Automatic Litterbox Central

I really want to give as honest an appraisal of this product as I can because that's what I hope to find when I read reviews.

I wish I could give the Omega Paw large-sized litter box a 5-star rating, but for reasons I will offer, I can only rate it at 4.

I purchased a large-sized Omega Paw "Self-Cleaning" Litter Box, Large, Brown and Beige from my local PetSmart for $35.00 (plus tax).

The box was easy enough to put together although we discovered that my daughter had put the rake in upside down.

Once we had it together correctly, I attempted to try it just as demonstrated on OmegaPaw's web site (they have a video you may view there: http://www.omegapaw.com/ - Click on the link for TV Ad).

If you might note on the video, they don't use a lot of litter; probably not as much as the average cat-owner would use. Since I purchased the large-sized box, I used enough to create a 3-inch depth for my kitty. This was the recommended depth suggested by the manufacturers of Arm & Hammer's High Performance Clumping Cat Litter.

As a result, by attempting to turn the box as quickly as shown on the video, it did a poor job. It didn't catch all the clumps, several stuck to the rake, and a good bit of clean cat litter ended up in the drawer as well.

So this is the way I learned to use it best:

1. Turn the box to the right slowly and watch all the litter sift thru the rake. Keep turning it gradually until at least the major clumps fall over and into the drawer. Then if any additional smaller clumps are stuck to the rake, use your scoop to quickly brush any of these over into the drawer.

2. Then, turn it back to the left and wait until all the litter moves back into the box. With a quick tap or two, you can then level the litter.

3. Remove the drawer and use the scoop to remove the clumps. You can then tip the drawer slightly forward to allow any remaining litter to flow to the front, insert it into the opening of the litter box and turn it upside down to release leftover litter back into the box. Then simply return the drawer. (Of course if you don't care about the leftover "good" litter found in the drawer you can just dump it along with the clumps.)

I have been using it for a week now and clean the box several times per day. If I wasn't satisfied, I was fully prepared to return it. However, I've decided to keep it.

Despite the fact that it doesn't work quite as well or quickly as the video might imply AND that I don't feel the description should read that it is "self-cleaning" because it isn't--it requires our assistance, I feel it is a much easier and cleaner system than manually scooping a litter box. It is faster and less messy.

I feel it's a decent product at a decent price. One doesn't have to worry about a power source, power failure or mechanical breakdown. So next to a perfect automatic truly self-cleaning machine, for now, I'd say this is the next best thing.

I bought the larger one from Amazon (the large was only available online) because I have a Maine coon and I was worried the regular sized Omega Paw wouldn't be big enough for her. I loved it until the little clip broke off the front. And now that she's bigger (6 months old), her pee clumps are bigger, so they don't fit in the drawer that pulls out. They are too big to come out the drawer. If her pee clumps weren't so darn big, I would just instruct my hubby to pull out the drill and add some nuts and bolts to hold it together where the clip broke off. Maybe I could have him cut the drawer hole bigger to accommodate the big clumps...

If your cat's pee clumps aren't too big, and you can Frankenstein the broken clip problem, this litter box is very cool. I am disappointed in how young the litter box was when the clip broke though. Sounds like a very common complaint, too.