Automatic Litterbox Central

So apparently the peeing out the door problem has not yet been solved. I thought the dangly rope solved the problem, but she started up again. Next I hung a sort of "swinging door" made from one of those flimsy/bendable plastic cutting boards. Just now I started to see her go in and PEE onto the control panel/step and I raced up to her so she BOLTED out of there as fast as she could. I'm not sure whether she finished and/or whether she will go back in for a while. . .

My next experiment seems like a good one, but I'm not optimistic... after spending 20 min cleaning out the drawer/front I cut the same piece of cutting board into a 1/2 circle to fit exactly the lower half of the entrance, and taped that to the entrance from the inside, and reinforced it on the outside so that it fits in nicely without swinging or anything... I am thinking that this will force my cat to climb over the plastic. I thought that that might cause problems in the cycle, since it is against the edge of the liner, but it was fine just now when I cycled it.

I really hope this will work, otherwise I may have to return the unit and hence return to scooping

Silly cat. . .

If anyone has solved this problem I'd love to hear from you. . .

Generally anything that makes them have to step over something to get into the globe will make them turn around. You'll have to wait a couple of weeks before you know it's working.

Well I tried covering up the bottom 1/2 of the opening like I wrote before. . . but I came home from work today to find a huge pee circle on my bed. I have spent the last few hours washing and drying my sheets/mattress pad/comforter... luckily I live in an apartment where there are multiple washers/dryers at my disposal. The verdict is still not out though as to whether my comforter will come out ok (it is a down-filled duvet), so this LR might have cost me my comforter as well as $50 by the time I pay for shipping both ways if I have to return the unit. . .

For now, I cut the plastic down so that now it only covers up the lower 1/3 of the opening, and from tomorrow morning until Wednesday of next week I am going to put the old litter box next to the Bot-- I am going to be away, and my neighbor will be on litter-duty, so I realllly don't want anything bad to happen. Until then, I will keep an eye on the cat-- she has not gone #2 yet today (or if she has, I haven't found it. . .) so I am hoping I might catch her before I leave.

I am guessing that as long as the old box is there, she will not touch the LR. The Bot just may have to be returned . I KNOW there was enough space for my cat to have gone in before, so I guess she was just too freaked out to try.

I am really disappointed with all of this. . . I have read about all of the other automatic litterboxes, and each has its flaw. The Bot seemed the closest to a reasonable alternative to scooping. I am out of ideas now.

We've had one incident with one of the cats peeing onto the step. Probably Merry, since she doesn't really seem to turn around. When I discovered it, I was short on time (before leaving for work), so I just grabbed some duct tape, and taped across the bottom 1/4 (roughly) of the entrance. Not quite the full width of the duct tape, in other words, some of it is below the bottom of the entrance. Took a piece of paper and cut it to fit the sticky side of the duct tape (to avoid fur getting pulled off). That has worked so far. Merry had used it for 6 days before the step incident, and it's been a week since then.

Note that she still doesn't turn around! But, when stepping over the tape (not jumping), it does seem to get her to at least move over a bit once she gets in, at least the time I saw her do it. In addition, if she almost misses, it provides a barrier to direct the pee back inside. It so far has a wonderful fringe benefit of helping to keep litter in the globe, since Merry digs a lot. And when she digs while facing the back, hails of litter come flying out. The tape at least helps keep some inside.

I deliberately didn't make the tape "wall" very tall, since I didn't want it to keep one of the cats from using it. Which sounds like what happened to you. We've also kept their old box out, as a backup. Their old box has a hood, and it came with a plastic flap for the door. They don't like the flap, so I've put that back on the old box, to make it less attractive, but still available, in a pinch.

There was another suggestion of putting some sort of cone, say, attached to the back wall of the globe, so it would be in their face if they don't turn around.

I hope this helps a bit. I feel for you, having had to go through a bit of a process trying to get the cats to use it. If the cat doesn't like it at the moment, have you tried putting something underneath the front, to steady the unit? It kind of disables the switch, but I think it helped our two get used to it, since it didn't wiggle and wobble around when they stepped onto it.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. It is good to see that some people DO have happy endings.

Since my last post, I made the barrier shorter, so only covering the bottom 1/3. And not too long after (dum dum de dum drum roll), my cat walked/jumped in rather apprehensively and successfully did her business. She even turned around!

I am HOPING that now that she realizes she can go in, she will again use the unit and not choose to go... elsewhere. This was the first time she ever had an accident, so I am guessing she was really just afraid of going inside the small opening. I am leaving tomorrow until Wed. and was very hesitant to leave the Bot out, but now that I have possibly had a breakthrough, I also want to give my cat some time. So, I just stripped the bed, ran out to the supermarket, bought huge industrial strength yard/garbage bags, and completely covered the surface of my bed in case she thinks that would make a nice bathroom again. If there is any trouble, my neighbor will just replace the Bot with my cat's old litter box, at least for the time that I am away.

I am crossing my fingers... I think this is the last chance.

If you're concerned about her being comfortable with using the LR itself, you could try the Dr. Elsey's (I think?) Cat Attract litter. A lot of people here have recommended that. I believe PetSmart sells it. I was going to eventually try that to get the cats into the LR, if they kept resisting. Fortunately, they came around without it. Though I did try luring them into it, playing with them near it, etc. As your cat has already used it, you're probably over that initial hump. But you might want to keep Cat Attract in mind, to help her use the LR more. That alone might help her get more comfortable with it, just using it.

Oh, definitely don't cover up too much of the enterance. Sometimes even just covering up just a couple of inches at the bottom is enough to make them step over it and turn around. My cat needed the entire bottom half covered up because he's tiny.

Thanks. I am pretty sure that was the problem. It is now covered on the bottom 1/3, and I think it is fine... no accidents for 3 days and all seems well.

I am so relieved this seems to be ok. I am actually away from home and my neighbor is catsitting , so I was afraid what could happen. My bed is covered in plastic as a precaution but I think I am in the clear now. Hopefully my cat won't assume that the bed becomes again a litterbox when I get home and rip the plastic off, but I don't suspect that will happen. I think in the end, cats like to have a clean designated bathroom space.

Taking a whiz on the bed seems to be a common way for cats to send a message to their owners, so I keep my bedroom door closed whenever I'm not home. He hasn't done anything in there but I'm not taking any chances.

Same thing with suitcases. There are many stories of cats peeing in people's suitcases after they've come home from a trip. A guess it's better than biting us or killing us in our sleep.

Scott Larson wrote:guess it's better than biting us or killing us in our sleep.

well i came home... my neighbor/catsitter happily informed me that belle had no problems whatsoever, so i think she is completely adjusted to the bot. i took the plastic off my bed and am crossing my fingers that all goes smoothly now. she sleeps at the foot of my bed normally so i don't expect that she will pee on it...

my suitcases are out in the hallway but they often are for up to a week after i get home from a trip (because i am super lazy and bad at unpacking), and i have never had a problem there.

so glad i can keep the bot now!