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OMG what have we done?!
THE CATS ARE IN CAHOOTS WITH THE ROBOTS!
2 replies
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@dohtem: they are also in cahoots with the robot-genies
[www.catgenie.com]
[my sister has a cat genie by the way - it's fantastic!]
OMG what have we done?!
THE CATS ARE IN CAHOOTS WITH THE ROBOTS!
@dohtem: they are also in cahoots with the robot-genies
[www.catgenie.com]
[my sister has a cat genie by the way - it's fantastic!]
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That looks kind of cool, but I think my cats might be frightened of it. ;) I have an automated one with a rake at the moment, but it hasn't been very reliable.
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@Kamidari: Omega Paw Rolling litterbox for the win. Had mine for many years. Great part is - it never breaks down, doesn't require electricity, and comes in large for bigger cats (I have two - both the kitty and the cat use the same one). Haven't had to scoop in years. Works on the same principle of filtering out the clean sand from the used.
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.
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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.
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@Kamidari: Agreed - of our three cats, the youngest would probably try to sleep in it all the time (she's a freak), and the other two wouldn't go anywhere near it. Too bad too, because it does look incredibly cool and seems like it would work well.
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@Kamidari: We have an automated rectangular one with a rake too, and don't love it. the stupid trays never fit right, the rake doesn't go all the way to the bottom so there's always this 2mm thick solid clump across the bottom that we have to scoop, it's just not at all as awesome as we thought it would be.
Do they make one that's baby sized??
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Actually when I had cats I thought about this for my cats at the time. Looks rather simple. A guy here in the office has one and he hasn't had any complaints from his 2 cats. What I would do would be to click the power on once a day.
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Something gross about the fact that you can buy a refurb one.
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\"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.
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@Taed: My cat loves her Drinkwell fountain, it's the only way I got her to stop drinking out of the toliet bowl!
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@Trance1861: Mine love their fountain.
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.
@zlionsfan: unfortunately i cannot stop my cat from drinking out of the faucet until i replace the faucet with one that has handles she can't turn on.
i will have to investigate the drinkwell
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@zlionsfan: Mine are also fountain-obsessed, though the Siamese mix, like most Siamese, is obsessed with getting water anywhere she can find it, including the toilet, the bottom of the tub after someone's taken a shower, and dirty mud puddles in the backyard.
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I've had a Litter Maid that's been going strong since 2004. Automatic litter boxes FTW!
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@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.
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@Vanilla5: We've had ours since 2001. With the exception of 6 months or so when we switched to crystal litter, we've been using it continuously. I want to replace it with a newer model, but I'm afraid of fixing what ain't broke. With my luck, a new one would break down in six months' time.
@Vanilla5: I've been through no less than THREE LitterMaid \"Elite\" units, and I wound up tossing the last one even though it still worked because I had had enough. HATE HATE HATE. They threw litter everywhere with every cycle and couldn't go a week without getting jammed on something, necessitating intervention with a scraper. And the dumb little bins filled up way too quick, and were far too flimsy to contain the waste they were intended to, making changing them a smelly and dirtying experience. When we had three cats here we had two LitterMaids and a ScoopFree unit, and the LitterMaids unfailingly needed attention at least every other day. ScoopFree is a different story... nice unit, properly low maintenance.
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.
@roothorick: my sister has the cat genie and she did in fact rave about it [and rant about installation,] also with cute video on the bottom post.
my tax return is going toward one of these!
@roothorick: Wow - I hate that you had such a bad experience with the Litter Maid. Mine isn't the \"Elite\" unit - just the basic unit - but I've pretty much gotten emptying and cleanup down to a science. Once a week and I dump the container (I don't use a new one everytime - maybe every 4 or 5 times) into the trash that's about to go out and just add new litter to what's in there. I'll completely change the litter maybe once a month or so.
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Bad Consumerist! BAD!
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!
@Underpants Gnome: Petco has them for $320 and a 10% off code, making the cost of a new one the cost of the refurb'd ones directly from the manufacturer.
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)
My cats had no problem adapting to the Litter Robot. It works so well with odor control I don't mind having it in my office. It's less than ten feet away from me as I type this, and if I try really hard I can sorta smell the fresh litter, but not the waste. Every now and then one poops and I go and manually trigger the thing so I don't have to endure the seven minutes or whatever it normally waits before turning.
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.
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Damn, I clicked the link expecting self-motored sentient robots firing lasers at sodden clumps of clay and mortar rounds at the catty Tootsy Rolls.
Maybe for v2.0?
Does this company make cars, or operate an airline?
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Uh. You guys know the cat was doing it on purpose to kill the thingee right?
I like the litter robot so much that one of these days I'm going to get a cat.
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I have that robot toy in the picture. On my desk at work. That is all.
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@Dustbunny:
I have a cat that looks just like the one in the picture- slutty belly-roll and all.
No robot tho.
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've had a Litter Robot for a few years - it's great!
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Damnit, another thing I want that I can't afford right now. Why do you inform me about these products, Consumerist? WHY?!
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My friends got a litter robot for their cat and while they thought it was awesome in concept, unfortunately their cat liked to dart in and out of it all the time. Because the litter robot is programmed to automatically shut off when the cat approaches, it therefore didn't run terribly often, causing some rather nasty smells. Seems to work well for some cats, but won't for every cat.
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.
Haven't tried the Litter Robot. Got a LitterMaid back when there were half-hour informercials for them in 1995. First one lasted about 4 or 5 years. Second one maybe a year, third one less than that. They've turned into pieces of crap.
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 :)
@calchip: Try the Omega Paw Rolling litter box. I've had mine for years and it works wonderfully. It is the same process as the one shown here, except manual rolling. I do it once a day and simply pull out the drawer and throw it in a bag. Easy. No more scooping whatsoever.
I have had a litter robot for 2 years. It is the best thing ever invented. I have a normal/smallish adult female cat and I can go three weeks before I have to empty it!!! The cat had absolutely no problem adjusting to it. It cost me a lost, but I can honestly say its one of the few products I've bought, that I feel like I got my moneys worth. I'm a busy dude, and I don't have time to be scraping cat poop every week, let alone every day. Best invention ever!
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[www.litterrobot.com] is squatted with ads. Correct domain seems to be [www.litter-robot.com]
Website by Vault-Tec?
@formatc: Ack! You're right. I didn't have the site open when I put the link in.