The reason why the Litter Robot would help me: I am a mom of three kids and my husband is a police officer that works very odd hours. Sometimes he is out all all night even into the late morning of the next day. About a year ago I was a stay at home mom but when times started getting a little rough, I had to go out and find a part time job to help make ends meet. We weren’t doing horrible but we wanted to make sure we weren’t going to have to start selling blood to pay the light bill either. So i got a job at a small local diner during the night shift which was when my husband worked also so we would always be home together during the day. My sister who lived three doors down was kind enough to sleep at our place and make sure nothing bad happened to concerning the kids while we were out. One of the main issues as we found out, though, was our three cats, so we decided to get a Litter Robot.
How the Litter Robot would help
We had some fairly young and rambunctious cats that were very sweet but very curious too. My sister was not a cat person at all because she is a neat freak and cats are not the cleanest animals in the world. She could not wrap her mind around scooping up poop once or twice a day. We tried assigning it as a chore for the kids but after a few spills and smears here and there, not to get too graphic, we realized this was also not a possible solution. Me and my husband started talking about getting rid of the cats for a while for but that would devastate the kids who really like the animals. Well, with a full litter box at the end of every shift and a house with a smell that verified it, we realized something had to happen.(like get a Litter Robot!)
We did a little research and discovered “Hey, this is 2012! They make automatic litter boxes now!” With this new revelation we started looking at a few models, one of which was the Litter Robot. We decided on one version of an automatic litter box and had it for two weeks before we used the 60 day money back guarantee. The sour taste in our mouth from the experience made us approach this option extremely cautiously from that point on. There was not a single product we didn’t examine with a fine tooth comb to make sure it was the one for us. Luckily, there aren’t too many automatic litter box products out there so the choices didn’t take us months to narrow down. We eventually decided on the Litter Robot.
A Review of the Litter Robot
The features of the Litter Robot seemed good and easy enough to convince us to give it a shot. And if this didn’t work, we were looking at the untouchable option of givng our cats away. The box from Litter Robot arrived in good time and the assembly required two things: a pocket knife to cut the package tape, and a wall outlet to plug the Litter Robot in. That was all! Having used a similar automatic litter box only weeks before we were pretty familiar with the concept of how the Litter Robot worked. We filled it up to the recommended level, a little skeptical that it required so little litter, and set it to automatic cycle. It had a manual option but the whole reason we got it was so we didn’t have to go behind our cats and clean the box when they used it. Later we found out that manual cycle on the Litter Robot is helpful at night when you don’t want to be disturbed by the sound of the hum it makes after a cat uses it in the wee hours of the morning.
We gave the Litter Robot two weeks and it ran without any issues what so ever. Now with our confidence built in it, we decided to give the chore of cleaning the Litter Robot to the kids. This went down without a flaw. The collection drawer at the bottom of the Litter Robot is so easy to maintain. Once a week when the trash would pass, the child who was assigned trash duty that week would simply take the collection drawer and dump it into the garbage before walking the can to the road. He would then put a new bag in it after a quick rinse and place it in there for the next sibling to empty the following week. This became heaven for us. Dealing with cat litter once a week is marvelous! We also noticed that because of the way the Litter Robot filters the litter, we use a lot less of it. This is especially good news to us being a family trying to better our finances to begin with.
Speaking of finances, the Litter Robot is a little pricey at first glance but for an automated self-cleaning litter box, you have to expect that. And being victims of the “you got what you paid for syndrome” on the other brand we returned, it was worth it to us to spend a few extra dollars for the hassel it saves us. Plus, we did notice that with three cats and the amount of litter we were using compared to how much the Litter Robot cuts down on litter costs, we figure it will pay for itself eventually.
The features of the Litter Robot are great. Like I said before, you can choose manual or automatic setting on the Litter Robot. The automatic setting of the Litter Robot waits seven minutes from the time your cat exits the unit and goes into its “flush cycle”. The manual setting waits until you activate the Litter Robot. Again, great for not being disturbed while sleeping or watching a program. We also noticed that you can buy a nifty little cabinet that fits over the unit turning it into a mini counter top but still has openings for the cat to enter and for you to access controls. It seemed a little pricey and my husband was able to copy the design with a quick trip to Lowes. This cuts down on noise even more and now we have a new stand in our living room!
Smell is extremely minimal when using the Litter Robot. The unit makes sure that all waste is fully covered in litter before depositing it into the drawer so there are no runny or squishy messes with the Litter Robot. We did avoid a disaster one time which is worth mentioning. One of our kids did not empty the waste drawer on trash day and we were fortunate to notice within the next two days. It was considerably full and if it went unnoticed even longer, it was obvious this would have been a very big mess.
Cleaning is easy on the Litter Robot. The unit and it’s pieces are easily washable in the sink, tub, or outside with a hose. We clean the drawer once a week when we empty it and wipe down the outside of the unit with a disposable wipe when placing the drawer back in. The other parts of the unit we clean about once every 4-5 months depending on the tidiness of our animals. We also put down a rug in front because we noticed that the cats would track out loose litter after using it, which happens with a normal litter box anyway. If that’s not enough, a small dust broom with a pan next to the unit is the best fix for the Litter Robot.
Over all, the Litter Robot is the best automatic litter box we could hope for.
