Automatic Litterbox Central

I have 4 kittys and I was really interested in your modification of the robot. I was thinking of getting a second one but my husband thinks that it would probably take up too much room in the apartment- not to mention the dust and litter that hangs around the robot. Could you post the dimensions of your husband"s great idea or maybe send them to me? I'm moving to a new apartment soon and would really like not having to buy a 2nd robot or litter box. They probably wouldn't go in it anyway and just keep piling it up in the old one! Thanks.

This was very informative and looks very dooable for a larger waste bin for the LR. Well, for most people it would be ... I got lots of wood to build something like this, but lack the skills ... will have to hire someone. Or, I'll just hire a contractor to put in a door to my garage to exit outdoors and put in a pet door and be done altogether with litter boxes lol. But, I got one cat that refuses to learn how to use the pet door to the garage ... any good suggestions for this would be appreciated. I'm giving this cat one more week to learn, or he goes back to the shelter ... have had him six months (I've just pulled up all the carpet and pad in my bedroom this week from this cat whizzing causing my other two to whizz and have my living room carpet yet to remove). Hence, I'm looking at any viable better options for convenient litter boxes, but even LR can't help a cat that won't learn to get to it. He just whizzed on my bathroom towels this morning I had in a pile to take for laundry. Not a happy camper with this cat ... sweet thing, but I think I've been more than tolerant (and it isn't a medical prob, have checked). My other two boys are no prob. One week to learn the pet door (not a small pet door either) or he's gone.

Oh, btw, I did have trouble opening the website to look at the photos. I thought it was my durned computer giving me fits again, but did a right click on the link and it finally opened up.

I can totally relate to the peeing cat. My boy cat thinks the world is his personal bathroom. He pees where he wants, when he wants period. He knows where he is supposed to go, but he feels the need to 'teach me lessons' I guess. He pees in the toilet, he goes in the bot, and still finds time to pee on everything else! I am about one click away from putting a rubber band around his weiner and just let the pee back up in him until he explodes!

Re: the cat door. Is it one with a flap? Try duck taping the flap up so its just a hole for a couple of days. Maybe he is afraid of the flap. Also after it is taped up, you go on the other side and try and coax him thru with a treat. Once he finally goes thru, praise the hell out of him. Lots of pets and atta boys. Don't try to pick him up and push him thru. He will hate it and probably never go thru.

Does he see the other cats go thru the flap? Try praising the good cats when they go thru (while he is watching) maybe he will get the hint and join in when he sees them getting treats. Maybe not. Cats pretty much decide what they will and will not do. Some can be bribed, some can't.
Mine are all catnip whores and jealous of each other, so praising one will invariably get the others to do a 'good boy/girl' thing just for the attention.
And the nippage, of course.

Good luck.

ab

ps spent the last week ripping up carpet. I'm totally turned off to wall to wall carpet now. Bleech! For a real surprise, get a black light. Not one of those little things, get one about 2 ft long. Turn off all of your lights and walk the perimeter of your house/room shining the blacklight on the wall from knee height down to the floor. Those spots on teh wall with drips coming down from them are from your cat. Completely invisivble without the blacklight. I challange anyone with a cat to do this and I'd bet my first born that they will find 'spots'. people that say their cat doesnt spray, have never done the black light thing. I used to swear that mine never sprayed or even peed on the carpet! Ha!

The first time I got a cat door, the cats wouldn't go through until I taped paper over the clear part. It seems they know you can't go through windows.

jen is there anyway you all could make me one like that and how much would it cost please?

Hello All,

This is Jen's husband, I will be posting measurements and directions tonight. You don't have to follow them exactly. When I drew this up I wanted it to fit in our closet, so I made it long in order for it to extend outside the door. This allowed for the LR bin to be easily accessible. If you want yours to fit in a specific location in your house, don't hesitate to change the dimensions!

~Max, due to the weight of the materials, building one and shipping it would not be cost effective.

jen wrote:Hello All,

This is Jen's husband, I will be posting measurements and directions tonight. You don't have to follow them exactly. When I drew this up I wanted it to fit in our closet, so I made it long in order for it to extend outside the door. This allowed for the LR bin to be easily accessible. If you want yours to fit in a specific location in your house, don't hesitate to change the dimensions!

~Max, due to the weight of the materials, building one and shipping it would not be cost effective.

Thats ok. All you can do is ask. I am glad I asked at least. Better than not.

I am just not very handy with tools but I guess it shouldn't be too hard if I ever try to do it myself.

Hi Max, Neither my husband or myself are handy, but we have this terrific handyman that can fix or build just about anything. Perhaps you could get estimates, showing them the instructions from Jen's hubby. Good luck. Sage

Sorry for the delay...but Jen's Parents have been visiting with us.

I used 3/4" Medium Density Fiberboard(MDF) for most of the constructions, 3/4" Birch plywood for the drawer front and 1/2" plywood for the drawer bottom. I routed 3/4" out the drawer sides to make hardwood drawer tracks, to keep the drawer aligned, but they are not needed. I used these materials because I had them lying around. For screws I used #6 - 1 1/4" drywall screws. Make sure to get a matching counter sink, drill bit ($3 ish) This will enable you to fit the screw heads flush and prevent you from tearing out the materials. Home Depot and Lowes would be able to cut the materials for you, so don't panic!

List:

Box
2 - 3/4"x 33.5"x 11.5" (Sides)
2 - 3/4"x 33.5"x 21.5" (Top & Bottom)
1 - 3/4"x 20"x 11.5" (Back)
Fit everything together first, to make sure they fit flush. once they do, pre-drill all your holes first. MDF has a tendency to tear out. I glued, then screwed the sides to the bottom first and then set the top on and then inserted the back and then glued/screwed them all into place.

Drawer
2 - 3/4"x 32"x 6" (Drawer Sides)
2 - 3/4"x 18 3/8"x 6" (Drawer Font & Back) The reason it is 18 3/8" and not 18.5" is because you will need some room for the drawer to slide. If it were exactly 18.5" it might not slide properly.
1 - 1/2"x 32"x 19 7/8" plywood (Drawer Bottom)
1 - 3/4"x 21.5"x 13" Birch plywood (Drawer Face)
I fit the drawer front and back, flush, inside the drawer sides, pre-drilled them and then screwed them together. I then attached the bottom the same way, making sure that the drawer fit flush and square to the bottom. I then inserted the drawer to the box and attached the drawer front with some screws about 3- 4" up from the bottom and attached the handle. I them surrounded the whole thing in carpet.

Get a PDF of the drawing here:
http://www.hudson2001.com/tom/projects/litterrobot/diagram.pdf


L/R cutting instructions to follow.........

For those of you, like me, that are not very handy with tools and putting all those wood pieces together, here's an idea that worked great for me. I purchased a small (slightly damaged) cabinet with drawers for $15.00 at a hardware store. Its about 3ft high X 18 " deep X 3 ft wide. I took off the cabinet top and replaced it with a $5.00 scrap piece of formica kitchen sink cut-out top from the lumber store. This larger top made the litter unit was more stable on the cabinet. I cut the holes in the top of the cabinet (now the formica) and bottom of the litter drawer and base. Added a rubbermaid-type container with trash bag liner into the cabinet drawer, and put small plastic step stool in the front of the cabinet for the older cats. It's been working perfectly and was must easier for someone like me that can't figure out all those measurements!

Do you have any pictures of your modifications? I'm not at all good with any type of handy work. Was hoping you had a picture of what yours look like. If I can't do the modifications, I might have to hire someone. Sounds silly to spend money for a handy person to do something like this, but with 6 cats in my household, It's worth every penny then to keep cleaning out litter boxes every day. I'm sure you multiple cat owners know what I'm talking about.

Chelly

Also, does anyone know how to control the litter odor? I have tried everything and no matter what I do or use, my upstairs still has the litter smell. Our box is in our bathroom and my sons room is right next to the bathroom and as soon as you enter his room, you can smell it. I don't know what to do. I was considering keeping my bathroom door closed and buying a door flap for the cats to go in and out of and then at least the smell would only be in the bathroom but when I went to Petco to purchase one, they told me it wouldn't help at all. I don't know what to do. Hope someone can help me. Thanks.

Hello,

I've read all the posts on the litter robot and am almost ready to buy one but have one silly question before I do.

I'm trying to decide what color to get, the black or the cream. I like the way the black box looks but am thinking it might get too dirty looking quicker than the cream box what with the dust from the litter and all.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions on this? Certainly isn’t high priority but wanted to know if anyone had any feedback on this.

And I love all the information about the modifications to the collection tray thingie. I'm already thinking about how I can modify my box and I haven't even ordered it yet! Not that I’m handy or anything. The extent of my modifications will probably be one of those stick-on deodorizer things. LOL.

Thanks for any advice anyone can provide.

-Lauren

Chelly,

I'll take some pics of the modified box and post them. For the odor problem, I found this stuff on the web called Cat-Odor Off Concentrate. It works great for getting urine odor smell out of furniture, carpets, etc. It also has a nice refreshing smell. You can put a small amount, like 1 oz, in a container and place it behind the litter box or in a corner of the room. I think that will help. The bottle is not cheap, but it's very strong so it last a long time. EntirelyPets.com has it for $15.99.

With 6 cats, do they all use the robot? I have six cats, 3 are over 10 years old and over 12 pounds. I needed to keep regular boxes out because the old, large cats would not go into the covered unit. The kittens were using the unit but then started using the regular boxes or my couch! I'm going to move the robot to another location to see if that helps.

For the next posting, as far as color, I don't have any problem with the tan.

I'm trying this! I just cut the holes in the Robot using a rotozip...they don't exactly look as professional s yours. They'd have looked better had a used a shotgun Oh well, not like that matters....

As soon as I get big drawI'll be modified!!!

We have the black, and it gets a stripe of waste on it that is very noticeable...I would assume the cream is a little better.