automatic cat box: a review, sort of (1 of 3)

petSafe Simply Clean
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

I haven't figured out how to post three photos with one blog entry from flickr...so bear with the repetition...

so after much complaining about having to clean the cat box so often, we broke down and bought an automatic cat box. both mike & i did extensive research online - interestingly, there's a site devoted to reviewing cat boxes ( http://www.litterbox-central.com ). the copious amounts of information and mixed reviews made it difficult to pick one.

there was not a single machine that was the end all, be all of cat boxes. many people complained that the automatic boxes were not much better than having to manually scoop poop. some cats wouldn't use the box, the rake would get stuck, only certain litters worked well, etc. people raved about the litter robot, which came close to being the holy grail of cat boxes, but for $300, it had to be the shit (no pun intended) to justify forking out that much money. we weren't convinced. in the end, we settled on a less expensive model - the PetSafe Simply Clean. there were fewer complaints lodged against this one than the other models in the same price range.

so here is my experience:
this machine does not come with a cover -- our simple cat boxes had covers, which keeps the litter from going everywhere. sure enough, though the cats quickly took to the new box, they got litter all around it using the thing. henry has a thing about cleaning things, and he spends a good 5min aftewards, burying his "crap," kicking up plenty of litter in the process. mike found a top that happened to be the right diameter, and cut it to fit over the box and rotated the bottom to match up with the opening. that helped keep more of the litter inside.

we got this white plastic tray thingy with a gridded insert that you could pull the insert out to dump the litter that fell through the square openings. the tray didn't fit that well around the box, and litter would go on the floor around it. i got a shopping bag and laid it down underneath the box and the tray to catch more of the litter. then one day, henry decided he would pee in the tray (or maybe he just missed?).

something else disturbing was also happening. the darker grey round part rotates. there's a slanted conveyor belt that brings the poop up as the container rotates, and poop falls into the turquoise container to the left, which can be emptied. we put the machine on a timer so it wouldn't be constantly running. that was all fine. the problem was that the litter was getting soaked and stinking up the house, and not all of it was going up the belt and into the alotted bin. i ended up having to scoop (and quite unsuccessfully) often. i was afraid maybe the rake was breaking up the clumped litter, and squishing it underneath. the ammonia smell permeated the whole house. i was constantly adding new litter and trying to scoop out stinky, damp litter.

we had bought three different litters to try. mike thought that maybe it had to do with the litter. the first one we used was the tidy cat (with red top). i have always used tidy cat multiple cat (blue top), and it has been great at keeping the odor down. seems this wasn't working so well with the machine. the problem wasn't that it wouldn't clump. it clumped, but somehow, the clumps would get broken up when they hit the rake. not sure what the deal was, but it was rank. i was relieved when we used it up. the next litter was scoop away. this one seems to be doing much better. for the first time in weeks, our place does not smell like a cat box. it is day 4, and machine and litter seem to be in harmony.

i also picked up this colorful plastic mat that is much better at catching the litter and seems to be keeping the cats from tracking it all over the house.

i didn't want to believe it, but i was starting to think we wasted our money last week, but since changing the litter and getting a new mat, things have been much improved.