Automatic Litterbox Central

Hi there- I just registered after reading through every post on this forum, and let me say that I'm glad something like this is here. I haven't found many good sources for feedback on automated litter box systems.

I used a Littermaid for about a year (Dec 2001 - Sept 2002), and went back to using a standard litter box (Boodabox). I had two cats (now 3), each about 8-10 pounds. One is a tabby, and the other is a Maine Coon.

My problems with the Littermaid:

1. Rake doesn't go low enough, doesn't scoop out all the clumps (same problem lots of you have noted here on the board)
2. Waste "receptacle" doesn't close all the way
3. Waste "receptacle" is too small
4. Motor is too weak
5. Smells really bad between cleanings
6. Litter gets tracked everywhere when the cats leave, even with the hood/ramp/carpet options all in place

After reading through all the issues everyone on the board has had with the Littermaid, I figured these modifications might serve as an alternative to ditching the box and buying something more expensive:

1. Make the main pan a little less deep- install a board or something to raise the floor level so that the rakes don't chop off the tops of the lower clumps
2. Replace the motor with a higher powered unit
3. Build a larger waste receptable out of wood that actually shuts, maybe something that continues under the litter box to increase storage capacity (someone's already done this I think)
4. Build a box with a lip around/under the Littermaid to catch the stray litter granules from the cats' feet

These are just a few ideas I thought of... but I'm not going to try them. I have a buyer for my Littermaid setup, and I'm getting rid of it ASAP. I'm going to try out the Litter Robot soon- I just don't want to deal with the Littermaid jamming up anymore.

Let me know what you think, and if any of you try these mods out. If my buyer flakes out, I may just rip the Littermaid apart and give it the Tim Allen treatment!

LOL... I doubt there is anywhere else on the Internet where you will find talk of hotrodding a litterbox. I'd throw in my $0.02, but I've never touched a Littermaid before. Have fun!

Hey great! More money being thrown around the forum. Let's see...that should be around 5 cents now. How much more do we need for a Litter Robot? lol

Ooops! You didn't throw your 2 cents in. Back down to 3 cents

While I had my Littermaids I thought about doing some of the things mentioned here. Of course, since it was operating fairly well I hesitated to mess with a good <sic> thing. When my first one stopped working I was held back by the fact that the thing was a mess and I did not want to handle it or clean it.

Nowadays you can find them refurbished on ebay for under $50, so maybe it would be worth it to try. I do feel that there are some design limitations though. For example the rake and the fact that it gets clogged would be hard to change. One reason it does this is that it exerts quite a bit of pressure on the clumps of feces which is then smashed against the litter it is trying to move it through.

The result is that the rake gets clogged and large amounts of unused litter also get carried along to the waste receptacle. If it gets that far. If not it keeps cycling in an attempt to do so.

What I would like to see is a Litter Robot designed to be mounted on a toilet. I have 2 spare powder rooms, one of which is rarely used. If I could mount it there, and then once every couple of days open a lever to drop the drawer contents into the toilet for a flush.....

lol

Of course, I understand clumping litter is not good for plumbing systems. I wonder if some of the other types of litter would be ok. Anybody out there know?

The World's Best Cat Litter (WBCL) is made of water soluable corn and is flushable and works w/ the LitterRobot.

cas

Cas, is this the type of litter that requires the larger screen in the Litter Robot, and where is it available again?

Thanks,
Aron

Yes, the WBCL does require the larger screen and once we move I'm sure that we will test it. It is available on the web and at Whole Foods (see Austin and Houston areas). They have reps at cat shows, too.

Looking at the LitterRobot it should work fine. (This LitterRobot just kinda works like its supposed to for the most part. There will be some quirks to report, but not enought to make life too exciting.)

jeff wrote:LOL... I doubt there is anywhere else on the Internet where you will find talk of hotrodding a litterbox. I'd throw in my $0.02, but I've never touched a Littermaid before. Have fun!

Hmm. Well, I like to hotrod everything... you've looked at my web page with all my car info- you wouldn't believe what I've done to computers too. Let's just say that not a single one of my computers is air cooled. There's water running through each and every single one of them, and I started doing it a good number of years ago when nobody knew what the heck home PC water cooling was.



mb- you're right. There are some inherent limitations in the LitterMaid's design... but who knows? With enough power, the rake could just throw all the litter clumps out of the box, and you could have a coveniently placed receptacle to catch the projectile kitty kat krap. Airborne chunks of cat "stuff"... how fun!

Jeff- maybe I'll bring the LitterMaid by sometime if I haven't sold it yet.

As for flushable litter, I have used one that was clumping AND was toilet flushable. I don't remember the name, but I picked it up in Houston at a Petsmart or Petco on the northwest corner of town (around Beltway 8 ). It didn't clump that well, but it did well enough for you to get most of the junk out of the litter box and dump it into the toilet. It didn't mask odors too well either... oh well. Let's just say that my girlfriend and I only used one bag of the stuff. It does exist though.

[[color=green]b]Hi!
I came to this site because I'm very interested in the litterfree box. However, as everything seems to be working quite well in my current Littermaid system, I will hold off for a year or two.

I didn't know if it would be helpful to others, but I thought I'd recommend a few tips that have made my life easier with Littermaid.

1. Litter brand and clumping ability is extremely important with this box. I buy the highly perfumed green variety of Tidy Cat. It seems more efficient than most others I've tried.

2. Presuming the tines on your rake are 2 inches in length, (you may want to check this....I was sent a replacement rake measuring 1.75 inches and promptly returned it as it was much too short) 80-90% of the waste matter is raked up....However, I find that keeping the litter very shallow..about 3/4 an inch deep allows only one layer of waste to form. Thus, while little chunks of urine may break off (especially if your cat likes peeing in the corners!), the machine doesn't clog and/or throw clean litter away. Less litter taxes the motor less and decreases clump breakage.

Since I began adhering to my 3/4 inch rule, my 2 deluxe litter boxes have only clogged when the cat sitter put more litter in.

3. The most important reason I have had joy with my boxes has been, by far, the customer service. I have been using these boxes since 1999, and thanks to the company, I am always returned to 2 functioning boxes. When one of my rakes split (too vigorous in my washing) they replaced my entire box. When one of my boxes got way too noisy and guests and I would joke about Count Catula opening his coffin, the company replaced it! When the laser beam in the other box stopped functioning, they replaced it (just last fall). Once or twice I've dealt with unpleasant customer reps, but I just call back. There are a number of them and I usually land on an understanding one.

Another thing that has helped me....when some of my litterboxes went defunct, I saved their (nonautomated part holding the litter) pans. Now, I always keep two clean boxes on hand and when the boxes develop a lingering odor, I just switch the pans. My cats appreciate still being able to use the boxes and it really decreases odor. Now if I could only do that for the rakes! (They change screw location so you cannot.)

Downsides:
I agree, crap gets stuck in the tines occasionally, but since I scrape around in there every few days, I just use the little brushes they include to get chunks out in a matter of minutes.

True, the receptacle is too small, but for 6 cats and an owner who attends school 8-5 each day and works part-time and full-time in summer (and has massive amounts of homework--much worse than undergrad), this is much better than it was. The cats think so too: they never miss the box or have mysterious accidents elsewhere like they once did.

Also, when I can smell the boxes, that clues me in that the receptacles must be open, I go in pull out the bags and replace them.

Yes, I agree, the litter is wretched. A friend of mine nailed four pieces of wood into a rectangular shape and put it around the litter box, forcing the cat to lift its paws. This seems to help (mine must lift their paws to leave the doorway of the cubbyhole in which I keep their boxes).

Hopefully this will be helpful to someone.
Do users, in general, agree that the litterfree makes no more noise than the littermaid?
Thank you,
Alia[/b][/color]

I threw mine away after about a year of use...here are my suggestions:

A tent that dosen't break the minute you try and put it together!

The rake needs a solid piece on the bottom that way it can actually scoop the litter then the rake can sift the loose stuff. Just like the scoops you buy for a manual box. I think that would help enormousely with the tines getting waste in them! And that ultimately was why I dumped mine; that and it kept getting stuck or breaking down...too much hassle.

drkjedi1

I got rid of mine and got a litterfree. The tent (which cost about $40) broke not too long after I got it.

One of my other gripes of the littermaid was that not all poop ended up in the receptacle. For some odd reason some of it ended up under it (with a TON of litter that I had to sweep up when I changed the receptacle) or just to one of the far ends making it kind of icky when it came time to change the receptacles.

I also tried many kinds of litter but none of them really worked unless I put very little litter in the box. Putting little litter means that I'd be spending more time during the week adding more of it when it ran low. I travel a lot so that's not an option.

I say that if you're debating between the littermaid and the litterfree go for the litterfree. It's more of an upfront investment but you'll be spending less on litter (and headaches and poopy smell) in the long run.

The littermaid is one of those ideas that had it been well designed would have been great. It's hard to clean and breaks easily. Maybe they need a new and improved version with some of the ideas people have posted here to make some of us change our minds.

We purchased two catbox cabinets from Harrisworks and they are wonderful. The optional (get it!) waterproofing is a lifesaver and the cabinets are really much more attractive than the cheap tent. http://www.catlitterfurniture.com/

I recommend the top entrance for cats that really track litter and the side entrance for cats that aren't so agile.

I just broke down and bought my second littermaid in two years. The rake in the first was too loose to make it up the hill. In my opinion, it's worth it. My apartment has not smelled like pee or poo for a long time. Anyhoo-seeing how my litterbox is in front of my toilet, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the modifications it needs. My main issue was that more litter seemed to go outside the tray than inside. Also, I think that changing out the receptacles every time is a HUGE waste of money, not to mention how anti-"green" it is. On top of that, it's disgusting to try to get that receptacle into the tabs. So I've developed a few *free" modifications:
1. Get a lot of tape.
2. Cut the bottom two slats off of your miniblinds. You didn't need them anyways. Cut these down to the width of the litterbox. Tape one to the litterbox so the slat covers the gap between the litterbox and the receptacle. This eliminates the need for snapping the receptacle into the tabs. Tape the other slat to the receptacle lid to cover the gap between the lid and the ramp.
3. Throw out the disposable lids. Tape (inside and out) the holes in the receptacle lid that are designed for the disposable lid to go into. When the receptacle is full, slide it out, dump it in the trash, and put it back in. One receptacle will last a couple months this way.
4. Throw out the ramp. Cut out the middle (longways) of a waste receptacle and tape (inside and out) the two remaining pieces together, to make a slender receptacle that will be used for catching the litter that is dumped off the receptacle lid when it lifts up. Tape that receptacle on either side to the plastic pieces on the sides of the waste receptacle.
5. Slide a small envelope on either side of the waste receptacle to create a wall so the litter won't fall on the sides of the receptacle.
6. There's one more hole that needs plugged (other than my cat's stinky butt). Near the front of the box, on the inside where the top and bottom parts connect, there is a slit where a ton of litter can fall. Plug it with TP, trying not to cover the button that's inside there.
My LitterMaid now makes WAY less mess on the bathroom floor than the regular box with a lid did.
Now if I could only figure out a way to give it "MORE POWER" (as Tim Taylor would say, "ARGHH, ARGHHH, ARGHHHH)...