To my dismay we are getting an indoor cat for my daughters. Does anyone recommend a self-cleaning litter box such as the Litter Robot 4 or Petkit Puramax/Purobot?

This is purely anecdotal, but a friend of mine got a Litter Robot 4 and it activated while his cat was inside. It scared the cat and now the cat will not go near it. He basically has a regular litter box and a $600 paperweight at this point.

ETA: Making them scoop a regular litter box could be a great opportunity to teach your daughters about the personal responsibility and effort which comes with owning a pet.

I have one. It worked, sort of. Cat used it OK to start. For whatever reason we went back to regular litter box and the auto one is in the garage.

Easiest we have found is put the box inside two large trash bags. When needs cleaning just invert the outer bag and throw it away.

Reason for two bags is occasionally cat can scratch thru the first bag, second one catches it.

No way I'd get one of these if my kids wanted the pet and I didn't. Teach them responsibility and make them feed it and clean the box.

Don't you still have to empty/clean these overpriced auto ones too?

My wife had one for her cat in her late teens.. the pee ball would just jam it up and it never worked. Waste of money.

IslandAg76 said:

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I have one. It worked, sort of. Cat used it OK to start. For whatever reason we went back to regular litter box and the auto one is in the garage.

Easiest we have found is put the box inside two large trash bags. When needs cleaning just invert the outer bag and throw it away.

Reason for two bags is occasionally cat can scratch thru the first bag, second one catches it.

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You can also buy litter box liners, which are basically really short drawstring trash bags.

We have three cats and use the breeze litter box system. It's actually pretty interesting as the pellets act as a desiccant drying out the cat poop quickly so it doesn't smell. The pellets in turn don't absorb pee so it drains down into the pad below. The poop also tends to stay near the surface of the litter which is handy when deciding if it needs to be scooped. In the 8ish years we have used them this is what I have found:

• Less smell compared to traditional litter boxes
• Doesn't produce the fine dust and gravel
• Significantly smaller than a litter robot
• The pellets last so much longer. We refill the pellets about every 1.5-2 months
• You can get multi cat and scented pellets/pads
• The downside is that you have to use their litter and pads.
• A starter kit for box, pads, scoop, and pellets is about $60
• Pellet refills are $15 and a pack of 8 pads is also $15
• I would guess it's around $15-$20 a month for a cost for a single box (1 box per cat)
• They have an open, hooded, and large format box (the prices above are for the standard sized boxes)

We change the pad about once a week and scoop every 2-3 days. That's partly because we have three boxes for three cats. Even with one cat it's unlikely to need attending to every day. My cat once had some really bad diarrhea and it actually handled it like a champ. It ended up clumping like traditional litter and was very easy to scoop out. No litter system is 100% smell proof but unless you don't change the pads, we really don't notice it.
https://www.purina.com/tidy-cats/breeze-cat-litter-boxes



Previously we used the Roll and Clean which was super easy to use. You basically roll it on it's side and all of the clumps get caught on a grate while the fresh/clean litter passes through. When you roll it back upright, the clumps fall into a tray which you slide out and dump

• The upside is that you can use any kind of clumping litter so that can cut down on costs.
• Cats can still track that litter out of the box so it's best to use a litter trapping mat in front of it.
• If you don't keep the area around it clean, when you roll the box over it can crush any litter pieces on the ground turning them into dust.
• Smell is definitely more noticeable compared to the breeze system but less than a traditional cat box

https://www.omegapaw.com/products/roll-clean-litter-box.html


If it were me I would choose one of those two systems before a litter robot. They are nice but very pricey and I have heard similar stories about cats being afraid of them. Even just the noise of it turning would freak out one of my cats. They also take up a lot of space.

I'm in the same boat as Ryan in that I think this is a good opportunity to teach personal responsibility and chores for kids. I always wanted a dog as a kid but didn't get one until I was older (parents got me a hamster instead and damn that thing stunk up my room). Having owned a small pom, looking back a dog would have been a lot more work. Cats in general are pretty self sufficient. We travel a lot for work and all we have to do is pay a neighborhood kid to come by once a day, feed them, and change the pads/scoop as needed. In the past our dog either went with us or had to get boarded. Cats kinda take care of themselves, don't need to be walked, and are generally not going to tear up a house while you are away. Plus on the off chance you get saddled with the care of this animal, less work for you.

Either way I think Texags rule dictate that you post a picture of the cat so we can see it. I think that is the minimum fee for advice in this situation.

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One of our boxes is this. I personally find it easier to just scoop it than roll the damn thing around. Smaller "bits" go through the grate that will not go through the scoop, and sometime urine clumps stick to the bottom of the box and don't come loose.

I have one cat at home (the second one went off to college). After years of dealing with the dust from clumping litter (it literally gets everywhere), I got sick of it and switched to pellets made from recycled paper.

With one cat, I fill a lined litter box with the pellets and change it once a week. Sometimes, if she has an especially stinky poop, I will scoop the poop out. Similar to the breeze system, the pellets don't "coat" the poop. They kind of absorb the urine, but not especially well.

With the liners, I just take out the used bag like I take out the trash (the liners have a drawstring) and then replace.

When both cats were at home, I had to change 2x per week.

The litter and litter liners can be purchased from PetSmart/Petco (store brand), and I'm on an auto delivery plan. Very convenient.

The pellets make a lot less mess. The cats can't really fling them around like they can the fine clay. Sometimes pellets do escape the box, but I can use a hand vac to clean them up. I cannot stress how much better this is than the clay, ESPECIALLY if you have hardwood floors. The clay litter acts almost acts like sandpaper and will put fine scratches in your floors. Not to mention, the dust will fill every tiny nook and cranny. It's gross.

I keep the box in the laundry room so the odor doesn't get all through the house. No one has ever commented that they smell it.

Occasionally the bag will get punctured, but it's not a big deal. I just toss it in the garbage can and then wipe out the box.