Automatic Litterbox Central

Hello-
I have had my LR for a little over a month now and my cat is using it well except for one problem. He doesn't turn around in the globe. Instead he faces the back and does his business near the door and sometimes on the lip extender. I recently exchanged my globe for the bubble globe and this helps him to get further in and a little past the door but sometimes he still goes on the extender.

My main concern, however, is that he doesn't even turn around to exit the globe. He backs out of it.

I've tried dangling a quarter from the top and using the fence, neither worked. Can anyone offer any other suggestions?
Is this something he will eventually figure out on his own?

Thanks for your help!

Hi "acorbello": Sounds as though you have not had the unit for a long time and you are doing all the right things. I would give it more time. Your cat might not feel comfortable yet. There is one thing you could try though that might help. There is a litter called Cat Attract. It is a training litter. Check it out at http://www.preciouscat.com. A lot of our customers have had success using it. Let me know if I can be of further assistance at customer-service@litter-robot.com. We are here to help. Regards, Shirley (Litter-Robot Customer Service Rep.)

What I've learned about my cats is that they tend to use the new litter box like they did the old one. If they got into the old box, facing the direction they got in, squatted, and urinated, that's what they will do initially in their new litter box. So, with my two male cats who tended to do this, I gave them a gentle nudge to get them to go further into the LR before they urinated. With one of the cats, I had some practice sessions with him, put him in the LR, and gave him a treat when he did turn around, and start to come out the door. I encouraged him to eat the treat when he was standing facing out of the LR. Now, neither of the male cats turned around completely when using the LR but they did learn to get in further and used the LR more in a sideways fashion which worked fine. At least the urine and poop weren't deposited in the entry of the doorway any longer.

"Course, as you know, kitties don't like to be forced to do things so this suggestion may or may not be helpful depending on how cooperative and calm your cat is.

Best wishes.

You could also try taping a quarter to a string and suspending the quarter from the top of the opening using tape. The quarter should hang down into the opening far enough to tickle your cat’s rear end when entering the Litter Robot. In some cases this persuades the cat to turn around before doing its business. Give it a try and let us know if it worked.
There is also a lip extender available for this type of situation. The lip extender is a durable plastic add-on accessory that fits over the soft rubber lip at the bottom of the globe entrance. The purpose of the lip extender is to catch 'misses' and redirect the errant liquid back into the litter (for cats that do not always turn around in the globe to do their business). Photos are available on our website at www.litter-robot.com. Click on our Accessories Page.
Hope this helps. Regards, Shirley (Litter-Robot Customer Service Rep.)