Automatic Litterbox Central

White millet seed is much smaller than the red millet. I have used both, but my cats prefer the red millet or the red/white millet mix rather than all white.

I get the red millet from a local grain store, but I'm in corn-country so we have them plastered everywhere. Most feed/supply stores can order the red millet for you, not sure of their prices. You may also want to ask about a mix that has both red and white millet, but I think they said it includes safflower and chopped sunflower kernels (I'm guessing its a bird seed mix).

Another poster said they use safflower without a problem so you could give it a try.

Has anyone tried cracked corn? It's smaller than the safflower, but the texture is a bit rough for some kitties. I used it for my regular litter boxes before with no problems, but not sure how it would hold up to the washing/drying of the cat genie.

From reading this thread, I believe there are three alternatives that haven't caused any clogging trouble for anyone:

1) Safflower seeds (though one poster reported mold forming)
2) Millet seeds (red, white or a combination)
3) airsoft 6mm BBs (hot pink, to be specific).

Did I miss any? I did a full cleaning today (I found my CatGenie with a bowl full of cat-poo slurry and the heater running...some time after it should've shut off. ) and in the process, I lost a lot of granules. So I'm contemplating alternatives.

Have you tried these alternatives in the 120? I have one cat that I just cannot get to use the CG's and I am trying to think of everything I can to help her. Thanks.

In case I am the only person who has discovered this, the ideal Genie pellet replacement medium are the little poly beads that are used to stuff beanie babies and various other dolls. They are available on eBay from moldingman2, who has by far the best prices. I just bought my third lot from them recently: 70 lb for $34 (although the shipping costs more than the pellets). If you don't need this much, he has everything from 10 lb for $6, and larger lots up to 70 lb. Don't buy it from a place like Michael's, where you will pay $8 for 2 lb....

We have been using these granules for over a year on our 13 Genies with zero problems.

moldingman2 This seller currently has no items for sale. !

I purchased and loaded 7MM acrylic beads as a PVC pelet alternative 3 days ago and not one bead outside of the CG and none in the machine. They go throught the scooper very well and my two pixie bobs love them. I used 12 packages of the 1,000 count and it filled the bowl perfectly. I also swithched to Simple Solution Extreme when I reset my solution cartridges. I am very pleased with the acrylic beads. Before we were vacuuming daily. The PVC pellets made there way to every room on the main floor. Please see: http://www.consumercrafts.com/Store/Pro ... ic(jewelry)&s=Size:7 mm;Shape:round

I have been using the CRS crafts pellets for about 2 months now and they seem to work great. I did have one clog but it appeared to be where I had the hose coiled up behind the CatGenie. I laid the hose flat and I have not had any problems since.

justinharlow wrote:In case I am the only person who has discovered this, the ideal Genie pellet replacement medium are the little poly beads that are used to stuff beanie babies and various other dolls. They are available on eBay from moldingman2, who has by far the best prices. I just bought my third lot from them recently: 70 lb for $34 (although the shipping costs more than the pellets). If you don't need this much, he has everything from 10 lb for $6, and larger lots up to 70 lb. Don't buy it from a place like Michael's, where you will pay $8 for 2 lb....

We have been using these granules for over a year on our 13 Genies with zero problems.

I ordered 70 lbs of these from moldingman2 on January 4th, and they didn't get here until today. I had to buy another box of the cat genie branded stuff in the mean time, which I see as a big waste of money. Between what the cats kick out and what the machine blows out and pumps down the drain I've been going through close to a box a month. This will be a big saving. Instead of $20+/month for the name brand junk, I'll be spending $3.50/month. I'll report back here after I end up adding the moldingman2 pellets. If you need granules right away, be aware that you will be waiting over two weeks to get them from moldingman2 on ebay. If it works out, I'll probably get a couple more of the 70lb boxes so that I end up with a 5 year supply.

Now, if we can work out how to refill the 120 cartridges I'll be in good shape. I know someone here sniffed the I2C bus between the RFID reader and processor, but never posted the content of the communication. I'm probably capable building and programming a device to emulate the RFID reader, but I'd like to see what information is on the bus before I buy a logic analyzer and open up the cat genie. If it's over my head I'd hate to void my warranty and waste money finding out.

Denzel, See my post that is 2 above yours. I have picked 2 beads out of the cat mat and there are none in the machine with a week on the beads now. Cost was about $28.00 inc freight to fill the Cat Genie bowl to the proper level. No more vacuuming and picking up pellets all over the house.

denzel wrote:

justinharlow wrote:In case I am the only person who has discovered this, the ideal Genie pellet replacement medium are the little poly beads that are used to stuff beanie babies and various other dolls. They are available on eBay from moldingman2, who has by far the best prices. I just bought my third lot from them recently: 70 lb for $34 (although the shipping costs more than the pellets). If you don't need this much, he has everything from 10 lb for $6, and larger lots up to 70 lb. Don't buy it from a place like Michael's, where you will pay $8 for 2 lb....

We have been using these granules for over a year on our 13 Genies with zero problems.

I ordered 70 lbs of these from moldingman2 on January 4th, and they didn't get here until today. I had to buy another box of the cat genie branded stuff in the mean time, which I see as a big waste of money. Between what the cats kick out and what the machine blows out and pumps down the drain I've been going through close to a box a month. This will be a big saving. Instead of $20+/month for the name brand junk, I'll be spending $3.50/month. I'll report back here after I end up adding the moldingman2 pellets. If you need granules right away, be aware that you will be waiting over two weeks to get them from moldingman2 on ebay. If it works out, I'll probably get a couple more of the 70lb boxes so that I end up with a 5 year supply.

Now, if we can work out how to refill the 120 cartridges I'll be in good shape. I know someone here sniffed the I2C bus between the RFID reader and processor, but never posted the content of the communication. I'm probably capable building and programming a device to emulate the RFID reader, but I'd like to see what information is on the bus before I buy a logic analyzer and open up the cat genie. If it's over my head I'd hate to void my warranty and waste money finding out.

Had a recent revelation that I wanted to share. I have a Catgenie 60 setup with an "alternative" sanisolution reservoir and I use a custom number reset device. I have been using Health Technology's http://www.htproducts.net/viewproduct.php?product=6/ that I paid $42 with shipping for a gallon. I use it at the 1:16 ratio and that is about 136 cartridges at $0.31 each. Quite sometime ago I was low on pellets and needed instant gratification. I went to a JoAnn's Fabrics in AZ and bought some poly-pellets that look very similar to the ones being sold on eBay by moldingman2. These were made by Fairfield, http://www.poly-fil.com. My tracking was almost nonexistent, but I thought this was due to my substitute sanisolution. A couple of weeks ago, during a complete cleaning I thought I would throw out my pellets and start fresh since I had a box of Petnovations pellets that I had ordered after being unprepared. All of a sudden I was getting three beep errors at the end of what seemed like a normal cycle...tracking everywhere. The pellets themselves seemed sticky, maybe this is the biodegradable side effect. Yesterday I had another three beep error at the end of a cycle...litter was dry but there was this smell... No brownies in the bowl, but it appeared there was a drainage issue. Set out to do a complete clean...Petnovations pellets everywhere inside, in the gears, in the hopper, under the bowl. Decided to throw out the pellets and use the emergency bag of poly pellets I had set aside. These pellets are much lighter and the "popping" noise that had to be pellets where there should not have been has gone away. So far NO TRACKING have run about six cycles and no errors. Poly-pellets do not feel sticky after a cycle.

Are these the pellets?


Do these float? Any other problems with the pellets?

I found a local plastics company near me...gonna see what they have that comes close and their prices.

Birch Plastics...

BamZipPow your picture looks the same. Packaging is different but I have had them for some time. There is some floating but it has not seemed to cause any problems.

denzel wrote:

justinharlow wrote:In case I am the only person who has discovered this, the ideal Genie pellet replacement medium are the little poly beads that are used to stuff beanie babies and various other dolls. They are available on eBay from moldingman2, who has by far the best prices. I just bought my third lot from them recently: 70 lb for $34 (although the shipping costs more than the pellets). If you don't need this much, he has everything from 10 lb for $6, and larger lots up to 70 lb. Don't buy it from a place like Michael's, where you will pay $8 for 2 lb....

We have been using these granules for over a year on our 13 Genies with zero problems.

I ordered 70 lbs of these from moldingman2 on January 4th, and they didn't get here until today. I had to buy another box of the cat genie branded stuff in the mean time, which I see as a big waste of money. Between what the cats kick out and what the machine blows out and pumps down the drain I've been going through close to a box a month. This will be a big saving. Instead of $20+/month for the name brand junk, I'll be spending $3.50/month. I'll report back here after I end up adding the moldingman2 pellets. If you need granules right away, be aware that you will be waiting over two weeks to get them from moldingman2 on ebay. If it works out, I'll probably get a couple more of the 70lb boxes so that I end up with a 5 year supply.

Now, if we can work out how to refill the 120 cartridges I'll be in good shape. I know someone here sniffed the I2C bus between the RFID reader and processor, but never posted the content of the communication. I'm probably capable building and programming a device to emulate the RFID reader, but I'd like to see what information is on the bus before I buy a logic analyzer and open up the cat genie. If it's over my head I'd hate to void my warranty and waste money finding out.

Right you are about the shipping. I should have mentioned that. Moldingman2 delivers the goods as advertised, but he is horribly slow to ship. He refuses to use anything other than UPS Ground, and the shipping runs about 2X the cost of the pellets, but the net price delivered is still the best I have found. Once I figured out the lead time problem, I started ordering from him about 3 weeks before I expect to run out.

I use red millet and Simple Green Sasafras (50/50) and our cats finally took to the cat genie. They were only 8 weeks when they first sampled it and did not like it. That was 8 months ago and one month ago I got the millets and simple green and they now use it with it just sitting there and cleaning a clean bowl for about a week. They have been using it for about 3 weeks. The original pellets looked nicer in use, as the red millet stays in the heaps they pile up. But there is next to no pellets tracked around. This is in the laundry area of the basement and I have yet to find any on the steps or in the living room, places I always saw the original pellets.

I got my stuff from Amazon. Turns out the Simple Greeen Sasafrase only has a part number (does not say Sasafras except at Simple Greens web site and Amazon. It is available at the local Lowes.