Automatic Litterbox Central

Well, my older large male cat (the last holdout) just used the box. I had to give him a little push to get in the box...he knew that's where he had to go (the old boxes are gone) but you could tell he really didn't want to. But I goosed him in, he peed, then practically bowled me over flying out of the robot when he was done. But he went, and we were thrilled. (If he doesn't use it, we have to return it. )

We did't think any more about it...until the cleaning cycle. My husband came out to tell me we had clumps onthe outside of the robot! After taking a quick peek inside, it seems he peed directly into (or mostly directed at) the litter "fill" hole, so during the cleaning cycle, we somehow ended up with wet clumps on the outside of the robot.

From what I can guesstimate, the fill holes are protected by the kitty guards, so that anything that hits it (litter, pee) runs down into the waste tray and not onto the floor. (Am I right?) If so, this is definitely a good feature...but we still didn't like the clumps to clean up! I don't suppose there's any way around it, since we can't really control where he pees (if we could do that, we'd just have him go in the toilet!).

Has anyone else with male cats experienced this? If so, how have you dealt with it? Just clean the clumps and move on? This is his first itme in the box (that we know of/witnessed) so I'm hoping it doesn't happen all the time. I'd hate to have to return the robot because of one stubborn and high-shooting feline.

Jen,

I've also had this problem. I thought it was just with one of my males, Mo, but I also saw one of my females, Andi, do it yesterday. I found a very quick and easy fix. When I change the bag, I just make sure that the "top" of the bag (in place in the drawer) extends up under the lip on the unit. This way, any urine that runs down the kitty guards will just drip into the bag. If the "top" of the bag gets dripped on, you can end up with urine under the bag in the tray or with a handful of pee when you take the bag out and don't see the wet stuff on the bag. You do have to take the globe off to make sure that the bag is under the lip, but that is a small price to pay for pee-control. This "fix" has fixed the problem for the past few weeks.

Kelly =)

Thanks for the tip. We'll definitely try that!

I also have this problem occasionally. I have to make sure I tuck the bag in right like others have mentioned, or else my spare bags get marinated, yuck!

Even worse, when I recently wiped down the base, I noticed a little dried urine down the side of the base, on the right side below the guard.

Obviously the guards deflect the stream down into the drawer, but since the guards don't seal against the base, some urine leaks down in between. Even though it's ony a few drops, I still don't want it on my carpet!

After I wiped and dried the base, I ran a bead of silicone marine sealant where the guard meets the base, on the inside. That should keep the urine from leaking through and hitting the floor.

Lauren, squooshing some sealant between the guards and base when they're riveted on might be a good idea.

Of course, these are minor problems with a fantastic product. Now that I've got this problem ironed out, I need to tackle litter tracking. If I can keep the critters from leaping out of the Robot, probably by putting something in front of the opening, I think tracking will decrease substantially. Then the Robot will be perfect!

Donovan