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Wednesday 7 April 2021

The Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box – Well Worth The Investment

A self cleaning cat litter box basically takes care of a cat owner’s most dreaded chore, cleaning the box.

Some people find it hard to remember to clean out the cat litter box every day. Life is simply too busy. Others just hate the task and put it off as long as they can. That’s why a self cleaning cat litter box, while certainly not cheap, is in many cases a great investment. Basically you can put off the despised chore for a little while longer.

So how does a self cleaning cat litter box work? At first glance you can see that it is somewhat different than the standard litter box. The walls are generally taller and there is extra trim as well. Small differences that hide what makes this box so special. As your cat enters his litter box, a motion detector sets off a timer. The just minutes after your cat is done, a mechanical rake will run through the litter and simply pull and waste and clumps into a tray for easy disposal. Your job is simply to change out this tray, usually only one time a week. You’ll also need to put in some more litter once every few days. See how much easier that is than what your are currently doing.

A self cleaning litter box is especially good if you own more than one cat. By reducing your workload, you can spend more time enjoying your pets and less time cleaning up after them. The only requirement is an electrical outlet nearby because these litter boxes run off of electricity. Besides that, there is almost no setup required. It comes out of the box and ready for use. A nice extra is a hood or tent that can be purchased to go over the top. This helps reduce the mess that gets kicked out when your cat kicks to bury his waste.

Obviously a self cleaning cat litter box is a luxury. Certainly it’s not necessary and it is also not cheap. You can expect to spend between $100-$180 dollars. But for the reduced workload many cat owners see it as worth every penny. No longer will you be spending time daily scooping the box, you can spend your on more productive things, like enjoying your pets.

Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box 2022

1. Omega Paw Self-Cleaning Litter Box

At just over $35.00 with free shipping on Amazon.com, the Omega Paw self-cleaning litter box is the biggest deal. Unlike other self-cleaning litter boxes, Omega Paw is not automated. Instead it sifts dirty litter away from clean litter as you roll the box upside down to the right, depositing the kitty clumps into an easy to remove disposal drawer. This process makes the cat-lovers most loathed job of scooping much easier, but unlike an automated box you still have to tend to it as frequently as a normal kitty box. There are, however, a lot of advantages to using this self-cleaning litter box over an automated one, including no noise, no complications with automated cleaning rake, and no need to charge or refill batteries.


 

Customers also report using the Omega Paw lowers their litter bills, as the system requires fewer refills than a normal box and keep odor under control. What is also nice is that cat owners have options for what sort of litter they can use, great for finicky cats or pet owners who prefer the organic corn or wheat litters, which is not the case with automatic self cleaning litter boxes. The simple mechanics and foolproof design make Omega Paw one of the best options for kitty waste removal.

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2. ScoopFree Ultra Self-Cleaning Litter Box

If you have a little bit of extra cash to spend on Fluffy’s facilities, ScoopFree Ultra, available for $140.00 on Amazon.com, may be the perfect self-cleaning cat litter box. This sleek cat-box with a space-age design rakes litter for you, so you can leave it alone for weeks at a time without ever seeing the waste. ScoopFree uses pre-filled disposable litter cartridges filled with odor eliminating crystal litter, which can be a bit pricey at close to $50.00 for three, but they also give the option of purchasing a permanent litter tray and litter separately, a more economical option with a one time payment of $40.00 for the tray, and refillable crystal litter only $14.95.



 

The biggest complaint about the ScoopFree litter system is the disposable cartridges, as apparently the bottom of the disposable cartridges is cardboard, and if waste leaks through causes a terrible smell which one customer described as “someone peed in a leather boot, filled it with oatmeal, and then microwaved it for 15 minutes.” Purchasing the permanent litter tray eliminates these problems, and customers with ScoopFree and permanent litter tray are very satisfied with both products together.

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3. LitterMaid LM900 Mega Self-Cleaning Litter Box

You may think you would be living a dream to have someone scooping your litter box, but for about 95.00 on Amazon.com you can have a maid just for that. LitterMaid LM900 is an automated self-cleaning litter box. A dream come true for busy cat owners and those who hate the smell of bathrooms. With a large size, this self-cleaning cat-box is ideal for households with multiple cats. You can either plug it into the wall or operate with batteries. But like the noisy maid who’s upset about the size of her Holiday bonus. LitterMaid LM900 does come with some problems. It automatically rakes the litter 10 minutes after use, which is nice for having a consistently clean litter box resembling a Zen garden, but is not always enough time for litter to clump.


 

The lack of clump sometimes breaks the scooping rake. LitterMaid does, however, provide their own brand of litter, reported to work very well with the machine. The litter is a little pricier than other brands, but doesn’t cause problems with the rake. Also, it is a little bit noisy, so it may be a wise choice to keep the box away from bedrooms or anywhere someone may be napping.

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4. LitterMaid LME9000 Elite Mega Advanced Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box

The lengthy title may be all you are paying for with LitterMaids LME9000 model of self-cleaning cat litter boxes. At just over $100.00 on Amazon.com, cat-loving customers shouldn’t expect to spend more time disassembling and cleaning the machine than their cats spend alleviating their bladders every day. The disposable bins that attach to the machines are reported to be ill fit, resulting in spillage of litter under the machine. Additionally ill fitting is the lid to the cat box, causing a raucous as the cat enters and exits and doing a poor job containing the smell. The machine states to have an “Ionic breeze” feature, supposed to eliminate smell, which may be more aptly named “ironic breeze” as it does not eliminate the bothersome smells of the litter box.


 

While the motor sounds like what one customer called “An Earth moving machine,” it is reported to fail pushing the kitty poo into the provided receptacle, and the design makes it unfeasible to clean the litter from the back of the box. Some customers report their cats are afraid of the noise it creates and refuse to use the box at all. Most customers found the cat-provided contents of the box worth more than the machine itself.

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