Automatic Litterbox Central

Hi there,

My husband and I are into our sixth week with a LR2 and overall absolutely love it (see my intro post below). Today however we have a problem that I can't find an answer to in the booklet or posts (although I have not read all of them). It turns about 45 degrees and then stops, and after a couple of minutes continues the cycle but may stop again once or twice before completing the cycle. However it does not do this every time it cycles -- maybe every 2-3 times.

I took the top off and washed it in the tub about 4 days ago (before this problem).

In trying to trouble shoot, we have:
Made sure there is the correct amount of litter.
Adjusted sensitivity (we had had it as far as it would go as our kittens are 5' 12ozs )
Made sure it is level. It is sitting on a tile floor.

Any ideas on what is wrong or what we should try?

MerryM, owned by Louie and Hobbes, 5 month old ruddy Abyssinian boys

PS. Appreciate the community and your advice. We would not have bought the LR2 if it had not been for this forum! We toyed with toilet training as our previous cat (the boys' great grand-mom) actually used the (human) toilet during the last year when she had bladder problems.

INTRODUCTION
Hi everyone,

After reading messages on this forum and a forum for toilet training cats for a couple of months last fall my husband and I decided to get a Litter Robot 2 once our new kittens were ready to bring home. They were 4 months when we got Hobbes and Louie Dec 1. They only weighed 4 lbs and so we knew we could not use the automatic setting.

During their first week here we transitioned them from regular clumping clay litter to The World's Best Cat Litter , which we had used with our previous cat (she died of CRF in Sept) . LR2 arrived a week later and we sat it next to the regular hooded litter box like the one they were used to from birth. We put it next to some steps in our solarium so that they did not have to jump up from the floor onto it as they were still quite small. By that time both boxes had WBC litter.

Within minutes Hobbes (a k a the adventurous one) was in the LR. As soon as he stepped in he squatted and urinated. Then he checked out the window in back and did a bunch of scratching to cover up his deposit. Wow, we thought, how can this be so easy? However Louie (the cautious one) preferred to use the old box that first day although he did check out the LR, especially when we cycled it.

Over the next few days we found this pattern -- cat uses LR for urination and old litter box for defecation as the first step. After five days both cats were urinating in the LR but one or both (not sure) was at least part-time defecating in the old box. We tried to let the old box get really dirty but that's hard! Finally moved the old box about 10 ft in a harder to reach place for a few days (remembering what I had read on the forum about taking time for them to adjust) and then on day ten removed it completely.

Our house is on four levels so we would have had at least two regular litter boxes out if it were not for the LR (not buying two of them at that price). We were not sure if there would be problems since our bedroom is two floors above the solarium where the LR is located. So for the first month we left them in the solarium that runs across the back of our house at night and when we were away at work . The solarium is heated plus we put a cat heating pad under a cushion on a comfy chair for them. The solarium is ideal as it has a southern exposure with three great cat trees and 4 birdfeeders outside for entertainment

That was a month ago and for the most part everything has gone well. One accident on the tile floor outside the LR and one on a chair cushion (???). They now weigh 5 lbs 12 ozs and we can run it on automatic. We let them have the run of the house now and it aopears they can make it to the LR when they need to go. They are still small enough that some mornings they both go in the LR2, squat and urinate at the same time! it is so cute with their little butts in the air.

They are eating machines and produce enough stuff that we clean out the drawer every two days. Sometimes litter does stick to the rubber or drifts out the doors. We have taken the whole thing apart and washed it once, about 5 days ago as it seemed to be smelling more than usual.

It is so wonderful not to have to dig through a litterbox! And know that they are not stepping in a dirty box.

Love the LR2!

Welcome to the LitterBox! Lots of friendly people here to help you out, so just keep checking back.

I can't answer your particular question but I can give you some tips I learned the hard way. Keep their claws clipped. One of my cats tore thru several of the rubber liners with her digging. Also shake the drawer daily to redistribute the poop so it doesn't pile up in one spot, otherwise it will eventually stick to the outside of the globe and get in those indentations and it is NOT fun to clean! Not fun at all. I found it to be incredibly awkward to clean. I ended up taking it to a self serve car wash, standing in line with the cars and using the high pressure hoses to clean the darn thing. I got lots of goofy looks but it was the easiest way to clean it. Some people have modified the drawer to make a deeper area for the poop clumps to drop into. You might want to look into that when the kittens get to the point that they are leaving bigger piles of poo. You really don't want to go thru that cleaning the globe experience if you can avoid it!

ab

Make a phone call to the LR folks and get their analysis of the problem. My only guess is that a cat might be stepping on the step to watch it cycle causing the safety mechanism to go off, stopping the cycle.

Jusat wanted to let you all know the LR2 is working fine. Only had the problem for a couple of days.

Thanks for the advice.

MerryM