Litter-Robot!
So, last week we got a Litter-Robot.
Yes, we're lazy; we don't like to have to scoop every day. We've had a self-cleaning box since we got the kitties, which has made life easier when we were both working long hours, and its great for when we go out of town.
The first box we had was the LitterMaid. We actually had two generations of this box. (The one on the website looks to be an even newer model.) In general, this box worked for us. Unfortunately, the receptacle would fill up really quickly (about three days at the most), and if we let it get even a bit over-full, it was a pain to take out. The reason it filled up so quickly was Ein's giant pee-clumps. This is also what did both boxes in: the waste had to go up an incline to get into the receptacle and those pee-clumps killed the motor.
When it came time to replace the second LitterMaid, dw_duck picked out the Scoop Free box. There was no incline to the receptacle in this box that would cause the motor to die an early death. And the whole bottom is disposable, with all the old litter, making cleaning a snap. Each box bottom/litter refill was advertized to last for a month when used by a "normal" cat. But we have two cats and Ein, as I'm sure you're all aware, is not normal. Part of the problem is that this box uses litter crystals rather than clumping litter. Therefore, while the poop gets raked away, the urine remains. With Ein, the power pee-er (and don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining: I hope the poor fatty never ever gets blocked again!), each refill would last a week tops. Then we'd find Ein pooping in the tub or next to the box, or worse, Hobbes peeing on the couch. (He peed on the couch twice with the LitterMaid, too. Fortunately, the new couch stood up to its first battle with Hobbes pee.) The problem with changing the box once a week was two-fold: the refills are EXPENSIVE and each refill is HUGE, meaning a lot more waste than I was confortable sending to the landfill every week.
On top of this, the only convenient place to put the litter box in the new townhouse is a corner of the kitchen. Which means it has to be covered. When I covered the Scoop Free (it came with a cover), suddenly the lifetime of the refills became 2/3 of what it had been before. Crap. (Litterally.) Plus, there are vents in the floor where I'd want to put the litterbox, so the size of the footprint matters.
So, I browsed around the internet and found the Litter-Robot. (Here's an animation of how it works.) I liked that it takes clumping litter and that it doesn't have to move Ein's giant clumps against gravity. Yes, it's expensive...but we'd pay the same amount in half-a-year's worth of Scoop Free refills (without the cover)! And the amount of waste generated is the smallest of all three boxes: the clumps fall into a regular kitchen-sized trash bag.
Of course, the trick was getting Hobbes and Ein to use the thing. For the other two, we generally didn't use a cover, so we could just plop them down in the box. Forcing them into the Litter-Robot...not a good idea. I set it up in the old box's place, but the kitties were having none of it so I put the old box back next to it. Then I switched the litter in the old box to the new clumping kind. Then I rubbed cat nip on the new box. And finally, at dw_duck's suggestion, I let the old box get really dirty. Voilà! The kitties started using the new box. Yay!!!
So, I took the old box away yesterday afternoon and so far, so good. *knocks on wood* My boys have their quirks, but at least they're adaptable.
I can't wait to see how they like the new townhouse! Though I am a little nervous. Both of them, Ein especially, like to escape from the apartment when we come home. I had a dream last night that Ein escaped from the townhouse, ran straight into the street, and got hit by a car. It was not a happy dream. :-( We're going to have to train them not to escape anymore.
Yes, we're lazy; we don't like to have to scoop every day. We've had a self-cleaning box since we got the kitties, which has made life easier when we were both working long hours, and its great for when we go out of town.
The first box we had was the LitterMaid. We actually had two generations of this box. (The one on the website looks to be an even newer model.) In general, this box worked for us. Unfortunately, the receptacle would fill up really quickly (about three days at the most), and if we let it get even a bit over-full, it was a pain to take out. The reason it filled up so quickly was Ein's giant pee-clumps. This is also what did both boxes in: the waste had to go up an incline to get into the receptacle and those pee-clumps killed the motor.
When it came time to replace the second LitterMaid, dw_duck picked out the Scoop Free box. There was no incline to the receptacle in this box that would cause the motor to die an early death. And the whole bottom is disposable, with all the old litter, making cleaning a snap. Each box bottom/litter refill was advertized to last for a month when used by a "normal" cat. But we have two cats and Ein, as I'm sure you're all aware, is not normal. Part of the problem is that this box uses litter crystals rather than clumping litter. Therefore, while the poop gets raked away, the urine remains. With Ein, the power pee-er (and don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining: I hope the poor fatty never ever gets blocked again!), each refill would last a week tops. Then we'd find Ein pooping in the tub or next to the box, or worse, Hobbes peeing on the couch. (He peed on the couch twice with the LitterMaid, too. Fortunately, the new couch stood up to its first battle with Hobbes pee.) The problem with changing the box once a week was two-fold: the refills are EXPENSIVE and each refill is HUGE, meaning a lot more waste than I was confortable sending to the landfill every week.
On top of this, the only convenient place to put the litter box in the new townhouse is a corner of the kitchen. Which means it has to be covered. When I covered the Scoop Free (it came with a cover), suddenly the lifetime of the refills became 2/3 of what it had been before. Crap. (Litterally.) Plus, there are vents in the floor where I'd want to put the litterbox, so the size of the footprint matters.
So, I browsed around the internet and found the Litter-Robot. (Here's an animation of how it works.) I liked that it takes clumping litter and that it doesn't have to move Ein's giant clumps against gravity. Yes, it's expensive...but we'd pay the same amount in half-a-year's worth of Scoop Free refills (without the cover)! And the amount of waste generated is the smallest of all three boxes: the clumps fall into a regular kitchen-sized trash bag.
Of course, the trick was getting Hobbes and Ein to use the thing. For the other two, we generally didn't use a cover, so we could just plop them down in the box. Forcing them into the Litter-Robot...not a good idea. I set it up in the old box's place, but the kitties were having none of it so I put the old box back next to it. Then I switched the litter in the old box to the new clumping kind. Then I rubbed cat nip on the new box. And finally, at dw_duck's suggestion, I let the old box get really dirty. Voilà! The kitties started using the new box. Yay!!!
So, I took the old box away yesterday afternoon and so far, so good. *knocks on wood* My boys have their quirks, but at least they're adaptable.
I can't wait to see how they like the new townhouse! Though I am a little nervous. Both of them, Ein especially, like to escape from the apartment when we come home. I had a dream last night that Ein escaped from the townhouse, ran straight into the street, and got hit by a car. It was not a happy dream. :-( We're going to have to train them not to escape anymore.