Litter Robot for skittish cats

onemeow

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I am interested in the Litter Robot and I know many here own one, but I read from their website about cat's suitability "Cats that are skittish, very nervous or easily scared are probably not good candidates for the Litter-Robot."

So, did any of you or rather how many of you managed to have their skittish cat use the Litter Robot. I have one skittish cat and it took him something like over one month before he started using the cat tree box house and he loved it now. It is still not entirely hopeless for skittish cats to accept new stuff, they may just need more time than confident cats. But yet, I am not overly confident that my kitty will take to Litter Robot eventually and its not cheap. Therefore, before I decide to buy one, I like to know how many succeeded in getting their skittish ones to use it.

Would appreciate your feedback, thanks.
 

Anne

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I checked the Litter Robot reviews page and no reviews there yet, but I've tagged some past discussions about it so if you go to the Related Conversation link in the product page, you'll find a bunch of threads where people talk about their Litter-Robot - 

http://www.thecatsite.com/products/litter-robot-automatic-self-cleaning-litter-box/threads

Those of you who tried the Litter Robot, please do add your reviews here - 

http://www.thecatsite.com/products/litter-robot-automatic-self-cleaning-litter-box

Thanks!
 
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onemeow

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Thanks Anne for the link. Infact, when I didn't get any respond, I did a search here and had actually finished reading all the threads, but not much about encouraging skittish cats to use the LR. Its been that many years, I'm just wondering if LR owners are still happy with their purchase. Sometimes you just don't know until some time down the road. If I'm not wrong, most reviews I read were dated years back, its good to hear updated reviews after all these years. We all get excited with our new purchases and rave about it initially until problems surfaced much later.
 

luv2cats

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I purchased a Litter Robot several years ago and it now is collecting dust in my storage unit.  My cats used it for awhile but eventually decided it was better to pee on the floor than to enter the dark hole to eliminate where it was cramped and couldn't dig.  My one cat never got the nack of putting her head out of the litter robot as shown in all the advertising and many times it was the tail sticking out the opening and she would pee on the step which couldn't be cleaned.  Before investing make sure you think your cat will use it. Also it is very large, really large so consider that in your decision also, if you don't have a lot of room this might not be for you.  Again, it is HUGE and of course must be located by an electric outlet.

I noticed that the Bot now has a clear plastic bubble for adding a "window" so light can enter, that was my biggest complaint that with a black enterior and very little light entering made it hard to clean.  There were always bits and pieces that stuck to the screen inside the globe and was awful to clean.  I also noticed that after a while the whole thing stunk because the plastic absorbed the ordor from the plastic drawer that the used litter emptied into.  At the time I had the "bot" the step couldn't be cleaned - awful and the foam ring that the globe sat in also turned into a stinking mess and had to be changed.

It doesn't make noise while the cat is inside.  It is set to activate by weight stepping on the step and if your cat is 5 lbs or less it probably will have to be made to rotate manually and not automatically.  If you do purchase make sure you leave the current litter box next to the Bot. I would manually activate it just so the cats could get used to the noise - not that it makes noise when they are in it, but just so when it did work they wouldn't get scared.

I must note that when I first got the Bot I loved it, actually loved it, looked sleek and worked, but after a while of trying to clean the screen and the odor from the holding drawer made it another lost investment of a huge amount of money.  I've read that people will take the globe part to a do it yourself car wash place where they would use the high power water and soap to spray out the inside to clean or I was told (by Litter Robot) to put unit in sunshine (living without yard or outside space wasn't possible) to help eliminate odor so this must be an ongoing issue.  I also used standard grocery plastic bags which fit perfectly in the holding drawer instead of spending more money on special bags from Litter Robot.

This is my experience on the expensive Litter Robot.
 
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onemeow

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Thank you so much, Luv2Cats, for your detailed feedback. Beside worrying about whether my kitty will go inside the LR, as he has never used a covered box, the other worry is about the odor as you have mentioned. I have also read about the mess with litter sticking to the inside of the LR when the wrong clumping litter is used. I'm not prepared to pay that kind of price and yet still have to work hard at cleaning up the mess.

I'm still reading reviews of Scoopfree, at least it isn't covered or maybe I should just stick with traditional litter box, adding one or two more during vacation. I am looking at automatic litter box mainly just so I do not have to worry about litterbox cleaning during vacation bcos friend can't come in on a daily basis. I don't know, I'm still looking around.
 

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I don't know exactly how the Litter Robot works, but I thought I'd mention that I stayed away from any automatic litter boxes and training the cat to use the toilet on purpose. My reasoning was that we are provided with very little information about our cat's health because they try to hide their illnesses. The one huge area that we do get constant feedback is in the pee and poop department. I cleaned out the litter box daily because then I could inspect the contents -- was there blood? Has there been daily deposits? How frequent? How much volume in one sitting? No, litter box cleaning is not pleasant, but it provides important information.

I do see that you are considering it for vacation use. If you only use it while  you're out it's probably OK as you won't get that much information while you're out anyway. But if you switch out boxes when you leave will that create stress problems? And will they learn that as soon as the box comes out they know you're leaving? Might be better just to find two sitters if one can't come daily.
 
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onemeow

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Thanks Raintyger for highlighting the importance of watching the litter box, that's what I feel is important too.

And about kitty knowing we ar eplanning to go away when he see the extra litter box, I'm just wondering if that would be better, at least he won't be taken by surprise by us disappearing all of a sudden? I don't know, I believe I have read somewhere where the writer says to leave our luggage out just so kitty knows and won't be caught by surprise by not finding us all of a sudden, something like that.

I used to board my kitty when I left for vacation previiously, but since reading so much about the stress it will bring, I have decided to let him stay home. Long before I leave, I talked to him daily about my plan on going away, I don't know how that has helped, but I wanted him to know I wasn't abandoning him, I will be back to get him when I got back. So what do you all think about this matter? or should I start a new thread for discussion on this matter?
 

raintyger

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And about kitty knowing we ar eplanning to go away when he see the extra litter box, I'm just wondering if that would be better, at least he won't be taken by surprise by us disappearing all of a sudden? I don't know, I believe I have read somewhere where the writer says to leave our luggage out just so kitty knows and won't be caught by surprise by not finding us all of a sudden, something like that.

I used to board my kitty when I left for vacation previiously, but since reading so much about the stress it will bring, I have decided to let him stay home. Long before I leave, I talked to him daily about my plan on going away, I don't know how that has helped, but I wanted him to know I wasn't abandoning him, I will be back to get him when I got back. So what do you all think about this matter? or should I start a new thread for discussion on this matter?
Hmmmm...I don't know about if it's better to give a "warning" or just leave. Maybe it depends on the cat, and you have to actually put the litter box out. If he gets highly stressed, then it's probably better to not let him know until the last minute. Yeah, it might be helpful to post a different thread since not many people would think of "vacation announcements" as part of the Litter Robot topic.

A few times when I've been on vacation I've called home and talked into the voice mail machine, broadcasting my voice around the house and telling kitty I'll be home soon, Mommy misses you, etc. Sometimes we've called the sitter right when they're at the house and asked for the phone receiver to be held within kitty's earshot. A few times we've been told kitty showed signs that she recognized our voices.
 

carolina

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I just bought a litter robot.
I can't offer reviews yet, as I am still in the introduction phase..... But here is my situation and the reason why I bought it.
I have 4 cats, before the litter robot, 6 litter boxes.
My cat Mac is declawed (not by me), comes from an abusive past situation, and has an pee/marking issue - we have tried a lot of different things. There is nothing medically wrong with him, urinalysis and culture done, tests galore. We tried medication - it helped calming him down.... but didn't help completely.

I travel a lot, but I have a live-in sitter that keeps their schedule intact, including all meals, play time, and spoiling sessions :D in order to minimize stress.

I added extra litter boxes in the places where he was marking - different litter, softer litters for his paw - and yes, all the other boxes, except for 2-3 are filled with cat attract.

The surfaces are cleaned with enzyme cleaners.......

Anyways......... It was left for me to try a box that was always clean, no matter what - if me or the sitters were there. And based on the reviews, the litter-robot is the best one out there, and the safest.

Bugsy took to it immediately.
Lucky used it within a day.
Hope, my super skittish, semi-feral kitty, was inspecting it and trying to get into it on the second day - I bet she will go into it in another day or so......
And I am hoping Mac Will use it soon.

I placed it where one litter box was, and left only another one next to it - (used to be 3, now there are 2 in there). There are also 2 other in my bedroom, and Mac's in the guest bathroom.
Meanwhile, I am no longer cleaning any other litter box - the only litter boxes that will be clean will be this and Mac's. So......... hopefully they will figure out that if they want a clean bathroom, this is it.

We will see.... For what I can see, the cats will take to it..... and it will be good for us.
My cats are long haired, and I can easily tell who has diarrhea in the house. The only time one of them had an UTI, I caught it by the behavior - it was in the middle of the night, and Bugsy kept jumping in and out of the box, licking himself, and couldn't pee. I turned him belly up and saw the blood - I feel the box wouldn't affect my ability to recognize the problem, especially in a multi-cat household.....
Also, keep in mind that the box waits 7 minutes before the cleaning cycle, so you can easily remove the stool or urine clumo if you wish, or simply turn the machine off to go on manual mode.

Anyways...... Just hoping it will work for us, especially for mac :cross:
 
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