Litter Robot Yearly Expenses?

[WillowMarie]

I just learned it reuses litter and washes it. Probably no dust, which would be great for my asthmatic cat. However, I'm on a budget and increasing expenses long-term is not feasible for me.

For anyone who uses a litter robot, what's the yearly expenses on it? What's included in those expenses? How many cats do you have? What cleaning settings do you use? How long have you had it or how long until it stopped worrying?

I calculated it would take just over a year to break even on initial purchase of a unit vs what I typically spend on litter per month. (If I bought the lower priced one with warranty for 1.5 years.)

 

[IndyJones]

It doesn't wash it, only geinie does that (not recommended) they are prone to leaking and flooding the house since they require hookup to the plumbing. All the litter robot does is scoops the litter it does not wash or change it.

With the litter robot, you will be paying the same as a regular box plus the hydro bill to suply it with electricity, be aware that all automatic litterboxes require a bit more maitnence than conventional ones. They need to be disassembled and have their internals cleaned out on a regular bases or litter can build up and break the mechanisms.

Personaly I don't see them as more convienient but thwy can be useful for pregnant or nursing women or people who otherwise can't scoop the box.

 

[eevans3373]

Through the use of gift cards and a black Friday deal I got a robot litter box for a song. Not a Litter Robot brand litter box. You won't save any money on litter. Your litter spend will remain the same. Also, most litter boxes need special bags to collect the waste. That introduces an additional cost.

There is exactly one litter box that will supposedly wash the litter, but it looks like an expensive hunk of junk that requires a plumber to properly install.

With the litter robot, you will be paying the same as a regular box plus the hydro bill to suply it with electricity, be aware that all automatic litterboxes require a bit more maitnence than conventional ones. They need to be disassembled and have their internals cleaned out on a regular bases or litter can build up and break the mechanisms.

Robot litter boxes have a huge startup cost and there are lot of subpar one's leak on the market.

For maintenance you have to break them down and clean their components at least once a month so it's definitely not 100% hands off. It's not hard to do but its something that must be done.

On the plus side. The one I have is very well contained and greatly reduced litter getting kicked out of the box all over.

Personaly I don't see them as more convienient but thwy can be useful for pregnant or nursing women or people who otherwise can't scoop the box.

Oh they are very coinvent. Not having to scoop poo and pee is priceless. And most of them come with an app that will tell you when you cats poop and give you your pets weight.

I have two cats. I change out the waste bag every two days. The cats took to the box immediately. They were fascinated by the machine that takes their poop and pee.

 

[WillowMarie]

Oof, I posted with the wrong product name. Cat Genie!! That's the one that washes it, and the one in seeking personal experience and recurring expenses for.

 

[IndyJones]

I know someone who had a cat genie and they hated it. It constantly clogged and if you've ever dealt with a clogged toilet this thing is even worse since you can't just take a plunger to it.

It has both moving parts that can break and it can spew raw sewage onto your floor when it clogs. They supposedly have a computer that stops this and disables it but it doesn't always work. My friend got rid of it after the ai malfunctioned allowing raw sewage to flood her kitchen.

They work well until they malfunction. They also prevent you from monitoring your cats litterbox habbits allowing illness to go unnoticed, thats my biggest gripe about these things.

 

[wealthy1]

I just learned it reuses litter and washes it. Probably no dust, which would be great for my asthmatic cat. However, I'm on a budget and increasing expenses long-term is not feasible for me.

For anyone who uses a litter robot, what's the yearly expenses on it? What's included in those expenses? How many cats do you have? What cleaning settings do you use? How long have you had it or how long until it stopped worrying?

I calculated it would take just over a year to break even on initial purchase of a unit vs what I typically spend on litter per month. (If I bought the lower priced one with warranty for 1.5 years.)

I have a litter robot 3 and I LOVE IT!!! Worth the money I paid for it a 100x over! I had mine since 2018 and it's still going strong. I use regular 13 gallon trash bags, litter and amazon filters which is cheaper. I did buy the extended warranty (that's now expired); but it's worth it for me as I hate cleaning the litter box.

I recommend taking it apart every week and vacuum up the dust/litter that get in the crevices to keep your machine operational.

As of today, I have 3 cats. Two uses it faithfully, and I plan training my third cat on using it.