Does anyone have any experience with self-cleaning cat litter boxes? I’m curious if any particular model of self-cleaning litter box is any good. We now have 4 cats and it would be nice to not have to clean litter boxes manually 1-2 times every day.

Do they separate pee/poop from litter well? Are cats afraid to use them? Do they stink more than regular litter boxes because pee/poop are in them for longer periods? Are they a hassle to clean? Do you have to buy propietary supplies (custom litter? special trays?)?

Thanks for your input.

      • Devi@kbin.social
        9·
        10 months ago

        If you want you can start by not allowing it to auto turn and only turning it manually when you’re nearby and can be sure the cat isn’t near. You can then build up to the auto turn

      • EatYouWell@lemmy.world
        8·
        10 months ago

        Our scardy cat was fascinated by ours. Would haul ass from across the house just to watch it cycle.

    • phanto@lemmy.ca
      9·
      10 months ago

      My friends bought me a litter robot, too. I have mixed feelings. I seem to have to reset and fiddle with the thing too often, but when it works, it’s really good for keeping the smell down. My guys use it more often than the other two old school boxes, so I guess two paws up from them?

      • Devi@kbin.social
        10·
        10 months ago

        Have you broken it down to clean? Issues in mine usually mean there’s dust build up under the bowl, particularly the pinch sensor. If I get that sorted every few months then it goes back to fine.

        • phanto@lemmy.ca
          6·
          10 months ago

          I have not, and I will check! If that’s all it is… It’s been finicky for years!

          • EatYouWell@lemmy.world
            5·
            10 months ago

            Yeah, you have to occasionally do a complete disassembly and clean out the internals. Maybe once a year.

          • Devi@kbin.social
            2·
            10 months ago

            If it’s not it, their customer service is really good so get in touch with them.

    • undercrust@lemmy.ca
      102·
      10 months ago

      This sounded fantastic until I looked it up and it’s A THOUSAND DOLLARS???

      I love my cat and I hate scooping litter, but definitely not a grand worth of either…

      • Devi@kbin.social
        11·
        10 months ago

        What dollars is that?

        Mine was £350 which is under $500 US, just looked at the site and the brand new model is $699.

          • Devi@kbin.social
            5·
            10 months ago

            Ah, yup, the new one is indeed that much. Second hand are widely available but tbf, it’s worth the cost to me. Around the same price as a new washing machine and I’d probably choose the litter robot first if I had to choose.

          • nyan@lemmy.cafeEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            There are still some places with some leftover LitterRobot 3s in stock at lower prices ( here ), but they’ve always been expensive. We have a 2, and it cost $700 CAD at the time.

    • thegreekgeek@midwest.socialEnglish
      6·
      10 months ago

      Second the litter robot. I had a pet safe automatic litterbox for years and this one blows that out of the water.

      • IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world
        6·
        10 months ago

        So freaking expensive. But honestly I love mine. Sometimes I travel for work and I’m gone all week. Come home and there’s still no smell. Worth it.

    • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
      4·
      10 months ago

      My mom has one of these and she loves it.

      Only weird bit was when I was staying at her house and didn’t realize it was a thing, only to have it go through a cycle at 4am and not knowing what the cyborg sound was.

    • HypnoticSheep@lemm.ee
      4·
      10 months ago

      How’d you get your cat to try it? We’re struggling to get ours to even look at it, any pointers would be appreciated!

      • DoctorRoxxo@lemmy.world
        8·
        10 months ago

        I put the old litter box next to the litter robot and let the old litter box get super gross and didn’t scoop it at all for over a week. Once it got gross they opted for the clean litter robot. I then removed the old litter box and now they just use the robot.

        • bertraze@lemmy.world
          4·
          10 months ago

          This is exactly what we did with our cat and it worked like a charm. We tried leaving a path of treats into it before that, but she just ate the treats and then walked away. We didn’t want to just shove her in there because we were afraid she would associate the trauma with the Litter Robot.