Automatic Litterbox Central

My first litter robot was defective, and had to be sent back. The new one arrived a few weeks ago, but I am finding that I can't leave it on. My cats are very curious, and as soon as it starts to rotate, they rush up to the robot and put their paws on the step so they can look inside. They do this EVERY time. The litter robot pauses, they loose interest and start to walk away, but as soon as it moves again, they're right back there tripping the sensor with their paws on the step!!! The litter robot only goes through this process about three times, they in seems to get unhappy. I will come downstairs and all the lights will be flashing, and they cleaning cycle has been halted (usually in a way that leaves no litter for the cats to use the washroom in). I have to turn the robot off, and then on for it to fix itself.

Is this normal? What should I do? I wish the robot would just keep trying indefinitly, because my cats would loose interest then. Right now it only tries a few times, then stops itselt completly.

Is this a problem with the robot, or just my silly cats?

How many cats do you have?

I think you should turn it off and just cycle it at the end of the day.

Or, you could lower the sensitivity on the switch and stop the "paw on step" action.

After a while, the LR will become normal for the cats.

I have had great success with this box.

I wish the same for you.

Thank you for your reply, but do you know if it's normal for it to stop after about three tries? If it would only keep trying to rotate, my cats WOULD loose interest. Right now, it tries to cycle about three times, and then I will come downstairs to find all three lights flashing, and the robot halted.

(Just so you know, I have two average sized cats.)

Have you contacted the company?
I don't have the inside scoop.
I think they would know the reason for the flashing lights etc.

It is working great for me and my two cats.

You might try intentionally exposing the cats to the LR's cycle until they lose interest... i.e., you sit there with them as they watch the cycle, stop the cycle, etc., and reset the LR cycle for them until the game bores them. One of my cats also had a wonderful fascination with the LR when she first received it... She lost interest eventually in the cycling.

It's stopping because it can't tell the difference between a cat on the step and a cat that's stuck in the globe for some reason. This is a safety feature.

I had this problem too with my younger of our two cats. She was OBSESSED with the cycling and would come running downstairs when she'd hear the box. I was worried because the whole reason I got the LR was so that I could leave the house for 3 days or so and not have to have someone drive to our rural house to care for the cats. I fixed this problem by plugging the power cord into a timer that shuts off the power for one minute. It does this at one in the afternoon (usually kitty nap time) and one in the morning. By cutting the power, the LR resets itself, so if it were stuck it would remedy this. I have had my box since the end of Dec 2007. I have not had this problem since I hooked up the timer and the cat seems a lot less interested now, two months later.

I DO love this litter box.

Wow! Thanks for all the great replys! As long as this is not a sign that I have another defective Litter Robot, them I am okay. I had to return the first model because it definitly had problems, so I am a little wary.

I like the idea of putting the litter robot on a timer! I was also wondering how I was going to go away, and leave the litter robot on. If it halts mid cycle and my cats can't use the bathroom, they won't be happy campers! This would totally solve all my problems. If I go away, we have a friend stop by to care for the cats, but I'd hate to ask her to clean litter boxes.

Yay! I feel very hopeful now!

Our cat, to, was obsessed with the Litter Robot (for weeks). She would not let it finish a cycle.

My solution: I put my laptop computer in the utility room with the LR (on a high shelf out of cat-range), and recorded a WAV file of the complete run cycle. Then I adjusted the playback volume until it closely approximated the actual sound of the LR. Then I set it to play in a loop every 7 minutes, which I did for 5 days in a row. During this time, I left the robot off and ran it twice a day manually.

After her psychological training was complete, our cat has absolutely no interest in running to the LR when it cycles. The robot has been on and self-running for about a month now without being interrupted once.

justme wrote:Our cat, to, was obsessed with the Litter Robot (for weeks). She would not let it finish a cycle.

My solution: I put my laptop computer in the utility room with the LR (on a high shelf out of cat-range), and recorded a WAV file of the complete run cycle. Then I adjusted the playback volume until it closely approximated the actual sound of the LR. Then I set it to play in a loop every 7 minutes, which I did for 5 days in a row. During this time, I left the robot off and ran it twice a day manually.

After her psychological training was complete, our cat has absolutely no interest in running to the LR when it cycles. The robot has been on and self-running for about a month now without being interrupted once.

Do you happen to have the mp3 you made, I would love to try this.

Hello,

We just got the LR two weeks ago and we are seeing the same issues. One of our two cats simply will not let it complete a cycle. We were seriously thinking of returning the LR because of this issue.

We would also appreciate a copy of that mp3 file of the litte robot sounds, if you wouldn't mind sharing it. Thanks!

Many cats have attention spans shorter than teenagers and in a few days will lose interest in this new fascinating Litter Robot toy you bought for them to play with.

My cat enjoyed climbing on top of it as it turned for the first week.

i think I'm having the same problem. i can't leave the litter robot on because I will find it stuck 1/2 way through a cycle with all the lights flashing. I knew that it would pause when a cat climbs in during a cycle, but I didn't know that it would 'give up' after trying a few times. I have been leaving it unplugged, and running it a couple of times a day, while it's running I have to stand and watch it to keep the cats from climbing in. I bought a darkroom timmer so that I can turn it on and walk away (hopefully). I think the litter robot should have a button to push to make it cycle once, and then turn off, but as it is I have to stick around to turn it off.

Other than this problem , i love our litter robot and will be buying a 2nd one as soon as the cats lose interest in climbing it during the clean cycle. We still have 2 regular litter boxes and I can't wait to get rid of them.

justme wrote:Our cat, to, was obsessed with the Litter Robot (for weeks). She would not let it finish a cycle.

My solution: I put my laptop computer in the utility room with the LR (on a high shelf out of cat-range), and recorded a WAV file of the complete run cycle. Then I adjusted the playback volume until it closely approximated the actual sound of the LR. Then I set it to play in a loop every 7 minutes, which I did for 5 days in a row. During this time, I left the robot off and ran it twice a day manually.

After her psychological training was complete, our cat has absolutely no interest in running to the LR when it cycles. The robot has been on and self-running for about a month now without being interrupted once.

LOVE THIS... PAVLOV-ESQUE!!!

This is some major creative thinking... I may have to do this as well.