Automatic Litterbox Central

flyguyjake, are you sure the SaniSolution is squirted directly onto the granules during the drying cycle? Or is the SaniSolution getting squirted below the bowl? If so, that would make more sense, as it's just squirting it into the standing water below the bowl.

I just can't believe they would have the product squirt it directly onto the granules during the drying cycle!

It then dispenses 1 squirt about 2 minutes into the drying cycle and then about 4 more squirts towards the middle of the drying cycle. This would most likely be why the granules are sticky.

I would also like a difinitive answer on this. I'm borderline comfortable with the solution as it is as I also notice the granules sticking to the side of the bowl. If I run a cycle without the cartridge, there's no sticking to the side of the bowl. I'm concerned that my cat is getting more than her share's worth of chemicals. I don't want to overreact, and I realize outdoor cats walk through stuff that is very toxic, (pestisides, etc), but this isn't sitting too well with me now. It's just that cats are so fastidious about cleaning and are always licking their paws.

Pelvis Popcan & luvmymainecoon,

Yes I'm 100% positive that the SaniSolution is added directly into the bowl with the granules during the drying cycle. In fact it's added 3 yes 3 TIMES!

If you find time observe your CatGenie during the final draining through the drying cycle you will see each of the doses.

Here's when it dispenses SaniSolution; (times may vary... as I didn't have a watch on...sorry )

First Dose;
During the final draining just as all the water is drained from the bowl watch the water outlet near the rim of the bowl and you will see clear "drips" running down the rim of the bowl as it's spinning. Yup that's SaniSolution... Touch it! Smell it! Ewww but don't Taste It!

Second Dose;
About 5 minutes or so into the drying cycle the GenieHand will raise up and then back down into the bowl. The bowl will stop spinning. It stopped spinning so that CatGenie could add more... SaniSolution!
Watch the water outlet you'll see it. If the granules are up the rim of the bowl too high or too close to the water outlet you may miss it. So as the GenieHands rasing up be sure to knock the granules down so you'll have a clear view of the water outlet.

Third Dose;
About 10 minutes or so into the drying cycle you'll see the GenieHand go up again and back into the bowl. The bowl will stop spinning. And boom... in comes more of that great SaniSolution! Watch the water outlet and you'll see it. The bowl only stops spinning to add SaniSolution.

Make sure you're not watching the GenieHand going up and down or you may miss the SaniSolution going into the bowl. It happens pretty fast. Maybe the only reason the GenieHand goes up and down at these points is to mesmerize you so that you won't see the CatGenie sneek in some Cat Poision.

So according to the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for the SaniSolution it's toxic. We'd better all start testing out "petsafe" alternatives quickly that don't leave a sticky residue and won't harm our precious babies. I still think an enzyme based product is the way to go since it stays in the bowl with the urine and feces it will be working overtime to eat away at all that yummy food! Should help to keep smells down in between wash cycles as well.

Anyone tried any new solution alternatives yet?

I'd be a little wary about noticing clear drips, as that could be water...
Fill up a cartridge with water and add some food coloring to it to differentiate.

Out of curiosity, I just checked with my vet, as I hauled my dog and cat in for their yearly checkup and shots...
They use a chemical from Sam's Club/Costco for their exam rooms.

I can't find it on the website though. It's not Simple Green.

Pele wrote:I'd be a little wary about noticing clear drips, as that could be water...
Fill up a cartridge with water and add some food coloring to it to differentiate.

Out of curiosity, I just checked with my vet, as I hauled my dog and cat in for their yearly checkup and shots...
They use a chemical from Sam's Club/Costco for their exam rooms.

I can't find it on the website though. It's not Simple Green.

Do you know which Costco? Could you call your vet and ask someone what the name of the product is? I have three Costco stores in my area and I've never see any commercial disinfectants. Thanks!

I have been reading up and got a cat genie 2 weeks ago. I added a laundry box in an unused area with water and drain just for this. I'm going to make it work. I also got a resetter and am reading up on sub solutions. I found one that looks promising...
http://www.amazon.com/Brulin-Corporatio ... 736&sr=8-1

If the solution does indeed go in during dry cycles, then dilution will be necessary... just as if you were spraying it on an exam table.

What do you think?
Any comments?

msm

Pele,

I understand your skepticism as I was shocked to see it for myself and I would highly suggest that you observe your CatGenie to verify my claim. But I can tell you with 100% confidence that it is SaniSolution. I touched it and smelled it, it was SaniSolution. If you run your CatGenie without the bowl you will see that there are two definitive streams that come out of the water outlet area. A pencil sized stream is the water and a very fine stream like from a squirt gun is the SaniSolution. There are two separate dispensing nozzles they are not combined. If you remove your CPU you will see a small red rubber nozzle which is for the SaniSolution and next to it you will see a round pencil sized hole which is where the water comes out. Furthermore the "water" doesn't drip, once it's off it's off otherwise you would have wet granules all the time near the water outlet.
But again don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself. "Seeing Is Believing"

I've watched cycles several times. And I don't believe you. Seeing is NOT believing.

Hey All!

So I had another date with my CatGenie tonight, this time with a stop watch. She and I are getting very acquainted :lol:

Here are the precise (as close as possible) cycle times. I started the stop watch when I heard the "start beep".

Times listed are Minutes & Seconds

Water fill #1 3:52 (unit fills with 2 gallons + 6 cups or a total of 304 ounces of water)
Drain start 5:58 (wash cycle 2:06)
Water fill #2 9:05
SaniSolution #1 10:01 (5 squirts = 0.023oz)
Drain start 11:21 (wash cycle 2:16)
Water fill #3 13:53 (final water fill, this wash gets a heafty dose of sanisolution)
SaniSolution #2 14:41 (20 squirts = 0.09oz) Keep in mind that there is no "rinsing" after this point.
Drain start 16:04 (wash cycle 2:11) water is now completely drained from bowl
SaniSolution #3 17:00 (20 squirts = 0.09oz) another heafty dose dispensed directly into bowl of wet granules (no water added)
Drying Starts 17:38
SaniSolution #4 22:27 (5 squirts = 0.023oz) 4:49 into the drying cycle (no water added)
SaniSolution #5 26:46 (5 squirts = 0.023oz) 9:08 into the drying (no water added)
Drying Stops 36:08 (drying cycle 19:30)
GenieHand retracting & adjusting for a few seconds after drying stops
Total Cycle run time = 36:25

Total SaniSolution dispensed = 0.25 or 1/4 of an ounce x 60 cycles = 15 FL ounces (full cartridge)
Each "squirt" is roughly 0.0045 of an ounce. The squirts are tiny streams maybe a needle thick.

Unit holds 2 gallons and 6 cups of water or 304 ounces. This is when the unit stops filling with water on initial fill.


It is quite clear that the only "disinfecting" or "sanitizing" stage happens during the drying cycle when the CatGenie adds a total of (0.136) of an ounce of SaniSolution which is over half (0.125) of the total SaniSolution added during each cycle (0.25). No wonder the unit doesn't add any SaniSolution during fill # 1 and very little during fill #2 since the granules are already super concentrated during the final wash and dry cycle.

Quite honestly I can't image that this is truly 100% safe for our cats. The scented SaniSolution leaves quite a lot of residue on the bowl and the granules.

Does the unscented version leave the same sticky residue or is it just from the scented oils in the scented version?

The CatGenie should really add all of the sanisolution during the first wash cycle with wash #2 & #3 as mere rinse cycles. This would ensure that the bowl and granules are free from residual chemicals.

And another thing... According to the CatGenie demo video there is supposedly "odor killing sanisolution" in the basin or reservoir for the urine to drain into. This is not true and not so in my machine. My machine pretty much drains completely. There is a little water left in the down slope but the cats urine typically falls through at the edges of the bowl where there is no water. The unit really should add about 4 cups of water & sanisolution to the bowl just before the start of the drying cycle in order to provide that much needed "standing water" in the basin to catch and capture the urine. But as you can see for yourself this is an obvious design flaw since waater isn't added after wash fill #3. Everyone who has cleaned their CatGenie knows how nasty the basin gets, hense the smell. Granted they did recently add the GenieScrubber to help keep things a bit more tidy, but without more water down there in between wash cycles we'll have to see how effecient it really is.

Oh if we could only REPROGRAM our CatGenie to a custom wash cycle, I would be in heaven!
Anyone have any ideas?

Still2cats2many,

I appreciate your comments, however you have simply "missed" this happening. IT REALLY IS HARD TO SEE
The sanisolution stream or "squirt" is literally smaller than the thickness of a needle. Also it's clear which makes it even harder to see. You would have to know when to specifically watch for it AND look at the water outlet area very closely. It "runs" down the rim of the bowl so you may have just thought it was water.

Read my previous post, and then you'll know the exact moments to watch for it. Isn't your bowl and granules sticky like everyone elses? This would be one of the #1 complaints, how else do you think this is happening?

Furthurmore I have no reason to lie about this, and trust me I would much rather NOT have discoverd this because now I'm frantically looking for a sanisolution substitue to make sure that my $1500 solid white blue eyed Persian cats (2 of them) are getting poisined!!!

Cheers!

flyguyjake wrote:Quite honestly I can't image that this is truly 100% safe for our cats. The scented SaniSolution leaves quite a lot of residue on the bowl and the granules.

Just because it leaves a residue, doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad residue. I really think we need to know exactly what we are talking about before we start jumping to conclusions. I have a request in with my vet to get his educated opinion on the solution. I will let you know as soon as I find out anything.

Does the unscented version leave the same sticky residue or is it just from the scented oils in the scented version?

I use the unscented solution and the granules are still sticky.

Still2cats2many wrote:I've been using undiluted Petzyme, readily available at all Petco as substitute for Sani-Solution. <snip> So far, so good.

Me too... though I get mine at Petsmart.
I like the smell though it's hardly noticeable during the cycle.
I also use it to help clean up those unavoidable "accidents".

I think I meant to say Petsmart as well. Yes. Sorry about that. I also concede the point that the solution may spray on the granules, but I really don't care if it does, so no point in getting into a stew about it. After 2 + years with the Catgenie, the cats are still alive and healthy. So Jimmy crack corn and I don't care.

Glad you like the Petzyme. Me too. The current mix of Dawn and Petzyme really seems to be doing the trick for me. No unpleasant odors for a few weeks now since making the switch.

For those who are using something else beside the SaniSolution...are you now running yer Cat Genie with more cycles than before?

I just loaded up a cartridge with 50/50 of household bleach and vinegar (stuffed in 17oz) and I didn't notice any smell at all after it was done. I think I'm gonna set it fer 4 cycles a day since it's gonna be pretty cheap to run now.