Most cat owners have probably seen or at least heard of the self cleaning litter boxes. I know I have seen plenty of infomercials advertising how wonderful and easy they are to use. But, with prices starting around $100 I was never able to justify spending that much for something that I wasn’t even sure would work, especially since I can buy a litter box and scoop at any discount store for less than $10.
So, I decided not to buy the expensive automatic litter box. Although, I must say that I was very allured by it. I mean, who likes cleaning a litter box? As far as I know, this is a dreaded chore for most cat owners. And if you don’t stay up to date on this chore, your house will soon smell like a giant litter box. So, when you look at it that way, $100 or so almost doesn’t seem so bad, if it means not having to clean a smelly litter box anymore. Almost. However alluring this seems, I still wondered if it would even work.
So I continued to scoop out the litter box on a regular basis, although I still saw the commercials for the automatic litter boxes. There were times when I saw these ads and became incredibly tempted to shell out the $100 plus, however these times were usually right after I cleaned out the litter box.
One day I was shopping in Wal Mart and I noticed that they had the Littermaid Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box on sale for $65, which I thought was a great price. After seeing this I was inspired to shop around and see what kind of deals I could find on these litter boxes.
I searched Ebay and came across several good deals, but once shipping was added, it would cost around the same or a little higher than the Wal Mart sale price. I also came across a couple of used automatic litter boxes at very low prices, however I knew that my two cats would not appreciate a litter box that had been tarnished by another feline.
After shopping around I decided to spend the $65 at Wal Mart for the Littermaid Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box. I reasoned that if it didn’t work I would just return it.
$65 later I returned home to put the new litter box together, which was surprisingly simple to do. I switched it out with the old litter box and watched as my cats sniffed and explored the new addition to their home. And, it wasn’t long before I got to see if it worked.
The litter box is set up with an infrared sensor. Once the sensor is blocked (when your cat goes to the bathroom) the litter box waits ten minutes before it sends a rake out to clean it. If the rake touches something in the way, like a cat, it retracts back and waits again. When the rake comes out it scoops out the mess and deposits it into a plastic receptacle at the end of the box, which has a top on it so it remains covered after a deposit is made.
Once the plastic receptacle gets full, you put the top on it, throw it in the garbage, and replace it with a new one. It’s that simple and is all you have to do.
I love the automatic cat litter box because my house always smells like the litter box was just cleaned, because it has been. It also cuts back on my cat box duties. So, in my opinion $65 was well worth it for the Littermaid Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box. It works great and makes my life just a little bit easier.
