Automatic Litterbox Central

I have a brand new Litter Globe, posted all the way to Australia and have had 2 ragdoll cats successfully using the globe for 2 weeks.
I am however having several problems with it. Number one, it STINKS, despite the fact that I'm wiping it out daily with bleach wipes, using a small broom to knock excess litter from around the base seals and emptying the drawer daily. The whole house smells of cat urine - something I've never experienced before, and the globe itself smells so pungent that one notoriously smell fussy cat is starting to refuse to use it. We've now had two accidents outside the globe because he wouldn't get inside. :/ It seems crazy to use such an expensive machine which smells much worse than any of the standard litter boxes I've had - especially when I bought it just so I never had to worry about smell (I live in a sharehouse & didn't want housemates to have to smell cat urine, ever. You can imagine how mortified I am of both this new revolting smell, and accidents! )

I have two possible suspicions of the smell- I'm currently using litter crystals - so I think the urine may not be getting cleaned out properly - however even after fully soaping out the globe, changing the litter and wiping down the base, it still smells! Also, as the globe rotates Lots of crystals and dust fall out the little panels on the side - spreading crystals everywhere! *sigh* I'm wondering whether urine soaked crystals/dust are causing the outside to stink.

Has anyone else experienced this? I thought the odour absorbing crystals would be the best to use but perhaps I should switch back to standard clay?

Please help, before my housemates disown me!

You need to use clumping litter, not crystals.

Yeah, with clumping litter, the LR is the cat's meow.
A brilliant invention!

I agree with the other posters. Although I like crystals and used them myself in the LR for a very short period of time. I soon found that the LR and crystals have diverse purposes.

The LR is designed to remove waste fairly quickly from the globe leaving a relatively clean litter bed for the cats to use. It is designed for clumping litter that absorbs urine moisture relatively quickly and clumps, coats the poop, and removes BOTH from the globe.

Crystals, on-the-other-hand, are designed to absorb lots of moisture (and don't clump) and dry out poop over a relatively longer period of time. For example, the Scoop Free, a box designed for crystals takes 20 minutes before it cycles after the cat leaves the box -- giving the crystals ample time to absorb moisture from the waste. (In the LR, the cycle takes place 7 minutes after the cat leaves the litter box.) Crystals do not remove urine. They absorb it. It's still there.

And, of course, in the LR, the urine absorbed crystals don't clump and are not being removed from the globe AT ALL. Instead, they are simply redistributed. PLUS, they are being cycled up into the top "storage area" of the globe when it cycles, a place meant to store unsoiled litter (a place that is tough to clean), and likely coating that area with urine as well. By using crystals, then, the urine is actually being distributed throughout the globe, into the litter storage area when the globe cycles, and then placed back in the globe for the cats to use.

No urine removed means a stinky litter box.

Just one more thought. I have found that different clumping litters work differently in the LR. For example, at least in my house, Nature's Miracle has better odor control than World's Best. You may need to experiment a bit to find out which clumping litter will work best for you and your cats.

Best wishes --

I agree that crystal litter is not meant for the LR. I have tried it and yes it does work great for a few days but then the
pearls get soaked with urine. And that in turn gets the globe coated with wet urine and makes the LR "smelly" in no time.
There are many different types of good clumping litter, it just takes time to experiment which works best for you.

I thought I'd come back and give an update on how my crusade with the litter robot was going.

When I first began I was using litter crystals, which were not at all appropriate for the robot, as the lack of clumping meant the smell was far too strong for my fussy cat.

After checking all the local pet stores I found that I had two options for clumping litters (man I wish we had the US's choice!). The first was the cheap clumping clay - and variations thereof - or flushable pine litter. My 2 cats have used the clay previously, and hated it, so I tried the pine.

After scrubbing the globe out I filled it with pine....instant smell success! No more urine odour wafting through the house. My youngest cat hopped right in and peed in it, and voila! Pee clumps which were filtered out. I even caught the older boy jumping in and using it, so I figured my problems were solved. WRONG.

A week after the change over my eldest boy began to leave me poo presents right outside the globe once again. I noticed the few times he did get in he'd come out shaking his head. He's not a turner-arounder like his brother (who hangs his front paws and body out the globe while his back end takes care of business) so he tends to collect pine all over him from the roof and walls when he uses the globe. I tried brushing the walls and roof down twice a day with a little brush, and again it worked for a day or two before the poo presents began to reappear. I didn't get it. Finally I got down on my hands and knees to check I was brushing it properly and WHEW! The stench! The globe was filled with an eye watering level of ammonia! I hadn't noticed, because none of the smell was leaking out. I took it outside, shook the clean litter out, scrubbed the globe with soap, rubbed it down with alcohol and sniffed again. Much better! I emptied the clean litter back in and realised too late - it was the litter that reeked! YUCK!
So maybe this was the problem? Maybe a build up of ammonia was too much for the eldest boy who has been smell sensitive at the best of times.

Now I took to dumping the pine litter daily, washing out the globe and adding fresh litter.
It worked for another week until the poos started again.
And then I caught him peeing in front of the globe! AURGH! He knew he'd done something naughty too as he ran hell for leather in the opposite direction.

After a couple more days of me now taking the globe out daily to wash and add new litter I found my robot having yellow light problems! Soon the globe was rotating randomly, sometimes rotating round and round and round without stopping, others it rotated until upside down and then stopped, forcing my youngest boy to gingerly try and pee on the cage top. I thought, maybe this might be my problem? Maybe the robot had been malfunctioning while I was out and it stressed my bigger boy out enough he was refusing to use it! My sense of patience about the whole thing was about to have a catastrophic failure. I was dreaming of how nice it would be to just go back to a manual litter tray. But stubbornness kept me trying to get the litter robot working right.


Last night, I ran out of pine litter and had to drag a spare bag of the old grey el'cheapo clumping clay out of the cupboard in desperation.
As soon as I opened the bag my older boy came running and got so excited he stuck his whole head in the bag. I put a couple of scoops on top of the last of my clean pine and the yellow light switched off and the green went on! Hurrah! I realised the pine may actually have been to light for the robot.

The best news was, the moment I put the clay in the robot my older boy scrambled into the robot and proceeded to poo in the clay.
!!!!
After five days of wiping up cat poo from everywhere, I could have cried in relief! My fuss pot crazy kitty missed the old grey clay litter (which he hated in the tray because it would get so dirty while I was at work)
I'm crossing my fingers that the robot might keep the old yucky clay litter clean enough that I can switch over completely! I have nightmares of smeary grey dirty streaks all over the globe, but hopefully if I change it daily it shouldn't be too bad. In the meantime I'm just thankful for ONE night where I won't be wiping up cat poo.

Cross fingers!

Hi -- Thanks for the up-date. I think it helps others -- particularly those living in your country who might be considering the LR. And I am always curious about how things turn out for someone asking for advice on this forum.

(Any possibility of talking a retailer into ordering some litter from the U.S.?)

I hope the clay clumping litter works out for you and the cats. I don't use it because I cycle the cat waste into the toilet and a septic system so prefer the natural litters, World's Best Multiple Cat Clumping Formula or Nature's Miracle, as noted above. Both are made out of corn parts -- kernels (World's Best) or cob (Nature's Miracle), ground up, and baked. I am sorry you can't find them in Australia. We do have an extreme amount of choice in the U.S. It gets to be ridiculous after a while but that's free enterprise for you.

I also tried a Pine clumping litter and found it to be too light weight for the LR -- It did not sift quickly enough through the mesh into the globe, clung to the interior of the globe, and created very light weight clumps prone to falling apart. So, although it was easy on the kitty paws and very good at odor control, it had too many drawbacks in the LR.

Good luck with the litter choice.

ARGH.

I was wrong. Weighty litter did not solve the strange random rotations of the robot. I woke up this morning to two very perplexed cats watching the robot making small piles of litter on both it's sides. After cleaning it all up, and manually turning the globe around to the right position, unplugging and plugging it back in so that the light turned green, it lasted 5 minutes before rotating upside down again and freezing.

So at this point I basically have to leave the thing unplugged if I want to go out, and manually trigger it to clean when I get home or risk the cats randomly going to the toilet in the house because their litter box is upside down. I have a tiny little ball, that's difficult to hose out, only works with the cheap, smelly clay litter, which I have to manually clean out. I don't think I've ever spent so much money on piece of malfunctioning technology.

That's it. I officially give up. I'm going back to a hooded litter tray. Even if it may smell by the end of the day, at least the cats will be going IN it.

I think my official stance is, unless you're in America where customer service is available, these just aren't reliable enough to buy.
How upsetting.

Symptoms such as random or strange cycling almost always mean problems with the circuit board. It's likely that when you were using the crystals, your cats were urinating down the front of the Robot. The urine then seeped behind the control panel sticker and ruined the circuit board. Or perhaps when you were constantly cleaning the LR, you got liquid behind the control panel sticker. Either way, you can order new circuit boards directly from the mfr. They're easy to install.

The company's customer service is excellent, via phone or e-mail. They'll walk you through all likely scenarios and help you troubleshoot the problem. Their e-mail address, as presented on their website, is: customer_service@litter-robot.com.

Once you resolve the problem (replace the circuit board?) I would immediately take steps to protect the circuit board. First, cover the control panel decal with clear plastic, sealing the edges of the clear plastic against the base with tape. That should protect the front. Next, make sure the back of the circuit board (inside the base) is completely covered, sealed and protected with waterproof tape, such as duct tape.

Next, watch your cats to see if they are peeing out or down the front of the Robot. If so, resign yourself to the fact that they probably can't be trained to do otherwise. A few folks have claimed success using methods like gently prodding the cats rear ends to force them further into the Robot, or rewarding cats who enter the robot and then turn around, with special treats. That may work for SOME cats, and their owners who have infinite patience.

A possible solution is to create a short barrier that covers no more than about 1/3 of the height of the globe opening. The barrier will help to corral flying litter, and may help contain errant urine streams to the globe's interior. Read this thread to see examples of barriers people have made: http://www.litterbox-central.com/litter-box/litter-robot/topic2702.html#p14848

Hope that helps,
Jack

A few folks have claimed success using methods like gently prodding the cats rear ends to force them further into the Robot, or rewarding cats who enter the robot and then turn around, with special treats. That may work for SOME cats, and their owners who have infinite patience.

I have to say that the cats need the credit here: Some of us have very smart cats.

Sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate cats that won't turn around to face the opening are not smart! However, it seems that even some smart cats can be veeeery stubborn when prodded (see how I got that in there?) to do something they don't want to do.

that even some smart cats can be veeeery stubborn when prodded (see how I got that in there?) to do something they don't want to do.

Well, Jack, my comment was to signify that some of us don't give our cats enough credit: that if we take the time to show them a new move, some of them actually get it. I have had cats most of my life -- (minus the first 5 years ...) and a cat has been a cat for me. I never tried to teach my cats much because, after-all cats tend to be very independent and we don't train them. Train a dog, yes. Train a cat, don't bother. And then I got a Bengal and wow, what a surprise. They learn and they seem to like to learn. It was a real eye-opener for me -- that I could show my cat how to do something and he would indeed do it the first time out. I have to wonder if all those years when I wasn't attempting to teach my cats anything, I was actually making some assumptions about them that were unwarranted.