Automatic litter boxes?

[stacwase]

Do any of you have the automatic litter boxes?

I'm considering getting one for Kate because she absolutely won't use her litter box if it's dirty. Yesterday she came up in bed with me and peed by my head!

I've heard that there was an accident related to one, but I assume millions have been sold and I've only heard of one accident.

Any input?

[Isis_7]

I've heard from a couple of people that the motor doesn't last very long. I haven't heard of any accidents. Only that it is a waste of money. I personally haven't tried it though.

[Maresche]

I have one that I've used in a 3 cat household for roughly two years now. I think it is a life-saver. You have to be very particular about the type and amount of litter you put in it, but it sure beats cleaning multiple boxes multiple times a day.

Personally I think it really depends on the person and cats using the box. My mother has a self-cleaning and a regular box because her oldest refuses to use the self-cleaning box. It started its cleaning mode once while she was in the room and it scared her a lot. So I wouldn't recommend it for highly skiddish kitties.

[stacwase]

I've been looking for information, and I don't think I want the Littermaid one. My cat's litterbox absolutely has to be covered, because Jake likes to eat it! I heard the tent that comes with the Littermaid is poorly made and very inconvenient to use. So - I'm thinking about the Petmate Purrforma Plus, which is hooded. It's really a big difference in price though.

Has anybody used the Petmate Purrforma? I don't want to shell out a lot of $ for something that won't work or will be inconvenient. I think Katie will do OK - she's not skittish. Toby doesn't use litterboxes. He only goes outside.

I wouldn't really even need one, but when I'm gone for a few days my husband is lazy about cleaning the litterbox. If we don't clean it at least daily, Katie won't use it. I figure the $189 for the litterbox will offset the cost of replacing furniture and carpets - if it works.

[CamCamPup33]

Originally posted by stacwase
Has anybody used the Petmate Purrforma?

Yep! My sister has one.. It works wonders! Doesnt smell, its great..

[CatDad]

I don't have one, however a friend of mine does and she loves it.

Good luck in the decision.

[tomkatzid]

Kelcee had the Litter maid. It was too small. Then they came out with the larger size. She sorta stands to go potty and it would leak out the where the plastic was fit together. It worked about a year. Now the motor is stuck on, it goes every 10 minutes. Haven't used it since. Probably wouldn't buy it again. But I might try the other brand if we hear good things about it here.
Katz

[Princess_Snow]

I bought the littermaid Mega self cleaning box for my cats back home. My mom and sisters are going on vacation and my dad totally hates scooping so I cashed out 200 bucks (that I still am paying) so that no cat will be kicked out of the house while mom's away. Unfortunately it is very sensitive, you can't put a lot of litter and most of the time the used litter gets stuck especially if they become too big. It also scared the hell out of Snow that she didn't want to go downstairs anymore. So now they went back to the old fashion scooping and I swore to never buy that product again.

[Fuzzy317]

We had an Automatic box years ago. With 3 cats, it was running alot. Our cats like to dig, so the amount of litter in one was too shallow.

It would do its "self-cleaning", and not do a good job. Sometimes it would get stuck in cleaning mode and run and run and run. We gave the automatic box to a friend. It does well for her having only one cat. We now have 4 cats, and we have 3 litter boxes in our "cat room" (a spare bedroom for the cats).