Self-Cleaning Litter Box? Too good to be true?

August 26, 2016 12:09 PM

We have two cats, one of whom is very fastidious. She won't use a box that is not to her standards of clean. She will go next to the litter box if she deems it unclean. I am considering getting two self cleaning litter boxes but am wary of the cash outlay.

I work long hours, my daughter works and goes to school. I am about to put my house on the market so poos on the floor will just not do and we have a hard time keeping up with the litter boxes as it is.

Are there any recommendations? How often do you need to clean the self-cleaning? Do they only use their own bags? Will any clumping litter do?

Thanks!

posted by readery to Pets & Animals (22 answers total)

I have the Omega Paw Roll 'N Clean Litter Box and I love it. I recommend it here a couple of times a year. You do have to roll it yourself, but it's super easy; just roll it over, roll it back, and empty the drawer. (There are variations on this theme where they have motors to roll themselves, but I haven't tried them because they're a lot more expensive and rolling the Omega Paw is SO easy.) Any clumping litter would work, but I use Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Ultra Clumping Litter after reading about it here. My litter box is in my living room, and I swear there is NO smell. (Even non-cat people have confirmed the lack of smell.)
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:17 PM on August 26, 2016 [7 favorites]

I have a Litter-Robot III Open-Air that I bought 7 months ago. It's expensive as all hell and rather large, but worth every single penny. Easy to dispose of the clumps and poops (I use dollar store kitchen trash bags, I just keep the whole roll in the drawer where the poops and clumps drop into), and most of the comes-in-contact-with-poo surfaces come apart or open up for easy scrubbing.

I have four cats. I would buy another one in a heartbeat.
posted by INFJ at 12:28 PM on August 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

I recommend thinking about how your individual cat uses the box and what your box is like to clean. I have not been tempted to get a self-cleaning box, because my stupidcatdarling always pees in a direct horizontal way against the inside of the box about 10" up the side, resulting in litter clumps glued to the back wall of the box. I keep a spackle knife by the litter box for gently dislodging the clumps without breaking them up into crumbles. There may be fancier models that could work for her, but none of the rotating drum style cleaners would stand a chance.
posted by aimedwander at 12:34 PM on August 26, 2016

I travel a lot, and seven years ago I bought the "Litter Robot" (https://www.litter-robot.com/the-litter-robot-ii-classic.html) and it was, hands down, the best option for my 2 cats. It is EXTREMELY dependable, in 7 years it has not broken down even once. All I ever have to do is change the bag twice a week and ensure that litter is up to the correct level. I can HIGHLY recommend it :) the only solution that ever worked better was when I had only 1 cat and taught it to use the toilet :)
posted by alchemist at 12:42 PM on August 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

I will strongly recommend AGAINST the kind that rake the litter to clear the poop (like this one) unless you live in an amazingly dry climate, because what happens is the rake starts up while the poop is still moist, and then instead of raking it neatly into the container, you've got a poop-covered rake that is extremely difficult to clean.
posted by MsMolly at 12:45 PM on August 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

We got our (hypoallergenic-ish) cat from a breeder. The breeder had a self cleaning litter box that looked like The Death Star. She said it was incredible and was proud enough of it to show it off to us. I looked it up at the time and it had good reviews on Amazon. I forget the brand but if you do a general search you can't miss it. The only negative thing she said was the kittens weren't heavy enough to trip the sensors so it only self cleaned when the adult cats used it. (Edit -- someone posted it above. Litter Robot)
posted by palindromeisnotapalindrome at 12:53 PM on August 26, 2016

I lived with some roommates in a house with two cats. They got a self-cleaning little box and it worked well. The only problem was that it freaked one of the cats out and he wouldn't use it after that.

Had we known that was going to happen, we would have introduced the contraption slower and in stages (use the box but leave it off for a week and clean it manually) to let him get used to it.
posted by VTX at 1:00 PM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've had one of these ScoopFree Self-Cleaning Litter boxes for a couple of months now for my two cats. I can go almost but not quite 14 days without swapping out trays, which isn't that big of an ordeal when I do. You can also get a metal, permanent tray and just buy your own crystal litter if you'd prefer that (I haven't tried that yet). I've considered getting a second one, because I really am that lazy and only having to do it ~ once a month has a definite appeal, but it hasn't been necessary so far; I start to notice a hint of urine odor around day 12, and by day 14 it's definitely time to swap out for a new tray. Also, I bought the one with the cover, but haven't used it because I was worried it'd be disruptive to my cats' routine, so I don't know what to recommend in that regard.
posted by kimota at 1:02 PM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh, and the thing MsMolly says above does sometimes happen; fortunately for me, it's only been once so far.
posted by kimota at 1:04 PM on August 26, 2016

Another vote here for the Litter Robot. Whenever I visit my parents for the holidays and take my cats I always really miss it because I'm not used to scooping litter, just taking out a bag once a week.
posted by raw sugar at 1:10 PM on August 26, 2016

Automatic litter boxes can backfire in a major way if you have a cat that's sensitive to strange noises or movements. Your cat is already a little persnickity about her box; if it makes a weird noise that scares her or (god forbid) starts to clean while she's still in it, she might associate it with Very Bad Things and maybe stop using it altogether.

Cats are weird, and more often than not they are very resistant to change. I'm always hesitant to change things up too much all at once, especially during an already-unsettled time (busy people, house about to go on the market, etc.).

I understand working long hours and feeling like I can't possibly stand doing one more task before I can go to sleep, and I used to forget to clean the box all the time; sometimes I'd remember and just think 'screw it'. But then I realized that if I could make the time to brush my teeth every night before I went to bed no matter what, I could find the literal sixty seconds it required to scoop the box each night, too. Once it became a habit, it was easy.

All that said, some friends used the Cat Genie and said it worked well most of the time. The times it didn't work, it was because it didn't get all the poop out during the wash cycle, and the dry cycle basically cooked the poop with disastrous odor results.
posted by jesourie at 1:10 PM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

I had one that hooked into the toilet plumbing, kinda like the Cat Genie but it was a bigger square box and hookup was undetectable when hooked up to the back of the toilet. IT WAS MAGIC.

I would start investigating systems that work along those lines. We drilled a hole through a wall so that the pipe went through the wall straight into the toilet plumbing. Gosh, it was genius. 3 cats and none of them objected, the cleaning cycle was tolerated by all 3.

A few hundred dollars, but never/rarely having to buy litter (it used plastic pellets that remained in the box) was just amazing.
posted by jbenben at 1:23 PM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Seconding the Omega Paw that Weeping_angel linked above. The main issue is the size of the opening, so get the biggest one you can unless your cat is small.
posted by soelo at 1:25 PM on August 26, 2016

The Litter Robot works really well and I would recommend keeping an eye on your local Craigs list for a used one. I see that you are in Chicago and you should be able to find one even if it will take a while. Look for a generation II with the globe on the back. After having one for a long time, this is one product that I would pay full price for.
posted by Ferrari328 at 2:10 PM on August 26, 2016

I have the Scoop Free. I have a Very Large Cat who generates a lot of waste. The Scoop Free does fine, except I can only go 7 days before I have to change the tray, which makes it a pretty expensive proposition. It helps if you stir the crystals every few days to avoid saturated areas. Also, my cat is too tall for the covered version of the box. Overall I'm happy. It's very easy, the neat freak cat is happy, and it sure beats scooping twice a day!
posted by karbonokapi at 3:08 PM on August 26, 2016

Agreed on the Scoopfree. I've had one for years and it's always worked correctly.

On a side note, it has a timer on it and won't operate until there's been no cat in it for 20 minutes. But both of my cats are curious about it and come running to watch when they hear it start up.
posted by Hatashran at 3:36 PM on August 26, 2016

My friend who humans for three cats and three dogs swears by the Cat Genie. He evangelises for it whenever cats come up.
posted by Kreiger at 3:39 PM on August 26, 2016

The Litter Robot Open-Air is amazing. They give you 90 days to try it (risk free, but have to pay return shipping). I wish our 10 year old cats would have went for it (one did, the other is a bengal and is very picky) because it was so great. I don't think you would need two.
posted by getawaysticks at 3:39 PM on August 26, 2016

I have the litter robot III Open Air, and it's working really well for my cats, one of whom used to poop on the floor outside their box every day. They were definitely freaked out by its cleaning cycle at first, and I ended up buying the silly ramp attachment to make it easier for my heavier cat to climb into the box, but nobody has pooped on the floor since we made the switch. We were pretty gradual about the change (there was a long period where they had both the robot and their old litter box available), and I was initially putting cat attract litter in the new box, but that litter ended up being a little too sticky when wet and it tracked more than their old litter, so once they were accustomed to the robot, we switched back to their previous litter.
posted by Vibrissa at 3:39 PM on August 26, 2016

I have an older litter robot (the II) and it was worth every cent. The warranty is good - something weird happened to my globe after I'd owned if for about a year - and they replaced it ASAP. And the 90-day trial is good to see if your cat will use it. I thought mine wouldn't, as she is very skittish and really alert, but she took to it fine. I think it's worth a try. I'd go with the newest model, but the II is also good and they often sell refurbished models on their site.
posted by sockermom at 3:46 PM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have the Litter Robot II, it's going on two years old and still working great. I feel like the automation is well worth it just for the fact that it removes the poops right away every time the cat uses the box, so it gets a clean expanse of litter the next time.
posted by contraption at 10:04 PM on August 26, 2016

Nthing that self cleaning litter boxes are so worth the money. Especially when I had a roommate who was scatty about cleaning the boxes.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:52 PM on August 27, 2016