Cat owners: LitterMaid self-cleaning litter pans**UPDATE PG. 2**

[SeaSpray]

I just ordered one. Those of you who own one of these, how do you like it? How does your cat like it? Did your cat take a while to get used to it? How often do you have to empty/replace the waste collection units? Any other tips or comments? Thanks! And my cat thanks you too

 

[adamak]

I owned it for about 4 years. It was great, I still think, but I'm off it now. It really works great if you've been scooping all these years. My cats like it, and no problem whatsoever. It's best for those of us who have multiple cats, and sometimes leave the house for 1-2 days.

We change the waste about 4-5 days. Those plastic pans actually end up costing alot. And I started to line them with grocery bag. Just the same (actually makes it easier to change, just pull out the bag and I end up changing it more often).

However, I've stopped using it about 3 months ago. Just because of the noise. It can get quite noisy at night. And also, I do not like the clumping litter. It tracks all over the house, smells bad, and I was so sick of it. I changed to the pearl litter, and it was wonderful. No tracking, no smelling AT ALL. But littermaid cannot handle it, so I now just use a disposable pin pan. At least it doesn't smell bad anymore.

 

[chager]

I don't have a LitterMaid because I heard of the of noise it makes. I also heard they can jam fairly easy. I bought a Litter Robot. It's more expensive but with 3 cats it is awesome. Good luck with the LitterMaid.

 

[AZKathy]

What's a Litter Robot? The only Litter Robot I know about is our 9 year old DD who has cleaning the kitty litter box as one of her chores!!!!!!<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_1_111.gif' border=0></a>

 

[SeaSpray]

I hope it'll work ok. We have only one cat, and his litter box is down in the laundry room, so I'm not concerned at all about the noise. None of us like to scoop the litter, and we go away fairly often for the weekend, so I thought something like this would be perfect for us.

 

[catsrule]

We have the mega-littermaid. I really like it, less scooping. Cali took to it right away, she loves when it goes off, she runs to watch it. Cali does like to pee on the comb, and the comb then gets litter clumps on it when she does. Simba was a little leery of it at first but he is fine now. He goes right in the middle of it, which is great. I change it about every 3 days. I put a small 4 gallon trash bag, something someone on the boards suggested, in the plastic container. The containers are expensive.

 

[Robinrs]

I have the mega, also, couldn't make it without it. I don't even notice the noise anymore unless it gets jammed and goes more than the usual two swipes back and forth.

With four cats who have a mother who likes to go to Orlando.... it's priceless!

 

[Kermit]

My sister got one, and it scared the cat. In fact, the cat pottied on the floor until they got rid of it. It probably depends on how skiddish your cat is. Their cat is already scared of everything, so they should have known.

 

[chager]

Originally posted by AZKathy
What's a Litter Robot? The only Litter Robot I know about is our 9 year old DD who has cleaning the kitty litter box as one of her chores!!!!!!<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_1_111.gif' border=0></a>

I could never get my 9yr old DS or my 35 yr old DH to clean it so I spent money on the Litter Robot and I love it
Here's a link
http://www.litter-robot.com/
I have a testimonial on the site too. It is from Aug 2003.


Seaspray - I'm sure it will be fine for you. We have 3 cats and I decided I didn't want to mess with any jamming issues that my cats would surely cause!

 

[bjgrazi]

AZKathy, I needed a good laugh this morning. Thanks. My litter robot is 15 and starting to show sign of wear.

 

[helenabear]

I got one just about a month ago and I love it! With our 2 cats we wind up changing out the pan about once a week. We also don't just throw away the container every time because they are rather expensive. I have one very skittery cat and she took just fine to it. She was a little curious at the noise the first time she saw it in action, but nothing terrible came out of it. Both had no trouble adjusting at all to the new box. Much better than scooping myself!! Ours is in the basement and I only hear it working if I am in the kitchen, which is the room that has the stairs going down to the basement.

 

[tiggersmom2]

I have a mega-littermaid and it is priceless! We have three persians and they took right to it. We reuse the containers also.

 

[Rajah]

We have two of the Megas and they're life-savers. They do get stuck now and again (in the continuously cleaning mode) but that's pretty rare.

With 4 cats, we need to change the pan every 3-4 days. It could stand to be changed more often, but it's fine until that point.

Didn't take the kitties long to use it at all, but none of ours are really skittish. It also solved a problem we were having with Skye, who kept pooping *next to* the box instead of *in* it. Now that he has an always-clean box, we almost never find a mess any more.

 

[minniecarousel]

My only complaint is the comb gets pretty gunked up. My cat insists on peeing in the same corner. Occasionally, he won't cover up what he's done (his way of telling us something?) Overall, I LOVE it! I will try the suggestion of lining the waste container with a plastic bag.

 

[charabby]

We had one and it worked great, but one of our cats was afraid of it. He started going on the floor, so we had to get rid of it. Also, it is pretty noisy.

 

[#1 DOUG Live Fan]

We had one several years ago when they first came out. It got all gunked up and if the cats went too close to the sides, it was a mess. Dh wanted to hose it out, but it's electrical and it would ruin the parts. It seems the cats freaked out at the sound of it, too.

I don't personally recommend them.

 

[Duchie]

Adamak, what is "pearl" litter? Never heard of it. And I'm VERY interested in something that doesn't track all over the darn house.

 

[MHopkins2]

Originally posted by Duchie
Adamak, what is "pearl" litter? Never heard of it. And I'm VERY interested in something that doesn't track all over the darn house.

It's AKA "crystal" litter - and depending on what kind you get, it can still track. BUT, there is next to ZERO smell, and I *might* remember to scoop the box twice a week - usually just once. Basically, the crystal "pearls" absorb the pee and suck the moisture out of the "other stuff" so it doesn't smell either. It's a godsend!!!

Side note - I started using it as soon as I brought home my 1-year old rescue kitty who had never used anything but regular clumping litter, and he took right to it. Didn't seem to faze him at all.

 

[adamak]

Here is a link where I got mine -
http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/dept.asp?dept_id=22&brand_id=96

Pearl litter is more expensive than regular litter. But it's non toxic, and absolutely wonderful in absorbing smell. I got the trackless crystals kind too, and it tracks even less than the regular pearl (which tracks a LOT LESS than clay litter already).

See, with littermaid, it was great, but it did make a mess when my cat pees on the side or outside of the box. And they do it often. Cleaning the machine itself is a pain. So now, with the pearl crystal and disposable pan, I can just throw the pan away every month, and that cost me 50 cents.

 

[chager]

I tried the pearl litter about 3 years ago when we had a reg. cat box. I don't know if they are still round like little balls but I had an aweful time with them. I still find them occasionally. Our one cat kicks the litter out of boxes and the pearls would just scatter. They were great for absorbing the liquid but it was gross to find little yellow balls rolling around on the floor!