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Our neighbor when I was growing up had a cat that would use the toilet and flush. I was amazed as a kid. Not sure I want to share the bathroom with our cats.

• jakebasile 5y ago
  I've been looking at getting an automatic cleaning litter box for a while now. Would you mind recommending the type that you bought if you are so happy with it?
  • drakonka 5y ago
    I've had a Litter Robot for nearly a year and also really like it (wrote a more detailed review here[0]), although it's definitely not perfect. Mine is the Litter Robot 3 with the WiFi functionality (lets me keep an eye on how often they go even when I'm not home). I do believe the price isn't worth it for _most_ people, but do not regret the purchase. [0] https://liza.io/litter-robot-3-review/ https://liza.io/litter-robot-3-review/
    • jakebasile 5y ago
      Thanks for the review. Would you say it cuts down on smell? That is my biggest issue with cat ownership and I've been looking for ways to further reduce it (beyond better litter, baking soda, etc.). Edit: Thanks for all the replies. I am still on the fence about it, and may try further options to reduce the smell (at least enough so that a cat-person like myself can live with it ;))
      • drakonka 5y ago
        I wouldn't say it cuts down on smell, unfortunately. In fact, it has the potential to make it worse, since the waste is gathered in a bin for longer periods of time (as opposed to flushable litter in a normal box). There is a carbon filter that sits on one end of the tray to help minimize scent, but it's not very effective in my experience. I'm currently experimenting with putting various nicely-scented objects in that tray, in front of the filter (like those little scent blocks you can hang on the side of your toilet bowl, for example). The scent will also largely depend on the cat's digestive system. My cats tend to not have very smelly or soft feces so it's not bad at all, but if one of them gets diarrhea you bet I'm emptying that litter bin right away. Likewise, if a guest is coming over I'd probably suggest emptying the litter bin beforehand just in case. I know you already know of better litter and baking soda tricks, but there is a powder you can purchase and sprinkle into litter, which gives off a fresh scent. I found using it also helps, as does sprinkling some of it into the bottom of the litter tray itself (into the litter waste bin). I don't have the name of it on hand, but I think there are a few brands out there that are pretty common. Edit: the _majority_ of the time there is no smell I can easily detect until I open the tray to remove the garbage. But as someone else mentioned, no smell to a cat person may not be a reliable gauge.
      • jeromegv 5y ago
        My air purifier is next to our cat litter and there’s no smell at all. I strongly recommend one (on top of helping with allergies, dust, covid, etc..)
        • SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
          I wonder if you mean “no smell to a cat person” or if you mean no smell to everyone else. Because I’ve been in enough cat people’s places to know the former is a real thing.
          • natdempk 5y ago
            I've done the air purifier thing as well, paired with some unscented litter like Dr. Elsey's Ultra Litter and it genuinely doesn't smell most of the time, unless they've recently used the box or its not cycling due to being full.
            • drakonka 5y ago
              Would you mind sharing what air purifier model you use next to your Litter Robot?
              • natdempk 5y ago
                Sure, I use a Coway Airmega AP-1512HH set to low permanently. It doesn't move a ton of air on the low setting, but it is very quiet and the size fits pretty well next to the robot. I think getting something quiet is key as to not spook your cats, as one of mine hates the sound of loud white-noise-ish sounds. I will say I think this one works well, but you could likely find something cheaper because you don't need to much air circulation for a litter box. I just happened to already have this one.
                • drakonka 5y ago
                  Thanks. I have read good things about that model, but don't think it's available in my country. But I was looking into a Coway Storm AP-1516D last year, and didn't end up pulling the trigger since there were just too many options to choose from. This reminds me to look into them again.
      • dotBen 5y ago
        Another Litter Robot owner here (we are onto our second one) and I feel it does cut down on the smell. The litter won't stay in the open part for more than 10-25 minutes and then it is cycled into the drawer which is relatively contained and has a charcoal filter on it. We have two cats and end up changing the drawer every 2-3 days. I have a friend who manages not to change the drawer for a week and I do think it starts to smell then. The main benefits are that we don't have to tend to the litter tray that often and when we do we only need to pull out the plastic trash bag, tie it up and replace with a new one. I also think it uses a lot less litter as we never have to fully change it out like you do with normal cat boxes. It's an expensive item but I think it's definitely worth it. Get a reconditioned one for $50-100 less as they are perfectly clean and they will get messy pretty quickly anyway. We pair ours with Nature's Miracle cat litter which has baking soda and other deodorizer in it.
      • mey 5y ago
        It does not cut down more on the smell. Since the waste is basically sifted out quickly to the lower try and not left buried by the cat, it can get smelly. Litter type, cat, and how often you chant the lower tray will change that, but overall, I would not put it in a living space.
      • Nursie 5y ago
        We use a system called ezi lockodour here in Australia. I believe the US name is Purina TidyCats. Made a huge difference to the smell when we switched.
      • natdempk 5y ago
        One thing I've done to help with the smell is put a smaller air purifier on low next to it running continuously. This really helps a lot in my experience compared to having nothing. It can still smell a bit if the robot is full and nothing is cycling or one of the cats has just used it, but other than that there is largely no smell. The other thing that helps a lot is changing the carbon filter on the robot on a regular basis, maybe every couple or few months, since once that goes a lot more smell leaks out.
      • saluki 5y ago
        We use BoxiePro Deep Clean, Scent Free, Probiotic Clumping Cat Litter and it is smell free, you can't smell the litter or the cat 'presents'. My wife is pretty sensitive to smells and she loves the new setup vs traditional with yesterdays news. You will smell it when you open the drawer to change the bag a couple times per week but only till you tie up the bag to take out.
  • Zircom 5y ago
    Just make sure you're cats never see it turn itself on, two of my three cats refuse to use it after watching it cycle and I'm back to having a separate box for them that I clean everyday, honestly thinking it selling it if I can talk anybody into buying a used poopbox For the one cat though it is definitely great, he's kinda fearless though so your cats may not quite be brave enough to face the beast everytime they go to the bathroom. Edit - my name is Zircom, I have a litter robot 3 for the record, and I recommend it as long as you don't have scaredy cats.
  • mey 5y ago
    I have a litter robot. Takes normal kitchen trash bags and is able to keep up with two adult male cats. Very happy with it, had it for over two years. I think the cats would mutiny if they went back to a normal box. It does take a little learning. You have to learn how to not overfill it. How to do a full break down clean of it (not hard just more involved). It doesn't keep the smell down significantly more than a traditional litter box imo. Pretty sure ours paid for itself in litter savings in about a year.
  • garblegarble 5y ago
    I'm not the person you're asking but we use the same brand, the Litter Robot 3 (without wifi) and think it's great. Both our cats took to it very quickly. It does require a small amount of maintenance to keep it running smoothly. Separating and cleaning the main pieces every 2-3 months is all I do (nothing that requires tools to disassemble, but a good 15 minutes of cleaning+vacuuming) Our cats were always very stinky with traditional litter boxes (even on different diets) and the litter robot did cut that down significantly... but what made a huge difference was using a litter that was a combination of clay, activated carbon and silica granules (we use Biokat's Diamond Care Classic - it is expensive, previously I manually mixed in carbon+silica into cheaper clay litter with moderate success). We only have one cat now, and only need to replace the bag once every 10 days, but even so I can't detect any cat smell in the house (and am quite sensitive to it) nor can any of my friends/family -- but they all have cats so there may well still be some base level of smell that all our noses are innured to. To a sibling commentor's warning, neither of our cats are worried about it cycling (in fact, our sphynx races over to watch it cycle any time she hears the motor start up). It has a weight sensor as well as a pinch sensor to prevent the cat being injured in case they jump in while it's running -- so far nobody's tried to, but good to know it's there. I found it quite good for our older cat, too: one of our cats had a bit of arthritis in later life and needed the set of steps to comfortably get up and into the litter box which does increase the already pretty significant footprint of the device. It also has an automatic low light that comes on when it gets dark that helped her get around when her eyesight was failing. A sibling comment noted that it's pretty expensive and may not be worth the cost - I think that's probably true, although I've no regrets (and even bought a second one) because of the amount of scooping it's saved me.
    • JohnBooty 5y ago
      Our cats were always very stinky with traditional litter boxes As a compromise solution I've had pretty good luck placing air filters next to the litter box. The commonly recommended ones (Coway, Winix) are $100-$150 on sale and have both particulate filters and charcoal odor filters. Filter costs are ~$25/year and electricity cost is ~$5-10 per month. That's probably more expensive over a large enough number of years relative to a robo litter box, but you're also removing other indoor allergy causes as well, so it's doing other work which may be beneficial. Also the fan noise from the filters is very gentle; actually a plus for many.
  • saluki 5y ago
    y. Litter Robot 3 + extended warranty + ramp It's been great so far, the kitten really liked it, she will even come to watch it run when it does it's cleaning cycle. Older cat was a little skittish as first but took to it as well, I left out the old litter box for a few days but soon she started going to the cleaner automated one. With two cats I empty the bottom tray liner twice a week, every couple days I'll vacuum the ramp and around the litter box to keep the small clay litter confined to that area. We're using the BoxiePro Deep Clean, Scent Free, Probiotic Clumping Cat Litter. I'd go ahead and get the wifi one esp. if you travel or are out of the house, I also setup a camera to keep an eye on it and initially to see which cat was using it. We weren't using scoopable litter before so I'm estimating this will save us over $4k in litter costs over the next 3 years. We were using yesterdays news litter, changing out two litter boxes every other day was about $12 in litter. I like putting plenty in their boxes it seems cleaner for everyone. So it uses very little litter I add a solo cup of litter a couple times per week, so I expect the $28 bag of boxie will last at least a month. It sounds crazy to spend this much on a litter box but since we weren't using scoopable it will actually save us money. Plus when we're out of town our neighbors won't have to change the litter boxes, maybe once on a long trip. It is larger than a standard litter box. We set ours up in our hall closet off the kitchen, wide closet, double sliding doors. I'm going to build a small rectangular cat door off to the side of the main doors so we don't have to keep the door open. I'm going to build a full depth and width shelf above it so it's in it's own space in the bottom of the closet.