Can be bought at PetCo or ordered online. More cat owners should know about this.

Maintenance is easy - every other month or so disassemble it, wash and dry and replace litter. I change the litter about once a month - it takes about 1.5 bags of litter, then I add more as is necessary to avoid sticking to the bottom.

@Dustbunny:
I have a cat that looks just like the one in the picture- slutty belly-roll and all.
No robot tho.

@Trai_Dep: and take all the fun away from the dog?????? It's a constant battle in my house to keep the dog away from the "tootsy rolls" He waits by the litter box to see if he can get to them before I get there with the scoop

I just purchased a second hand one from eBay two weeks ago and even though not all the kitties are using it, I love it. It's reducing the strain on our littermaid, and much easier to clean. (I did get the unit for about half the price of a new one, and figured it smelling slightly of cat pee would make mine want to use it more).

Tax return time, I will likely buy another one from them (I have six cats, they kill automated litter boxes quickly)

Then I got a CatGenie, which is a truly amazing and wonderful device that actually cleans and flushes itself. But alas, my Bengal cats simply refused to use it even after numerous attempts to train them.

Now I'm back to a janky litter box and a scoop. Maybe I'll give the Robot a try :)

@Vanilla5: My littermaid died after 5 years of use. It was more convenient than scooping, but it frequently got jammed.

When it died, I went to a nested litter box. Basically 3 boxes with slots in the bottom. When you want to empty the box, you simply lift up the top box, and all of the litter falls to the box below it. you then empth the waste into the trash, and place the now empty box at the bottom of the stack. It works pretty well at a fraction of the cost of a Littermaid.

Oh, also, when it runs, it's pretty loud. Probably fine for people with a house who can put it in an undisturbed corner, but they have about an 700 square foot apartment so if the cat actually managed to let the thing run during the night, it would occasionally wake them up.

My friends did speak highly of the return process, which they said was really easy.

[bluevelvetant.blogspot.com]

my tax return is going toward one of these!

[my sister has a cat genie by the way - it's fantastic!]

btw, didn't Ben mention that the new site was supposed ot be live by the end of October? i never heard any coments on it after the meetup...

Litter Robot did the same for us a year or so ago. Everytime the globe turned, we could smell something like burning plastic. We took it main bits apart and couldn't find anything wrong with it but the Litter Robot people we're more than happy to replace the entire unit "just in case". They even paid for shipping both ways. These people know how to run a customer service department!

I have a litter robot and love it. It's more expensive, but I think worth it. The rakes are crappy and need to be replaced after about a year. This company has some good recommendations as to getting your cats used to it. What I did is put it next to the old box. The cats were curious, so turned it on. They were a bit afraid, but more curious than anything. I hung out with them for a while, and turned it on ever few minutes. They also recommend putting some of the old litter into the new one and not cleaning the old one (Yuck, I know.) It took about 5 days until I was confident that I could throw out the old one. Another nice thing is that you can use medium size trash bags instead of some special expensive bags. I replace the bag (I have 2 cats) every other day or sometimes on the 3rd day.

I do recommend putting the box away from any sleeping areas. Although not as noisy as the rakes, it can wake you up if it's in your room (another yuck.) The thing is big, so make sure you have room for it. Also, your cats will still kick sand on the floor, but just at the entrance.

Short of toilet training your cats, which I'm still convinced is an urban myth, I think this is the best (though expensive) option out there.

Now, I have a Cat Genie. I can do nothing but rave about this machine. It only needs a simple, $12 plug-and-go cartridge every two months and every now and then you need to rinse out the hopper, that's it. Of course, installation was a real adventure... it needs to be connected to plumbing, which takes some doing and restricts its placement.

With two cats, I need to empty the waste drawer twice a week. Three times a week is better, but twice is sufficient. It's so nice not to have to scoop every day!

I've only had it a few months so I can't say how long it will last. I wouldn't have bought it in the first place if they didn't sell all the replacement parts to fix a busted machine. I wish every company did that! It's just plain wrong to sell complicated gadgets that break and can't be fixed. Litter Robot does it right.

I'm pleased but not surprised to see they provide great customer service. My only regret is that I didn't buy one years ago.

Of course, one of them still likes to drink out of the sink, and the faucet, and the bathtub, and off the shower curtain, and from any other source of water she can find, but she does prefer the fountain.

I've been wanting a litter robot for the evil twins for a coupe years now. Stories like this that make me want one more are not fiscally responsible!

@Taed: My cat loves her Drinkwell fountain, it's the only way I got her to stop drinking out of the toliet bowl!

"Company prevents couple from getting pissed off when their robot gets pissed on. Full story at 11."

I had a similar nice story about Drinkwell, that company that makes the drinking fountains for pets. We got one in 1994, and we have run it 24/7 for the last 15 years. It did stop working once around 10 years back, and they promptly sent a new motor at no charge. It was expensive back then ($40?), but my cat really likes it and so it's been a good purchase.

Something gross about the fact that you can buy a refurb one.

THE CATS ARE IN CAHOOTS WITH THE ROBOTS!