Does anyone have any experience with those "self cleaning" litter boxes?

[Ediacara]

Do they work well? Terrify cats? Any help is appreciated!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. The Only Self Cleaning That Works Is Cleaning It Your Damn Self.

Trust me.

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. My mom got one.

Trawled through once, then stopped working.

She fiddled with it for a while, then said she'd call tech support.

"Don't bother," I told her. "They'll just tell you to reinstall Windows."

[auntAgonist]

3. I only have experience with flush toilets and the occasional

outhouse. Dunno about the cats though :)


:yoiks:

aA

[qb]

4. My friends have one... it usually looks and smells disgusting.

Plastic litter box liners are handy if your cats don't claw them to shreds.

[KitchenWitch]

5. Seems awfully costly for something that takes less than 5 minutes a day to do by hand.

[Madrone]

6. Not worth it.

I've had 2 kinds - the rake one - spaces in rake get gummed up and full of clay. A BITCH to clean. Additionally, the track the rake ran on got pee and litter in there, gumming up the track and causing major issues. Did I also mention it's a BITCH to clean?

Another one - very expensive, supposed to be the be all and end all - BIG, round thing that reminds me of Kenny from South Park. (His head) Cats stand inside and pee with their asses hanging out, causing expensive electronics inside to fry within months. Oh, AND it's a huge mess and a bitch (but a smaller bitch than the other) to clean.

[Blue Diadem]

7. My daughter used to have one.

It seemed ok for a while until kitty began going right on or near the rake. The litter would clump and solidify while sticking to the rake, making the rake not clean the box properly. Then it was awful to clean that thing off. Add to that, the replacement containment boxes weren't always available at the store and IMO, were quite costly. She pitched it and went back to covered litter boxes and regular scooping. I don't know if they've improved them..it's been a few years since she had one.

[DS1]

8. I've never seen one that looked like it would last more than a week

they depend entirely on very solid clumps. Anything less and the whole thing fails.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. They're kind of rough on my heinie

:P