Automatic Litterbox Central

I can't decide which automatic litter box to get. The litter robot it out, too expensive, so it's either the litter sweep, the littermaid deluxe, or the purrforma. I know they recalled the early version and released a new one, and I was wondering how it works.

I'm about to give the re-released Purrforma Plus Jumbo a try. I like the size of it, the large enclosure, the removable metal rake and pan liners, and the bags to capture the waste.

We've had multiple littermaids in the past and they left a lot to be desired. The plastic rake didn't work as well as it should. It was a pain in the neck to clean, and even using Pam, waste sticks to it. The waste receptacle uses their proprietary plactic boxes which seem to be the perfect breeding ground for some kind of mold. The rake tends to drop litter between the end of the box and the receptacle container (on the floor). The litter pan doesn't hold a deep enough layer of litter to clump. It almost always forms a concrete glob stuck to the bottom of the box. Pam doesn't solve that problem completely either. It seems to take pleasure in dragging waste part way up the ramp to the recycle bin, letting it slide behind the rake, and then squishing it through the tines of the rake on it's return trip.

The Littersweep Ultra was a worse bust. Everything is sold as an add-on accessory. By the time you finish buying a ramp, dome, etc. you can easily spend as much as a littermaid. It's much noiser than every littermaid we ever had. It's sensor design only works well if your cat squats, relieves itself, and immediately walks away without covering its waste. If the cat piles the litter, the sensors freak out. The waste receptacle dumps the waste into one pile so that the rake can't empty after about 2 uses. The unit has a very small area for the cat. If you have a large cat and use the hood, it will feel crowded. The litter pan rests on springs. When your cat steps in, the floor gives way under them - very disconcerting for the animal. The unit does have a metal rake, but the tines are spread too far apart. Too much waste passes through them and winds up as decorations in the spiral rake pattern. It is easy to disassemble for cleaning. This unit appears to have been designed by someone whose only contact with cats was in photographs.

I bought the Purrforma Jumbo for my two very smelly cats about two weeks ago. Honestly, I had no idea that it was ever recalled in an earlier version but I have no complaints about the appliance in its current incarnation. There have been comments about the rake not going all the way to the back of the pan, but I these comments must be in reference to the older version because the rake in mine does go all the way back and we have had no problems with the rake clotting. Every problem I have had with the Purrfoma has largely been my own mistake that caused the machine to malfunction (like putting the waste bag in inncorrectly) and I would reccommend it to anyone with multiple cats....only if you have multiple cats. For a single cat the expense of an automated box like this one seems excessive; you still have to purchase the plastic liners and waste bags, which are especially designed to fit the waste receptecle and receptecle lid exactly. I've solved this cost issue by ordering the bags in bulk off of Ebay.
Gotta love Ebay.
My one real problem seems to be that one of my cats initally noticed the litterbox cleaning and we had a few out-of-the-box incidents, but these accidents were limited and seem to have stopped in last 3-4 days.
Overall, I'd reccomend the new version to anyone.