Do automatic, self-cleaning litterboxes work well?

Question

I have two cats at home and I just hate cleaning out their litterbox. I've tried everything from the sifting litterbox liners to the sifting litterboxes themselves but nothing seems to be less messy than the other.

It was recommended to me that I buy an automatic, self-cleaning litterbox, which would be ideal if it works well. Since these litterboxes are pretty expensive, I want to know if they work well before I invest in one only to waste my money.

If so, which is the best one to buy?

This is the one I'm thinking of buying:

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441813164&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302033737&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023690&bmUID=1187877640060&itemNo=13&Nao=0&In=Cat&N=2033737&Ne=2

Answer 1

I love the ScoopFree! I have two cats and it works very well for them. I bought a forever tray off of ebay so all I have to do is buy the litter. Some cats do have problems adjusting to crystal litter, you might want to test it out on your cats first. I did lots of ressearch before I decided which one to buy. Check out the website and decide what is best for you!

Answer 2

I HATED the one that I had. I have 2 cats as well. The self-cleaning litter box works great in theory, however when applied to the reality of 2 cats, not so great. It would constantly get stuck, causing me to have to clean out the kitty litter anyway. My cats would go right in front of the area where the automatatic arm starts and therefore resulting in it getting stuck. I think it might work great with 1 cat, but I think there's just too much for 2 cats to dish and the machine can't handle it. And sometimes it would pop/click (because of it getting stuck for a second) right as the waste was being deposited into the bin and cat litter (pee, feces, and all) would go flying! It was way too much hassle for the product. It's a heck of a lot easier to clean out a normal kitty litter box every day then deal with that contraption.

Answer 3

I had one of those. I did not care for it too much. I also had 2 cats at the time and it seemed to fill up the holding rea with dirty litter very quickly. Also, the one I had was very noisy. You still need to get rid of the dirty stuff every couple days and replace the holding containers.
I guess it is all on personal taste, but to me i felt it was a huge waste of money and ended up getting rid of mine within 2 weeks.
I was in a small apartment however so maybe if you have somewhere you can keep it where you wont hear it it may be better...or if they have came out with something updated. I also had little tiny nats flying around it all the time.

Answer 4

You can have mine.

It was loud, did a poor job of cleaning, and because my kitties like to go in the corner the waste receptacle would fill up in one certain area and I would have to open it and "shift" the waste around so the top would close. It would also run over and over and over if my kitties would scratch a bunch of the litter over to one side. I was constantly attending to the darn thing. Also the waste receptacles are about $12.00 for a box of 15 and they only made of plastic- there's no special scent or odor elimination in them at all.

It was just easier, less mess and less time spent messing with the cat box when I switched to the crystals-type litter.

Answer 5

They're okay.

Granted the last time I had to deal with one was 5 years ago, I don't know if they've improved during that time, but I ran into a couple problems. Sometimes it will just plain out malfunction, and just keep scooping over and over again, and then your cat will want nothing to do with it. The arm that covers the waste bin can malfunction, and never close again, which will also cause the whole system to malfunction. It can miss urine clumps, and the urine can also stick to the comb.

Answer 6

I love my self cleaning litter box. I have had 2 problems in the past, both my fault though. The first time was because I put too much litter in, the 2nd was because i didnt clean the sensors after i filled the litter box (they get dusty).

Be careful if you get one to get your cat used to it. Read the directions carefully because if you just set it up and start it, some cats get scared of it and refuse to use it.