Automatic Litterbox Central

Ok I have had many a litterbox in my time. When I got my cats I first used the Omega Paws roll box. Worked good until I noticed if I forgot to roll it my prissy cat would pee somewhere else. I then discovered the LitterMaid. That was about 8 years ago and since then I have had quite a few. At first it was great but then I started to have issues with the goo on the rake, the shoddy parts and in the past 2 years my "prissy" cat has developed some depth perception issues and constantly pees so that it ends up on the LM lid and drips down on the floor. I used wee wee pads underneath to catch anything but now I notice that if she squats down just a bit the pee goes in between the lid and the recepticle and underneath the box. so I came home to find a massive puddle under the LM. So I said let's try something new.....this lead me to buy the SC. Here is my tale:

Day 1 - put together very easily. some things I noticed right away that I didn't like was that the rake was so far away from the back so I know stuff is going to get back there b/c if prissy isn't peeing on the front she is backed up to the corner! Also I'm not initially thrilled that the rake doesn't lift up a bit when it is all the way back - i'm sure it won't do anything but it seems like it might bug the cats (of course from my perspective, the cats proboby couldn't care less!) I had a friend purchase it for me so they picked up the regular model so I didn't get the ramp but did get the upgraded unit with 26 tongs and the lip. I immediatly loved the lip attachment and though - wow if my LM had something like this on the lid that would have solved the peeing on the floor situation! I think I will order the ramp just because it seems high for the cat to crawl into. I'll think about it first though! Stay tuned for more days!!!!!!

Day 2: I was excited to come into my office to see how it worked over the night (that is sad right?!) Well I walked in to find the red light blinking. I couldn't remember if that meant a cat was just in it and the 15 min clock was ticking or if there was a problem. Quickly determined there was a problem. The rake couldn't get through the waste. I looked in the recepticle and there was nothing in it so from what I can tell it couldn't get through on the first time they went. I poked around with the scoop and found nothing lodged anywhere so not sure why it could't get past. Another bad thing was that there was a clump behind the rake in the corner where I thought there would be issues. Since the rake doesn't go all the way back it will never get it. I cleaned it up (bonus it was alot easier than the LM since the rake can be lifted out quickly and easily) and let the rake clean up. Glad I wasn't standing right over the box because it did fling a nugget outside! Bonus is that the lip is so high that my prissy cat can't pee outside of it! But looks like i ganed other issues. I really want this to work so I will keep trying it!

Side note - I notice that the rake doesn't go straight up and down but kind of is angled towards the front. This to me enhances the issue of the tines not going to the bottom of the box. I pushed on the rake and it went verticle but it won't stay like that once the motor starts up. I thought I read somewhere of someone "bending" the tines a bit but not sure that will damage the rake or even cause it to fling more poo. Any thoughts? Lastly, someone mentioned putting a hanger at the end so the cat won't back up to the corner. How would you do it with the SC since the motor and recepticle move down the box?

More to come.....

Day 3: Ok not doing much better Nothing stuck but lots of pieces that the rake didn't get were still in the box (lower to the bottom so that it just couldn't reach it) and poo all outside the box. I put it back in and restarted the rake to watch it and see what the issue was an it flung it out again. The lip is a good idea but it is still not solving the "flinging poo" situation. Just a note that I was emailing with April at Smart Scoop yesterday. VERY VERY helpful. She is actually a member of this forum but hasn't had the opportunity to log on yet. She said that although I have a newer unit the motor doesn't sound like it is full power so she took down my name and address and is mailing me one. Hey I understand -this is a new product. Just think the LM has been on the market forever now and they still have major issues! I'm happy a company is trying to help and is improving their units!

Suggestions so far -
- rake that goes further down in the box
- more tines to the right of the rake. There is about 3/4 of an inch that has nothing and of course that is where my cats will do their business so it completley misses it!
- still need to work on the flinging poo situation (not sure what to do on this one)
[flash=]- UPDATE[/flash] - Ok April just emailed me (I sent her these issues) and she said the following: "we have a deflector re-design that we are expecting to have in our warehouse and ready to ship next month. It adds a curved, rubber lip to the top edge of the deflector that will push clumps back onto the rake. I will add you to the waiting list for that." Yeah! Be sure to call or email to be put on the list also!


Hope everyone is finding my daily blogs about this helpful. No comments yet but I'll keep on writing!!!!

danniemac wrote: [flash=]- UPDATE[/flash] - Ok April just emailed me (I sent her these issues) and she said the following: "we have a deflector re-design that we are expecting to have in our warehouse and ready to ship next month. It adds a curved, rubber lip to the top edge of the deflector that will push clumps back onto the rake. I will add you to the waiting list for that." Yeah! Be sure to call or email to be put on the list also!


Hope everyone is finding my daily blogs about this helpful. No comments yet but I'll keep on writing!!!!

DUDE!!!!!!! that is EXACTLY the idea i had and was talking about in the other thread that I just haven't gotten around to trying to fabricate. A slightly longer lip with a curve to push the stuff back on the rake. i am also thinking of bending the ends of the tines a bit more straight to get deeper into the box, but was worried the curved lip might not work if I did that. That is GREAT that they had the same idea and are working on it and now I don't have to!! I'll have to see after they get the lip out if I can bend the tines or if they would hit the new lip. So far with the new litter I am using, the only problem I am still having is the pee clumps getting rolled out here and there, but I just pick up the mats in front of it and shake them back in then wipe the mats off.

Thanks so much for this info. and the updates are great! Hope you like the box as much as I am liking mine so far. As for the coat hanger, is your box near a wall or anything static that you could use to mount the coat hanger independent of the box and right above the level of the box? If not, I'm thinking as a quick training thing, maybe you could put a chair behind it and attach the coat hanger to a chair leg with some handy dandy use of ducktape and pencils (ducktape the pencils to the ends of the hanger to use as legs going down to the floor wider then the box and ducktape the hanger loop end to the chair vertical to the floor. Then just adjust the pencils so they clear the box and keep the hanger vertical to the floor over the box). Not great looking but your hoping the cat will catch a clue quickly and modify their behavior forever so no reason to spend much time or money on it!

Dawn

Well I got an email yesterday about the new fabricated lip - it has been delayed a month or so That is bummer b/c i woke up to a whole slew of clumps on the mat. I'm currently using Tidy Cat clumping litter and there is alot of breakage and small clumps. Thinking of trying something else but not sure what. I have tried Fresh Step and that just clumpst WAY to hard and even my LM had issues. The cats hate all those natural litters out there so my options are Tidy Cat, Arm and Hammer, and Fresh Step.

If you figure out a better lip solution let me know! Also the SC people do monitor this site on our feedback (developers and customer service) so keep it coming! I know that there are issues but remember that this is new - try to imagine the first installments of the LM or other litterbox!

I just saw a litter thats called Precious cat litter read the reviews on Amazon.com excellant & works with the smart scoop litter box .I plan on trying it with my new smart scoop litter box as soon as I receive.Looked in this area eastern,but nobody carries it so guess I'll order on line will keep you posted as to how it works out

I use Dr. Elsey's "Precious cat" litter sometimes - I have gone back and forth between WBCL and this (WBCL is twice as expensive). The Precious cat is excellent, the only reason I go back to WBCL is because it's so light and easy to carry when fresh and dispose of when dirty.

http://www.preciouscat.com

It has absolutely no fragrance or additives so it's safer and nicer for the cats than most clay litter.

Just got my new motor today - definitly stronger (a bit louder) but that is ok. We will test it out and see how it goes. Still same issues of clumps breaking apart (but that happened in the LM also), flinging poo and stuck waste on the bottom corners (suprisingly the cats have not peed in the back of the box yet...sure they will though!).

Regarding the litter discussed - is it similar to the Arm and Hammer natural litter? That is the stuff that I tried and I liked it but one cat refused to poop in it (would pee in it though).

Thanks!

No Dr Elsey's is clay, it's "natural" because it natural bentonite clay and has no added fragrances, chemicals etc. Cats love it. Actually there is a version called Cat Attract, the same litter but has added herbs supposed to attract cats to it, my cats love that stuff. It's not as sticky or goey as some opf the clay litters with clumping additives. It's still messier to clean up and heavier than WBCL, but the best of the clay clumping litters by far.

Arm & Hammer is ground corn cobs with a lot of perfume in it, I am sure no cats would like that!

Ok I have had the box for a little over a week now. Still having the flinging issues and clumps breaking up or not being caught because the rake just doesn't reach down far enough. To me though - still better than the LM. I received my ramp and non-stick spray yesterday so I dumped and cleaned. Went very easy and I felt much much more at ease cleaning it since I didn't have to worry about getting water in the motor since I could remove it. I sprayed the box "liberally" as the spray suggests and left it on for a while and then put the litter in. This time trying Arm and Hammer Super Scoop. Not sure about it yet though. And I felt bad because my fat cat looked like she was having issues getting into the box but she won't use the ramp! Thinking about having my boyfriend buld me a little "step" instead

Also - I see that they are working on a canopy and "sprayer"? Now the canopy I get - but I wonder what a "sprayer" is????

Before you build the step, you might see if she will even use one by putting a sturdy box there first. I use to use one of the heavy duty boxes litter comes in on its side when I had the LR I so my arthritic cat could get in easier.

Dawn

I am not actually using the ramp as a ramp since I thought it was a bit too steep and since my cats' box is in a very large cabinet I built. I placed the ramp in front of the box as a mat and it works great like that - it does help get litter off their paws and if some litter spills out the front of the box it's easy to toss it back in. The cats seem to prefer stepping in to walking up the ramp.

My litter experiments in the Smart Scoop so far: WBCL did not have any problems with clumps flipping out, because the clumps are smaller and either stay on the rake or crumble and get missed - but at least stay in the box. With all the clay litters (which my cats far prefer) I have had occassional slip-outs but I found filling the box a bit less (closer to the minimum line) helped.

danniemac wrote: I noticed right away that I didn't like was that the rake was so far away from the back so I know stuff is going to get back there b/c if prissy isn't peeing on the front she is backed up to the corner! Also I'm not initially thrilled that the rake doesn't lift up a bit when it is all the way back - i'm sure it won't do anything but it seems like it might bug the cats (of course from my perspective, the cats proboby couldn't care less!)

I've been finding this feature is actually better, because it seems to keep my cats from peeing on the rake since they stay away a little from it. My main problem is my cats pee right at the front of the box creating clumps in the spot that is hardest for the rake to get. If the box fit into my cabinet sideways, I could force the cats to enter the box from the side and they'd probably pee where they got in, instead of at the front of the box.

Hey everyone - just a note that I have been using Arm and Hammer Super Scoop for about 3 days now (after cleaning the box) - I am also getting ready to DUMP it. It is horrible with this box. It gums up unless it sits for about an hour and then it is hard as rock. The rake has been "jammed" or stopped for the past 2 mornings I have come in. YUK!!! Back to the drawing board on my litter quest!

Most successful litter for me so far:

- World's Best Cat Litter
- Dr. Elsey's Ultra
- Premium Choice multiple Cats with baking soda

All of the above are unscented litter.