Automatic Litterbox Central

Hey everyone, I read an interesting post in the ScoopFree forums. One of the guys from ScoopFree said this:
SF_Lucky wrote:
This is possible because we have a disposable tray that is filled with Fresh Step Crystals. The crystal litter does not clump. This means there are no clumps to stick to the rake, no clumps to clog the mechanisms, and no clumps to take up space in the waste bin. The crystals lock away odors, absorb liquids and dry out the solids. In fact, the solids shrink to about one-half their original size. So because there are no clumps and the solids shrink, the waste bin lasts a long longer than the competition before filling up.

So someone else asked this:
So if you fill up a LitterMaid or any other rake-type automated litterbox with Fresh Step Crystals... what's the difference?

Has anyone tried this? I was thinking of getting a Litter Robot, but if you can just use crystals litter with the Littermaid, that sounds like a far more economical solution.

I think I'm going to give the Littermaid a try. You can get the LM600 (Littermaid Plus) at Walmart for about $90. I think I'll try it with the Fresh Steps Crystals Litter.

If it absolutely sucks, I suppose I can always return it.

The Litter Robot looks nice, but that price....

Hi there. In another post a member posted his findings on the crystal litter. I actually decided to give it a shot after trying every litter out there. Note that Littermaid says DO NOT use it so it is at your own risk. I purchased a back of the Fresh Step Crystals and mixed it in with regular Tidy Cat Scoop litter. I found that the receptical fills up ALOT less quickly! I have not moved to all crystals at this point but have put more crystal than regular litter in there. The only problem is that the cat poo doesn't clump so sometimes it just gets pusshed back and forth but in testing the ratio of litter to crystal i think that i found a happy medium.

I have 2 cats and they usually go through a receptical every 3 days. Now i can go almost a week!

Remember - At your own risk!!!!

Hi there. In another post a member posted his findings on the crystal litter. I actually decided to give it a shot after trying every litter out there. Note that Littermaid says DO NOT use it so it is at your own risk. I purchased a back of the Fresh Step Crystals and mixed it in with regular Tidy Cat Scoop litter. I found that the receptical fills up ALOT less quickly! I have not moved to all crystals at this point but have put more crystal than regular litter in there. The only problem is that the cat poo doesn't clump so sometimes it just gets pusshed back and forth but in testing the ratio of litter to crystal i think that i found a happy medium.

I have 2 cats and they usually go through a receptical every 3 days. Now i can go almost a week!

Remember - At your own risk!!!!

This is definitely a try at your own risk solution. I did the same thing and was just as overjoyed at the result -- no smells, dessicated poops in the receptacle, low litter use....... all just wonderful! Problem? You betcha. The LM died about 5 mos into the experiment. When I sent it in ($82, send in the old one, they send you a reconditioned box with a decent warranty), they told me that the crystals I'd been using had killed the machine. Oops. Evidently the crystal dust gets into the gears and grinds 'em away. I was using Litter Pearls (because it has no perfume), YMMV with another brand, but my experience was that the crystal stuff is ultimately fatal to the machine.

The Littermaid is not a bad concept. It would probably be fairly decent if they would just build it out of sturdier materials, and understand the concept of customer service.

I have some pretty comprehensive results to share with the Crystal Litter, LitterMaid thing.... We have been using Crystal Litter and a LitterMaid for several months now... and I would like to share these results with this forum:

The Short Results:
Wow, they work GREAT! But read on for the caveats and details!

Our kitties:
We have two kitties at our office (Ari & Pru). They are average to smaller sized cats that are healthy. They consume two cans of wet food a day.
Pru:


Ari:


Our setup:
LitterMaid Mega Elite with the LitterWorks Cabinet and Litter Disposal System (actually it's an MB model in the pic below, but no one can get those anymore I don't think):
https://litterworks.com/LitterMaid-Automatic-Self-Cleaning-Litter-Boxes/Mega-Elite-Combo-Litter-System
Our OWN BRAND of Crystal Litter:
https://litterworks.com/Litter

IThe main reason for posting this is because I see all of the complaints about the new LitterMaid Mega Elites. Crystal Litter could conceivably revive this model if you got stuck with one and it is not working as well as you had hoped!

As of this writing, we have not touched, smelled, thought about, or even interacted with this particular litter system in any way in over 10 days! It is important to note that NOT ALL CRYSTAL LITTERS are created equal. I am not saying to run out and buy ours, but I am saying that smaller granules work better than larger ones. PLEASE TEST BEFORE COMMITTING TO A LARGE QUANTITY!

Just before this picture was shot, I added a half-cup of litter to "freshen" it up (you can see the half cup I added near the rake, it's BRIGHT WHITE!). It does not smell in any way. It just seemed to be getting a tad low...


If you look closely at the picture you can see that although the crystals are yellowed from liquid waste, hey are still intact. Although it is not a scratch and sniff picture, if you could smell it, you would smell wood and office supplies, not "Kitty Bizness". This is 11 days in with only a half-cup of crystals added since our last interaction with the Litter System.

So first...
The Good
-The LitterMaid does very well with the right Crystal Litter in it.
- The LitterMaid seems to like it better in allot of ways... because we dont have crazy clumps, this seems to put less strain on the motor
- Of course we have to mess with it MUCH LESS
- No clumps means no jams. We've read the forums, heck our company is based on the fact that the LitterMaid is just OK and not great! We all know how touchy these motors can be! Less strain would lead us to believe that this would cause a longer lifespan for the LitterMaid. (Just an educated guess)
- The Crystals continue to remove moisture from the solid waste in the waste area... either LitterMaid Waste Recepticle or LitterWorks Liner. Either way it is turning the solid waste to stone! Stone doesn't smell!

But with all that's good, there is also the bad and the cautions...

The Cautions:
- The Litter flicks a bit. This is cured by using Less Crystal Litter than you might think
- Liquid is absorbed... period. It does not clump, it does not evaporate. The Crystals will reach a saturation point in which it will immediately start to smell. This is not so bad... just letting you know that it is time to change the Litter.
- "Freshening" can be done by adding a bit to the litter area
- Start with less than you would expect. Less will be carried to the waste bin, and you want to leave room for adding a bit more.

The Bad:
- Crystal Litter is "Crunchy" in the LitterMaid. This means that it is much less quiet than with regular litters
- Your cat has to actually use it....
- TEST BEFORE YOU COMMIT! Some Crystals have too big a grain size to work. This will cause problems like JAMS and STUCK RAKES AND GEARS.
- It takes quite a bit of crystals down the chute or into the waste receptacle... seems like this is the price for it working as well as it does

Other Points:
Also... Crystal Litter does not behave like Clumping Litter by a long shot.... I wrote a lengthy thing for our FAQ section.. here are a few highlights...
* Crystal Litter is a desiccant. A desiccant is a substance that induces or sustains a state of dryness in its local vicinity.
* Crystal Litter will not clump. Rather it will dry out solid waste, and it will absorb liquid waste.
* Crystal Litter reaches a saturation point. When Crystal Litter reaches a saturation point because of liquid waste, you will detect an odor. At this point it is time to change the litter. If the odor is only slight, you might try "refreshing" the litter by adding a few cups of fresh crystals.
* Crystal Litter continues it's drying action in the waste liner. One of the reasons why people like the Crystal Litter so much is because it's drying and absorption action continues in the waste area. This further reduces odor.
* Crystal Litter lasts longer. Because Crystal Litter doesn't clump, less of it is removed from the litter area, and therefore you do not have to refill it as often!
* Because it doesn't clump, less strain is put on the LitterMaid motor.

Please don't roast me too hard about this. I am just trying to share what we have learned about this (as is the spirit of this forum). I have spent like an hour typing this up for everyone here, and I tested with what we have, just like you would test with what you have.... and, no I did not test a bunch of other Crystal Litter. We seem to have some that works already! I am hoping that others will test and see and post their results!

Hope that your tests are equally as successful!

This is definitely a try at your own risk solution. I did the same thing and was just as overjoyed at the result -- no smells, dessicated poops in the receptacle, low litter use....... all just wonderful! Problem? You betcha. The LM died about 5 mos into the experiment. When I sent it in ($82, send in the old one, they send you a reconditioned box with a decent warranty), they told me that the crystals I'd been using had killed the machine. Oops. Evidently the crystal dust gets into the gears and grinds 'em away. I was using Litter Pearls (because it has no perfume), YMMV with another brand, but my experience was that the crystal stuff is ultimately fatal to the machine.

Overjoyed is how we feel too! It's a revelation I thought!

We have been running for about eight months with our setup and have not had this issue. I think that some regular "dusting" of the tracks might be in order. I would hate to have such a great solution be destroyed like that. I will keep an eye on this issue with ours and report any issues we have with that! I am so glad you mentioned this! That's a huge bit of information that warrants further investigation!

My mistake, I don't know why I said MB model. Der. It's just a Mega Elite LME9000

Also, I talked to my boss, and he mentioned that because the way the tracks are set up in this model, it really seems to address the "crunching gears" issue. Attached below is a close-up of a pic I took for a customer support issue just now, but it sorta illustrates how the "sloped" and "tucked" track on the Mega Elites are quite helpful in keeping crystals away....

Not to say that it's not still an issue to keep an eye on, but with the tracks being this way, it is much less of a problem than with the Mega LM900 I would think!

Something they accidentally got right in the design update? Perhaps?



Stupid cell phone pics are not so great though... sorry. Hopefully you get the idea...