cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/3610354

Looking to pick up a self cleaning litterbox but there are a lot of options. The coolest one I’ve seen by far is the CatGenie Automatic Cat Box, but it’s nearly $500 and seems a little overkill.

I’ve also seen that the PetSafe Litterbox is a very popular choice, but it uses proprietary litter refills and crystal litter when I’d prefer clay litter.

I’ve been getting away with a $15 do-it-yourself litterbox just fine for a while, but I think I (and my cat) would appreciate something that doesn’t require daily maintenance. Something as simple as an automatic rake would be interesting.

My main goals are:

  1. Requires as little maintenance as possible while keeping my cat happy and the smell under control
  2. No proprietary lock-in (I can use my own litter)
  3. Doesn’t break the bank
  4. Built well, won’t break / easy to fix / good warranty / cheap enough that I can just buy a new one if it breaks

While I am looking for budget friendly options, I’m also curious on the more expensive options. I can’t imagine what justifies spending $700 on a Litter-Robot when emptying a litterbox manually isn’t that bad and the CatGenie is $500 and promises zero-maintenance. Have you had good luck with premium options like that?

  • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    dansk
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I have two Litter Robots (3rd gen) and I love them. They aren’t perfect but they are really good. My cat box maintenance is weekly and it takes 5 minutes to do both of them.

    Cleaning them is a pain but you don’t have to do it super often.

    No proprietary consumables. I’ve used four or five types of clumping litter, no issues. I use standard kitchen garbage bags in the catch pan.

    They are expensive but after I bought the first and my cats got used to it I had to buy another. My cats walk on (comparatively) clean litter every time, which is a great benefit. And the time savings is huge.

    • BirdsWithBeefyArms@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Exact same situation here, two 3rd gens.

      We did the same type of research you did OP, and honestly you have three options:

      • get a low cost ‘automatic rake’ box, which will break in a month if your pet has a bad day on the potty. Or worse, everything will get stuck to the rake and it’ll be worse to clean than scooping the box.

      • you go with something proprietary like the crystal litter solutions.

      • or you get an expensive box like the litter machine.

      Its certainly unfortunate that there aren’t better options for cheaper, but I do think that it’s the right choice in most cases. I have 4 cats and 2 litter boxes, and I empty them about once a week with a deep clean every 3 months or so. We do have one non automated box because sometimes they prefer that, but overwhelmingly they prefer the litter machines.

      • Vent@lemm.eeOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah that’s rough, especially when you start factoring in multiple litterboxes. $1k+ on litterboxes is a hard pill to swallow.

    • cevn@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I also have the litter robot, latest gen. Very quiet and my cat loves having a clean litterbox all the time.

    • Miasmal@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I wish our cats would use our Litter Robot again. It was great for around a year, then they just stopped using it. I think I’ll try cleaning it thoroughly and see if that helps.

    • dublet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I recently did much of the same research and ended up just buying a LitterBot 4. Not perfect and the cat begrudgingly uses it, but it does mean I don’t have to scoop the litter tray twice a day (or more) which is worth the outlay. The cheaper ones just seem to come with even more down sides.