Automatic Litterbox Central

I think I have the perfect combination to use for littersweep. I'm using pearl crystal-type litter and it has worked flawlessly so far. It dries out the poo to marshmallow size, and because it's the pearls instead of the chip-type crystals, it rakes effortlessly and is able to smooth them out easily when it retracts. The pearls make the litter tray size adequate since there are no clumps from urine, and only the marshmallow sized poo. I beleive that even with two cats, I could easily go 2 weeks without monitoring the box, and if so, it would just be to empty the tray liner and put it back in once per week. One 8lb container of pearls (about $10) will last 1 month, which is about equal to what I was getting out of a $10 30lb bucket of Tidy Cats Scoop and the old Littermaid that quit on us about 3 weeks ago.

The reason I say "Almost litter bliss" is that only one of my two cats is taking to the new box. We found urine in 2-3 places soon after changing, but we originally thought that our dog was the culprit. We then found about 3 days worth of cat poo behind a tv in a room that we never use and determined that one of our cats was the one not using the box. Luckily (or unluckily) we saw the cat going to pee on the dog bed a few minutes later, so we have singled her out as the problem.

Thanks alot for the information - I did lots of reading before buying and registering for the site. Here is the cliff's notes version of the above:

1) I highly recommend the Littersweep with pearl-type super absorbent crystals. I do not plan to use it with clay clumping litter at all, as the reviews of most people seemed to indicate that clumping litter didn't work as planned.

2) Any recommendations of ways to help kitty #2 (Smoky) would be appreciated. Right now we have an old manual litter box with about 1/2 clay and 1/2 pearls, and we're hoping that she will use that until we can gradually convert it to all pearls - then let it fill up until we can get her to go in the littersweep.

*update*

Went back to 1/2 clay, 1/2 pearls for a few days. I'm so glad my second cat took to it quickly, because the clay made a pretty nice mess. As the clumps were gradually raked out, the cat got used to the pearls. One complete cleaning & change out later, both cats are using the pearls and life is great.

The Littersweep is great with the Exquisi-cat pearls. No mess, no smell. The only annoyance was that the pearls end up everywhere if/when they get out of the box. We broke down and bought the Stylette litter catching mat. Kinda pricey ($25), but almost 4 feet x 3 feet in size, and keeps the pearls under control if the don't stay in the littersweep.

For the price and convenience, I think the combo of the Littersweep and Exquisi-cat Pearls is very tough to beat.

Well, you've got me curious. I'll have to investigate the "pearls". If you can provide any information about what (brand), where (to buy), and how much (price), it would be appreciated.

I get them at Petsmart. They come in a plastic container (not a bag), and cost $11-12 per 8lb container. It takes about 1/2 container to fill to the fill-line in the littersweep, and each fill lasts 2 weeks (2 cats), so one container lasts about a month. No urine clumps, so I dump the poo once a week to keep it from getting messy, but it will hold 2 weeks of poo for 2 cats without the urine taking up space.

They are called Exquisi-cat Pearl Fresh.

Wonderful, thanks for the information. The family just left town to visit in-laws, so I may try it out while they're gone. Right now I'm emptying the bin every 1-2 days, so if I could get a week or more out of the pearls it might be worth the extra expense.

When we first bought our LitterSweep, we used a premium clay litter that would not clump urine. With two young cats, we were easily getting about 4-5 days per tray liner -- and then the smell hit. We hadn't realized it but the urine was not clumping and was instead merely settling to the bottom of the container. After almost four weeks, the box had a horribly acrid smell (ammonia) and we spent a couple hours emptying, cleaning, soaking, drying, cleaning, and soaking again, just to get rid of the residual smell.

Needless to say, we ran out and bought a premium clumping litter to not have that problem again. Now we have to change the liner every 1.5-2 days, but next to no smell. Unfortunately this doesn't work for us because we like to take a lot of long weekend trips (3-4 days).

The pearls sound interesting but I'm concerned about going back to the urine settling at the bottom problem again. I'd rather change the liners every 1.5-2 days than have to go through the mess and time needed to clean out the urine every 3 weeks.

I converted two weeks ago (tomorrow) to using pearls from the "premium clumping litter" I was using previously. While I can't give as glowing a report as smokymittens, here are my first impressions after my first litter change-out:

The first set of pearls used about 2/3 of a jug from petsmart, with a little loss during the two weeks. The second change, performed yesterday, took (not surprisingly) the same amount.

The first two days were nerve-wracking for me, as I just changed all the litter to the new pearls and assumed my two kittens would adapt. They adapted like champs, but since the pearls absorb the urine I wasn't sure for a few days that they weren't finding new and creative ways to deposit urine elsewhere. However, eventually some discoloration started showing up in the pearls, and I grew less paranoid as the days progressed. I don't recommend the "switch everything in one day" approach, even if your cats/kittens are very adaptable as mine.

The GOOD:

• Since urine is absorbed by the pearls, there is no urine clumps in the box to be broken up (with cheap litter), or squished into component parts (by a backward-moving rake that didn't catch the clump during the pickup phase ).
• As noted, the storage container can now hold a lot more, since it holds only poo ( the urine stays absorbed in the pearls ). I estimate the container now holds 4-5 days of poo, where before it would hold at most 2 days of waste with my two kittens.
• Also, odor is down by quite a bit. Urine absorbing really helps.
• With no real moisture in the box during cycles, the problem of rusting rake(s) is just plain gone. At the time of litter change, the rake looked just as clean and shiny as when I put the pearls in.
• An additional bonus is that without the urine clumps, the motor seems to not have to work as hard to rotate the dish through the rakes during a cycle. I feel reasonably confident that the pearls will likely extend the LitterSweep motor life.
• Litter changing was largely uneventful. I went a little two long before attempting a litter change, and was informed by my cat on day 12 that he refused to use the litter box ( poo in the closet ). A change of the litter revealed that a very small amount of urine had gathered to the bottom of the spinning tray. Fifteen minutes with soap, water, and paper towels was all that was needed to clean everything, and perform the entire pearls replacement.
• I'm guessing based on my first experience above, that litter in my house will have to be changed every 10-12 days (leaning towards 10), and I'll get three changes out of two jugs of litter. (10 days/change) * (3 changes/jar) / ($15 / jar) = $1.50 per day for two poo-proficient kitties.

The BAD:

• Pearls are larger than clumping litter (no surprise there), and are mostly too large to fit down the "grate" on the kitty ramp if you've bought it. As a result, there is more scatter problem with pearls (particularly since they like to bounce on hard plastic surfaces when scattered by little paws) than with clumping litter.
• Pearls, once scattered, are both harder to see on light-colored carpet (like ours), and harder to clean up. It's like trying to corral a bunch of little tiny marbles. A good litter mat is highly recommended to preserve sanity.
• My kittens, at least, seem to want to dig in pearls much more than they ever wanted to dig in traditional clumping litter.
• Pearls are noisier when bounced around by swishing kitty paws or a running cycle, where they bump around against the rakes. It's not a big deal since the motor is already noisy, but it can take some getting used to.
• Pearls are more expensive than clumping litter.
• Pearls don't change the UltraSweep's ability to detect when it needs to operate. With my kittens, it doesn't figure it out as frequently as it should, and I run a manual cycle once a day. On the plus side, since the urine is absorbed, the box is able to catch all the poo with a single manual run in most cases, which was never true with the clumping litter.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the conversion. Less smell, less dust, less maintenance, and the box looks pretty good almost all of the time. I wish the cost of litter was less, but c'est la vie.

I also wonder, since Pearls are non-clumping and in small quantities when attached to the poo, if the waste bucket (with poo) could just be flushed down the toilet. If so, that's a bonus in my house.

I considered trying out crystals instead of pearsl when going to PetSmart ($10 instead of $14), but finally decided "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". This is the best solution I've found to date. While I don't think any solution is the perfect litter solution for every household, the LitterSweep / Pearls combination works very well for our household, and I am happy with the results.

I just had to post to say that you smokeymittens, are a genius.....I have tried the litter sweep/pearl combo and love it.

I just got two new kittens and ran out to buy an automatic litter box....my little treat because I absolutely HATE scooping. I bought the Littermaid because it was recommended by a friend and was immediately disapointed, the rake would barely make it through a cycle, sounding like it was going to die, and when it did finally make it to the end, after breaking up all the clumps and leaving them behind, half of the litter was dumped on the floor. I returned it in exchange for another thinking I just had a bad one...same thing, so within the 30 day money back guarantee from PetSmart, I returned not one but two Littermaids.

Still determined to get and automatic scooper I thought I would give the cheaper Litter Sweep a try, and at first I admit that I was sceptical because the first go round the litter stuck to the bottom and when the rake came up, litter flung across the room.....not a pretty sight, although I did find it quite comical at the time, so I was expecting to be returning yet another litter box.

I thought I would do a little research and found this website with all the good reviews about the Litter Sweep, and your post about the pearls caught my eye, so I thought I would give it one more try.......love it.....my little babies adapted to them right away, although I think at first they thought I had bought them a new toy because all they did was play in them, spreading tiny little beads around the entire room (which, as someone mentioned earlier are very hard to sweep up on my hardwood floors)

No more odour, no more litter flinging, just little poops being scooped up beautifully......genius.....thank you.

I am the proud caretaker of two cats...actually one nine year-old female spoiled brat and a 3 1\2 month old already spoiled male kitten. After reading through all the posts here, I purchased a Litter Robot for my then only female cat. It works great and she seemed to accept it well enough. After adopting my little male kitten I purchased a second Litter Robot for my upstairs (Yes, very expensive but I felt worth the cost because it never gets stuck).
I am now having issues with my nine year-old female because she's a bit...fat. I have found her leaving me a neat pile just outside the Litter Robot upstairs. She pees in the LR but sometimes can't get comfortably in the box so she ends up peeing out the opening and down the side. It ends up in the waste drawer but still in liquid form. It seems I have no choice but to set up a non-covered litter box but can't stand traditional boxes or the thought of going back to littermaid. I am looking into the Littersweep because of the way the box rotates instead of the sifter/rake. I do love the recommendation of using the absorbant PEARLS versus clumping litter. It seems that would work the best. I hope to acquire one from Petsmart soon and will let you know how it works. If anyone has any further recommendation I would appreciate it.

its been quite a while since your post on the littersweep and the crystals
do you still use crystals and how is it working.

i returned my littersweep because of its terrible performance. kept hanging on clay litter and click click click for hours.

i swithced to crystals because i just wanted to try them and i really like them. thier lightwieght got me thinking about the litter sweep once again and how it might perform much better with crystals.

i did a search and found this post.

so my question. has anyone used crystals and the littersweep for months or a year and whats been your experience.

Haven't posted in a long time (litterbox was working well, so no real reason to).

I just couldn't keep the pearls contained to the litterbox area. I eventually stopped using the pearls and went to the cheap Mimi crystals from Wal-mart. The Mimi crystals have worked great for a long time. I use plastic showercaps for the waste container... pack of 15 costs about a dollar at Wal-mart or a beauty supply store.

After a few years, the little Mimi crystals have found their way into the motor/gear mechanisms, and now the tray turning mechanism has seized and the unit won't turn/rake.

So, I'll be going litterbox shopping again tomorrow . It was a good run while it lasted. I think if I could find a littersweep in stores, I'd probably buy it again and hope that with what I've learned I could get it to run 5+ years, but currently I'm leaning toward a scoopfree with a forever tray.

For anyone who had success with any of my suggestions, best of luck for a long littersweep life .