Automatic Litterbox Central

I want to start out by saying that I'm not usually one to take time out to offer my opinion on products I buy (ie. posting feedback), but I realize that an automatic litterbox can be such an investment and there are so many options out there, I wanted to try to offer some assistance to anyone who may be contemplating purchasing a new litterbox and struggling with making the best choice. I myself found other people's comments extremely helpful and is how I ended up with the ScoopFree three months ago. First of all, let me go back and say that sometime around 1995 I ended up buying the Littermaid self-cleaning litterbox after seeing a very impressive infomercial on TV. At that time, you couldn't buy them in a pet store. In hindsight, I suppose it was pretty nice not having to manually scoop a box every day, but it sure had it's flaws and I still haven't forgotten them. Even recent reviews on this site tell of the same problems I remember having with that particular box. Good riddance to the Littermaid! We then went a few years without a cat, and two years ago we ended up with one again and I opted for the Mac Daddy of all litterboxes, the Litter Robot. I believed that with the huge cost of around $300, you get what you pay for. I thought I loved it, and I didn't have too many complaints with it while using it, except that I knew it was really big, and really loud, and I sure hated the clay litter that was tracked outside of it and the little bit that smeared along the outside of it after the thing rotated. This past January, my cat -for whatever reason- stopped pooping in it, but rather right outside of it. I couldn't figure this out, as he had no problem going inside to urinate. I started changing litter brands and hoped things would change. When they didn't, I finally took him to the vet (all online research indicated he could have a parasite) and he was given the all-clear. I was told all the reasons he might not like the litterbox and that he's probably too large for it, (he is a Ragdoll after all and weighs about 14 lbs.) That still didn't explain why he didn't mind peeing in it, but nevertheless, I was willing to seek out a change. In May he had a very serious urinary tract infection that nearly killed him and he was put on prescription cat food. (From what I've read, that may be a key point as other people on this forum have discussed different diets and how that affects some of the litterbox issues). At any rate, I ordered myself a ScoopFree based on the mostly good reviews and I was willing to overlook some of the bad, keep a positive attitude, and give it a try. I also decided up-front to purchase the Forever litter tray to cut down on hefty costs of replacement cartridges. After the second or third day of use, I couldn't believe how bad the house reeked of urine and I thought I had just been suckered into the biggest gimmick. I bought the thing so that I wouldn't have to scoop, and I sure didn't plan to have to stir the crystals around every day. I came back to this forum, and after looking at my ScoopFree, I found my male cat was urinating on the side of the box and therefore, the urine was seeping through the crack between the top of the unit and the bottom tray. Thanks to many suggestions, I added a piece of weather-stripping to the underside of the top portion of the ScoopFree and that has taken care of ALL my ScoopFree problems. We're temporarily living in confined quarters, so the litterbox is currently in the corner of my bedroom and that has not been a problem at all. Pretty unbelievable, wouldn't you say?! Compared to the Litter Robot, it is much quieter, the cycle is much shorter, and I am soooooo happy not to have clay litter (sand) in my home anymore. I empty my Forever tray once a month, and that's it. I do not tend to it at all any other time! That is truly amazing to me. When I change the crystals, I do add a few sprinkles of Nature's Miracle litter treatment, although I can't say for sure that that's what's working so well. I just know when you've got a good thing going, you don't mess with it, so I continue using it each month. Also, just in case the weather stripping were to fail, I did buy a large vinyl tablecloth for about three bucks and I cut it down into squares just a little larger than the perimeter of the box and I lay that down underneath it. Out of one large tablecloth, I have a year's worth of (12) waterproof "mats" just in case any urine were to leak out of the box as was happening in the beginning which caused such a terrible smell. One more thing to point out is that since the ScoopFree is in my bedroom, I bought the hood for the box thinking that anything I could do to keep the odors out would be good, but my cat didn't like it. So we don't use a hood, and still it's the best thing ever. I LOVE the ScoopFree and would recommend it to anyone. Love it, love it, love it, I absolutely couldn't be happier!!!

Sorry, but I have to say it and I know others will agree. Paragraphs help. A lot.

Thanks for the info. I have not had as good results with my scoopfree but I'm working on it. I have two cats so I know that I will not be able to go a month with scooping. If I can get to the point of leaving it alone for a week I would be thrilled!
I am also using the forever tray.

Can you tell me what you feed your cats? One of my cats is a ragdoll. If your food was recomeded by your vet it must be a good choice.

Colleen

I feed my cat Hill's Prescription Diet c/d Multicare food. I get this at the vet's office in a large 10 lb. bag. I'm wondering how long you've had your ScoopFree? I can so easily remember the first few days thinking the thing was such a joke! I hated it and it smelled so bad. The only thing that changed was when I discovered my cat urinating on the sides and it leaking through the cracks. After I remedied that, no problems at all. I'm so amazed at what the crystals do to the solid waste. I sure wish you luck and hope you finally get great results like I did!

Ive had it for about two months now. It's now working very well. I'm feeding my cats (2) Eukanuba for sensitive systems which seems to have cured the soft stool issue. 3 days is still the max amount of time I have been able to go without cleaning the trap, and about 7 days for a complete litter change.

Wow, you've had the ScoopFree long enough to have tried figuring out some of the issues. And you DEFINITELY should be getting more "mileage" out of it than you are. No way should you be cleaing out the trap after 3 days. That's nuts! I sure can't think of what you could do differently. Eukenuba food is good. My cat was eating that since he was a kitten until his near-death experience. I'm sure you've checked out some of the other posts on this site. There seem to be some people who post here with a lot of knowledge and experience with not only the ScoopFree, but other boxes, foods, and tips in general.

I have had my SF for about a year now. I came here and did all my research and decided on the SF. I couldn't have been happier, especially when the forever tray became available on ebay and cut the costs way down.

For those that are still having issues with the SF...it wouldn't hurt to try the weatherstripping on the forever tray to see if that might be causing part of the problem. I would also recommend putting charcoal or a freshener in with the crystals when they are new.

Good Luck and Don't give up yet!

Concerning the scooping every 3 days: Too much litter is being scoooped into the trap causing it to fillup quickly. I also use the forever tray. Rick tells me this can occur once in a while because the material the tray is made with is very slick. The problem is supposed to correct itself with continued use.

Concerning changing the litter every 7 days: I do rake the crystals every day but by day 7 alot of the crystasl have completly desinigrated to almsot powder.

I don't have any problems with oder.

btw you mentioned your cat had a near death experience? Did it have somthing to do with the food?

The near-death experience was from a urinary tract infection that went undiagnosed for quite some time and got really bad. We had been back and forth to the vet for a while trying to figure out why he wasn't using the litterbox. It turned out that it had nothing to do with the litterbox or type of litter. After being on an IV and in the hospital for several days and after making a full recovery, we switched to prescription food and we've not had any health problems or litterbox issues since. I think the SF is awesome. I don't have any complaints with it even at the end of the month when it's nearing time to change the litter. I don't scoop, rake, or even spread the crystals around. I literally do nothing the entire month! I hope everyone else can get the same results with theirs!

Do you feed your cats wet food along with the dry food? if so is it Hills perscription?

That's a good question since I didn't mention it before... no wet food. Dry only. I really don't know if that helps or not. But what we're doing now seems to be working out great for me so I'll stick with it

Just wanted to mention that I have made it to day 8 without a litter change and it looks as like I might make it two weeks. I did add a small amount of fresh crystals. As for scooping, the last few times I did notice there were less crystals in the trap so I could probably go another day or two. I think I have a problem with knowing there is poop in the box and I want it out of my house. I also picked up some aquarium charcal today. I'll give that a try as well.