Thanks Spencer, your information about the LitterMaid is absolutely correct. I have the more expensive version and I think it's worth every penny, especially the robust motor. When we want to clean the LitterMaid, we simply unplug it, disassemble and clean, reassemble (after making sure it is COMPLETELY dry) and refill with litter. When we plug the unit back in, the filter comb runs once and goes back to it's starting position. In case we have a power outage or the LitterMaid fails for some reason, we do keep a regular litter box. It's also nice if we want to clean the LitterMaid and need another place for Miss Bo to go.