Automatic Litterbox Central

Well I went with a box full of Pearls only and they seemed to work really well at first. However, my cats are not burying their poo for the most part and the smell is pretty bad until the box cycles. The poo still seems firmer with the Pearls instead of the Fresh Step, but my dog has taken two "snacks" out of the box before it cycled in the past three days. I don't know if he was doing this with the Fresh Step since I never found evidence, but you can tell he is with the Pearls since I find a pile of Pearls after he is done "snacking". I will try to figure out if the Fresh Step deters this behavior or if I just didn't find the evidence. If he was doing this with the other litter also, I am happier about him eating the Pearls since they are safe to consume. I just don't want him doing this at all and am contemplating putting a cat door on the bathroom door to stop it. I am going to try a week with only Fresh Step again and than a week with half Fresh Step and half Pearls to compare. I'll update as I go.

Dawn

jfs1234 wrote:1) What are you using for the standard cartridge?

I bought a reusable cartridge from another user on this forum. It works great! Easy to clean and is very sturdy. We couldn't be happier with it!

jfs1234 wrote:2) How many times can you refill it?

As much as we want. The material is a very sturdy plastic/PVC-like material that doesn't absorb, rot, or get torn. We wash it out completely about every four litter recycles.

jfs1234 wrote:3) How do you get the poop out of the closed trap thing?

No problem there either. The ScoopFree thing lifts up and the box slides right out. Then we just flip up the trap door and shake violently into a trash bag. Everything clumps out in a heap. We try to save some of the crystals in the back of the cartridge (open/fresh side), but since we finally found a good supplier (Target) for the TidyCat stuff, we don't mind having to refill most or all of it each reload.

I also wanted to add, over Christmas we were out of town visiting family. We put our problem child Torty up in a kitty hotel for the week we were gone, but locked our boy in the guest bathroom with the ScoopFree, a huge water dispenser, and a dry food dispenser, some toys, a scratch pad, and a few blankets. We also left the water faucet on a slow drizzle (in case he knocked over the water dispenser) and put a tiny alarm/clock radio in there for comfort sounds (Easy Listening radio station).

We were nervous as heck about leaving him in the house alone but felt it was the best option because he has a severe food allergy to anything but Purina foods. We were too worried that an intern or lazy/bored kitty hotel employee would throw a scoop of the wrong stuff in his cage and he'd become sick.

Despite all of our worries, all was well! After a full seven days, the ScoopFree performed flawlessly and there was no bad smells when we returned. There was some blankets tossed about and the alarm/clock radio had been knocked off the counter, but other than that - perfect!

Great product (ScoopFree + TidyCat Crystals + Reusable cartridge). We can't recommend it enough. A+++

Mad, Ol' Cat Lady wrote:I went to Kroger's and just got another bag of these. Funny thing though, they had one bag with the white and blue crystals and two with the white only crystals (that is the kind I said sucked so badly before). They had exactly the same name and same packaging so I can only assume they are clearing out old stock still. Anyhow I bought a 6 pound bag of blue and white Ultra Pearls for $7.99 with a Kroger's card. The bag was 10.29 without the card. I will let you know how they work. I have high hopes after how they worked mixed with the Fresh Step last time!

Dawn

How are the cats faring with the Ultra Pearls (are you still using them)? We have the same thing over here called Litter Pearls! http://www.lubbockonline.com/pets/stories/catlitter.shtml I didn't have any problems with tracking, or anything, that I noticed. Or with smell. But that could be because their litter box is downstairs. (Only to be scooped once a day.) Both the cats (and I) can't stand the artificial smells, so it was nice to not have anything that smelled horrific. The Scoop Free, with one of the alternative liners, plus the Litter Pearls looked like a good solution to the "I don't wanna scoop anymore!" dillema. So I'm interested in seeing how you guys are doing with the Litter Pearls (especially since your plexiglass, um, thingy looked so nice. ) I enjoy that the pearls are supposed to be biodegradable too. They're not too expensive either!

Dear users... Am I the only one who has difficulty finding crystals small enough for the ScoopFree?

I tried several brands, but they are not small enough to go through the rake. Well, some litter go through, but most of it is dragged by the rake to the extremities.

I tried Pet's Pal crystal litter, bought at Wal-Mart... it seemed small enough but its not:
http://www.pestell.com/pet/lib/prd/cat_ ... silica.pdf

Also CatIt scentless beads:
http://www.hagen.com/canada/english/cat ... 0820010101

And other brands...

I feel like a fool. I have an expensive automatic litter box laying around and cannot use it. Reading here gave me the impression that any crystal litter brand would work.

elvis wrote:I feel like a fool. I have an expensive automatic litter box laying around and cannot use it. Reading here gave me the impression that any crystal litter brand would work.

I use Fresh Step Crystals which I buy @ Target mixed with Ultra Pearls Crystals. Both seem to work fine with my Scoop Free Litterbox. If you can't find litter to work with it, I'd suggest taking advantage of the Money Back Guarantee.

I used the Fresh Step alone again and the poo seemed much softer than with the Pearls. Next I used the Pearls alone and while the poo was very hard, the pearls seemed to get pee filled faster. That is hard to judge though because it could be due to the cats drinking more. Also faster is relative since I have to do a total change weekly with 4 cats. I am going to do a total change tomorrow and try a mix of Fresh Step and Pearls again.

Dawn

I successfully use UltraPearls http://www.epinions.com/pets-Cats-Litter-All-Harvest_Ventures_Ultra_Pearls/display_~full_specs available at my Publix and Kroger. Just as effective as Fresh Step Crystals in my opinion and a bit cheaper than Fresh Step Crystals.