Struggling to find the right litter for a litter robot

[BeccaT]

Hi!

So my husband decided to take the plunge a few weeks ago and bought us a litter robot. For the record, I was 100% fine with a manual litter box as I'm the one that cleans it out. But we had a few days vacation planned that we returned from yesterday where our only option was to ask the elderly relative that lives with us to look after the cats, and my husband didn't want to ask them to manually clean out the litter box, so we ended up with a litter robot.

So far I'm liking it, it runs well and the cats adjusted very quickly to it, although I do have to keep an eye on the litter level more frequently as one of our cats refuses to use it if there isn't enough litter in it. My main complaint is the smell and I think the litter is the problem.

Our previous litter of choice (after going through many different ones) was Arm & Hammer Cloud Control. The only problem I had with it was that sometimes the clumps fell apart when scooping, but I could deal with that because my biggest problem with previous litters was that it would stick to the litter box and I felt like I was going to break the scoop trying to scrape the clumps off the edges of the box, and Arm & Hammer slid right off. The smell problem persisted with this litter, so we tried moving to a different one. We picked up Tidy Cats multi-cat 24/7 performance litter due to it coming in a convenient jug which was easier for the robot, but still, the smell is persisting and (a bit of gross detail coming up) when we returned from our trip away, we were met with an even worse stench from the box and I noticed there were poo marks all along the top of the litter box where the clumps eventually fall into the hole and also one lump of something still up there. I'm not sure if this was the fault of the litter or if the litter needed topping up while we were gone, but the smell remained after I wiped it down.

I just can't seem to get rid of the smell. The litter robot claims it contains the odor due to the way it sifts the clumps out, but no matter what, I can still smell it! The box itself can be clean but the smell from the tray underneath persists. Am I not using the right litter? Or am I not letting the litter clump enough before it gets cycled? (It's currently at 7 minutes delay with 2 cats) We plan on trying Fresh Step Febreeze Freshness next as I've seen it a lot on lists online for the litter robot in particular, but thought I'd ask here first in case anyone else has any experience with a stinky litter robot.

 

[Caspers Human]

Set the timer to three minutes:

1. You have two cats. This ensures that the litter is clean if the second cat uses the box shortly after the first.
2. If you use clumping litter that sets fast, it can turn into sticky lumps that build up on the inside of the rotating globe and make a mess. A shorter time gets rid of the dirty litter before it sticks.
3. The longer you leave excrement sit, the more time it has to "pollute" the air. A shorter time gets the dirty litter into the sealed container sooner.

 

[BeccaT]

Set the timer to three minutes:

1. You have two cats. This ensures that the litter is clean if the second cat uses the box shortly after the first.
2. If you use clumping litter that sets fast, it can turn into sticky lumps that build up on the inside of the rotating globe and make a mess. A shorter time gets rid of the dirty litter before it sticks.
3. The longer you leave excrement sit, the more time it has to "pollute" the air. A shorter time gets the dirty litter into the sealed container sooner.

Thank you! I'll try this. I feared the issue was that it wasn't clumping for long enough, as I frequently end up doing a manual cycle when the stink is too much after they've just gone in, but the smell doesn't go away.

 

[Dinosnores]

I've been using Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Ultra successfully with the older model of litter robot. I also had some issues with smell leaking from the waste drawer and what helped me was adding an odor-absorbing gel pack to soak up the stink in there (I use this specific one). There's enough room for the canister and the bag in the drawer in the older model, I'm not sure if the newer ones have a different-sized drawer.

 

[BeccaT]

I've been using Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Ultra successfully with the older model of litter robot. I also had some issues with smell leaking from the waste drawer and what helped me was adding an odor-absorbing gel pack to soak up the stink in there (I use this specific one). There's enough room for the canister and the bag in the drawer in the older model, I'm not sure if the newer ones have a different-sized drawer.

I sadly had a bad experience with Dr. Elsey's with it sticking really badly to the inside of the litter box, so I worried what it might do to the inside of the robot. I'll definitely look at that gel pack though as I think it's something I really need. Thank you!