Does anyone have any experience with self-cleaning cat litter boxes? I’m curious if any particular model of self-cleaning litter box is any good. We now have 4 cats and it would be nice to not have to clean litter boxes manually 1-2 times every day.
Do they separate pee/poop from litter well? Are cats afraid to use them? Do they stink more than regular litter boxes because pee/poop are in them for longer periods? Are they a hassle to clean? Do you have to buy propietary supplies (custom litter? special trays?)?
Thanks for your input.
This is going to sound like hyperbole, but this thing changed my life and I always love it when I get a chance to share it with somebody. It requires no electricity, it has no moving parts and in the 11 years I’ve been using one, it’s never broken. I give you: Omega Paw.
It requires clumping cat litter, so if you use that you’re golden. When it’s time to clean, you roll it - and as you roll, the loose litter flows through a grate, but the clumps and waste stay on top of the grate. As you continue to roll it, the waste falls to the ceiling. When you roll it back, the waste all falls into the drawer, which you pull out and dump. Cleaning the litter box takes literally 10 seconds. It’s awesome.
And what happens with the cat?
It learns after the first time or two
I had one when my cats were kittens, unfortunately one of my cats is freakishly large and can’t turn around in most lidded litter boxes so I had to replace it but it was very convenient. It’s easy to use and the monthly clean out is about the same as any other manual litter box.
Did you have the large one? I have a 17lb long-haired Maine Coon and he has no issues with it, but I do have the large one.
It was the large option at the time but it is not as large as the one in your link. Mine is also all grey. I got 2 cats from my local animal shelter, they were about 2 and 3 months old at the time and the younger one was a little bigger than the older which should have been a warning sign. They are both American shorthairs. My older cat is white with a calico saddle and is only a little bigger than average, she is 14 lbs. My younger cat is almost solid black with 2 little white toes on one of his back feet. He is 22 lbs, over a foot tall, and from his nose to the end of his tail he is 39inches. He can stand on his back feet and get stuff off the kitchen counter.
I thought it was pretty cool.
We stopped using it because one cat was sick and suffered from diarrhea from cancer. And the clump litter couldnt clump enough, leading to diarrhea wetness when we rolled. That lead to diarrhea on the top part. And the other cats were not happy.
Had to switch to open air litter boxes to meet all their fickle demands. But it was great while it lasted.
So, am I missing something? Is my cat just really good at how she uses the litter? Most of the time it takes me 2 seconds to bag my hand to grab a poop, and every other day I’ll also clear out the few clumps of pee she always leaves in the same spot (knock tray back a bit, clumps stay behind, again just grab with bagged hand then spread the litter back). No need for all this extra manual labour and tumbling of poops, it just seems like a lot more work than it has to be? Not having a go, genuinely curious…
Edit: I do realise more cats mean more work and I appreciate it might help then, but still, it seems like making more work for yourself…
do you use clumping litter? not everyone does, which can make it messy if you leave it for them to kick up the next time they go. Not to mention the smell… if you’re really leaving your cat’s pee go for days at a time you might be nose blind to the smell it makes.
Honestly I don’t see why anyone would use litter that isn’t clumping, but obviously my habits are different to others, so what do I know… As for the smell, the pee seeps to the bottom and clumps there, where it’s buried under the rest of the litter which keeps the smell trapped. When I shift the litter every other day (so not “days at a time”), yeah, it smells, it’s cat piss, so no smell blindness here, just a system that works for us… ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I hate an open catbox. I also don’t want to directly pick it up, bag or not. So I had to unclip the top and use a scoop, and I had three cats so I did it every day and I just effing hated it.
Fair enough…
You’re definitely missing something. That something is that some people hate dealing with litter every day. This is a solution to that.
Can vouch for these. I have two of the large size, one per cat. They’re a game-changer.
Omg thank you for this! I have to go over to my mom’s to clean her litter box all the time. With this she’ll be able to do it herself!