Automatic Litterbox Central

Couple of questions...

the notches on the scooper arm fling granules onto the floor... any way to stop this? Seems if they tested it even once they would have noticed this...

Also, after a full cleaning cycle there are still granules high up on the edge of the 'spinning' part... is this normal?

It's normal. Just knock the granules off of the edges and back into the box every couple of days. It's much better than having to scoop.

As to the granules on the floor, I just keep a Dustbuster next to the CatGenie and again, use it every couple of days.

petnovations will be coming out with a hood in a few months, so that should solve the problem of the geniehand flinging out the granules.

the granules sticking to the top of the bowl is normal. no need to do anything about it, really.

I'm not sure if my CatGenie had the sticky granule problem when i first started using it. Could it be that they get coated with the sanisolution after a while and then begin to stick? I think the next time I clean the whole unit, I'm going to start with fresh granules and see what happens. Even though it is 'normal' , I'm worried that that is why the granules get under the bowl and the unit starts sqealing. Anybody else have ideas on this?

Since the granules are plastic, it's probably just static due to the dry winter conditions. I don't touch them or worry about it. Only granules I lose are
tracked by the cat and in 4 months I might have to add a few.

jhe- That could be part of the problem but when I rub the granules off of the rim my finger gets a sticky feeling and smells like the solution. That's why I thought it might be due to residual solution. Maybe you could check yours and see?

At first my granules were working fine and I wasn't losing any I noticed. Now after about 3 weeks of usage, the litter level has dropped hugely and the litter sticks to the sides and has a sticky feeling after cleaning. Mine seem to have a huge over buildup of sani-solution or something. I watched a cycle and the granules get all balled together and build up on the side of the rake and push higher and higher till they are a mass reaching the edge of the bowl. A huge nasty circle of the granules is left ringing the bowl after the cycle and I am thinking they are now getting pushed up under the lip and than under the bowl due to this stickiness. The first week I had the box, the granules didn't do this sticking piling thing, but instead moved like a bag of dried rice and stayed very low on the sides. Now they move like a bag of steamed rice and sort of stick to each other during cycles. Anyone else have this problem and if so did you find a way to fix it? After only 3 weeks of usage of the granules, I don't want to have to replace them. However; if this continues, I'm going to have to anyhow soon due to the huge amount of granule loss.

Dawn

I have the ring of granules but I haven't noticed any problem with losing granules because of it. The rest of the granules in the base are nice and dry after the cycle is over. Mostly, my cats seem to spread the granules all over the house due to carrying them out inside thier paws...

Mine are dry after the cycle, but they kinda act differently now. They get all clumpy when the genie hand stirs the bowl and clump up on the hand and above it instead of moving through the hand and getting all spread out and cleaned. They form this mass of what looks like semi-mashed potatos all sticking together and on the hand I think it must be a buildup of sani-solution or something and the loss of granules is huge since it has only been 3 weeks. I have been vacuuming up the tracked stuff and throwing it back in so that isn't it.

Dawn

It would be nice if we could add a rinse cycle after the sani-solution cycle to get some of the extra solution washed off, especially around the rim where the granule stick. Does your cartridge last the full 60 cycles or do you think it is using too much solution?

I have the same issue with TWO CG's I have. I have had them just about 4 weeks now and after about the 2nd week, the cats would track them all over the home. These things stick right to the paws and we find them all they way up on the second floor.

Understand that to get up on the second floor they need to go up 24 steps. 12 from the basement, 12 more to the second floor. To find them this far up really shows how much these things stick to the feet.

When I called support on it I was told to take out the litter and wash them all real good. I am sorry, but is the CG not suppose to do this? I should not have to wash the already washed litter. Something just is not right IMHO. I love the boxes, but to find these all over the home just is not right. We sweep up every day and get about 1/4 cup.

I also have like the others that the bowl itself if sticky to the touch. I have concerns over the solution at this point but I am waiting to hear back from CG on this. (I was told I would get a call back but that was three days ago.)

I have have had both processors replaced as right out of the box they were defective. Not sure, but maybe I do not have the current firmware or something that does not clean off the litter as it should.

Thank you.

David Bott
Hilton, NY

(ex. Canandaiguan here )

I wonder if the hardness (or softness) of your water could have something to do with this?

I am not a water expert, but I know the hardness or softness of the water can impact how well soap "suds" or foams right? This could impact the amount of soap residue left on the granules.

BTW we purchased a couple of 2'x4' $5 flouresent "waffle" light covers from HD (the kind that have are made up of squares) and put them around the litter boxes. Not too comfortable to walk on, but we got used to them and the cats did too eventually. This design effectively spreads the cats paws when they walk on allowing the granules to fall through the plastic light covers greatly minimizing the tracking. Trick is to have a confined area where they have to walk on them in order to leave the area. Perhaps you could put them on a couple of your stairs treads (securing them to the tread of course)?

You also have to keep in mind that your cats were probably tracking as much "stuff" w/regular litter, it's just more noticeable with these plastic granules that don't pulverize into a fine dust like regular litter.

i have tried using a a rubber outdoor welcome mat in front of the catgenie (the kind that have the little rubber stubs everywhere poking up) and it seems to work very well

Water hardness! Now that actually is something to consider when you mix in agents. In my case, we do use a water softener and thus our water is not hard at all. We even need to use less dishwasher detergent and cloth washing detergent.

VERY GOOD QUESTION as to why some of us are having issues. Programming change needed based on water hardness maybe?

We don't use a water softner (we drink bottled water, and so do our cats), and we have "sticky granules". I haven't a clue as to the cause, but I just use some tp and wipe it off the sides (and it falls right back into the CG).