. Having the automatic scooping box helped tremendously with that cat and we loved it. My oldest son (now 23) had primary litter duty and he just asked me a couple days ago if we still have the littermaid because he's tired of scooping after the cats he has where he lives now.

Essentially, we would empty the waste receptacle once a day and maybe had to clear a "jam" less than once a week. The jams were usually caused when the clump was too big to easily fall into the receptacle, or the receptacle was too full and the waste wouldn't dump properly. That happened when we would forget to dump the receptacle once a day. :-) We could tell when it was jammed 'cause our picky kitty would start looking around for someplace to relieve himself. We'd jump up to go see the litter box and sure enough, it would need to be reset.

Our cats were both over 15 pounds but they had no problems with using the box. If we got another kitty, I'd definitely use one again.

Blessings,
N.

I have been dealing with a cat pee on the carpet issue. We adopted a cat a few months ago and shes been going on our dining room carpet. Our older cat of 11 years never had picky issues. I never knew cats can be so finicky about the type of litter or location of boxes (noises, etc).

In dealing with our issue and going to the vet, we were told absolutely DO NOT use one of these devices. They can be dangerous for cats? I am not sure why? I have never seen one...but I do know for behavior peeing issues, the noise and sudden motion is a major issue for some cats. If cats are opposed to this, they will pee elsewhere.

Our adopted cat is 14 pounds and we are attempting to reduce her weight with special food..she cant get to the older cats food (with a creeper door...older cat is nice and trim)...and rather than a traditional litter box, we were told to get a rubbermaid type plastic sweater box...shallow like a litter box..but LARGE. Shes a big cat and needs room to move around and do her business. SO far its working to change her carpet peeing habit.

They are absolutely worth the money... IF you get the right one. I have had a couple of different ones and I bought one for my neighbors as well. Whatever you do, do NOT buy the Littermaid ELITE. The Littermaid MEGA is great though. The difference is the comb that it uses to rake the litter into the little reservoir. The thin metal combs just get stuff stuck in them and jam ALL the time. If you get the one that has the thicker plastic combs, it seems to work better. Also, the Mega is a little larger and gives them more room to move around - which would be best for your larger cat, as they are a little less likely to smear stuff on the sides of the box.
I use Scoop Away litter, multi cat formula which works great! I very rarely smell the litter (only when they've just gone, or it gets full enough to be propped open).
My first Littermaid box lasted me about 8 years before the motor quit. I just bought the Mega about a year ago and it's running great and rarely jams.
It is DEFINITELY well worth the investment! =)

I had one when I was pregnant the first time & was unimpressed. It basically sweeps the box (you have to use the clumping litter) into another place you have to clean. While it can DELAY the cleaning, I personally did not think it was worth the $. There was just a bigger mess to clean after a slightly longer time.

At least that was my experience.

What we really need is a REAL selfcleaning litter box - one that gets up on it's little robot legs after the cat's poop and empties itself in a dumpster far, far away. : )

I have no idea why there is a weight requirement, though it may have something to do with what triggers the box to sweep.

We have owned 3 litter maids and they work better than scooping but are not reliable. Multiple times we went on vacation and came home to find that it got clogged up and stopped working at some point while we were gone. You need to regularly check on the machine and make sure the rakes are clean and that the poop box is completely shut so it does not smell. We now have a Scoop Free and it is awesome. It requires no daily maintenance and we can go 10 days with our two large cats before changing out the litter tray. You also don't come in contact with the poop at all so I feel like it's more sanitary than the litter maid.

Littermaid is worth the money - I've had 2 and they each worked for about 6 years with 2 large ragdoll cats visiting the box multiple times a day. I empty the tray about twice a week (line the plastic tray with a walmart bag - save money by not having to trash the plastic tray every time). I've read reviews else where that the littermaid motor dies too soon, but perhaps it's the litter they are using?? If it turns to clay mud when the cat pees, then the litter rake is going to work twice as hard thus burning out the motor sooner. I use Tidy Cat in the tub with the dark blue lid.

We have a Littermate and we LOVE IT! It was expensive and worth every penny. We've had it over 6 years and haven't had any trouble with it. Well worth the investment.

I had one with my two kitties. My ex-boyfriend bought it for us because he HATED sharing cat duties. It was the best thing ever though it took them some getting used to and freaked one of them out a bit :) Plus, if we went away for a weekend it was still OK. You still need to empty the receptacle or it will stink but I did that when it was full or particularly smelly. When I married my husband, my parents took my cats as he is VERY VERY VERY allergic. They ceased using the auto-box after a period of time and commenced scooping daily. The one I had suggested a certain litter type that was more expensive so they decided to just scoop.

The Cat Genie is 100% worth it. I have 5 cats and they love having a clean box all them time. Took a while for them all to transition. But life is good. :-)

NO DUMPING at all, the Genie works with plastic litter and cleans like a dishwasher. HIGHLY effective! Have had ours for over 2 years. It clogs from time to time due to pet hair, but my husband cleans the part and back to business. So we don't mind.

I am allergic to cats so never got to have one. BUT . . .
Just last night, I was at Walmart and saw the cutest thing - - a box like an old Laundry Detergent box that was litter and container in one. You open it like a suitcase. And you throw the whole thing away. It was pink and had a PRINCESS in the name.

I have had two Littermaid's in the past & they don't last very long. They were fine at first, but it got to the point where it would miss clumps & then finally just died all together. When I went back to a regular litter box, I just made sure I cleaned it out constantly & always kept fresh litter in it. Also, using the litter for multiple cats seemed to help somewhat.