Does anyone have any experience with self-cleaning cat litter boxes? I’m curious if any particular model of self-cleaning litter box is any good. We now have 4 cats and it would be nice to not have to clean litter boxes manually 1-2 times every day.

Do they separate pee/poop from litter well? Are cats afraid to use them? Do they stink more than regular litter boxes because pee/poop are in them for longer periods? Are they a hassle to clean? Do you have to buy propietary supplies (custom litter? special trays?)?

Thanks for your input.

  • DessertStorms@kbin.social
    41·
    11 months ago

    So, am I missing something? Is my cat just really good at how she uses the litter? Most of the time it takes me 2 seconds to bag my hand to grab a poop, and every other day I’ll also clear out the few clumps of pee she always leaves in the same spot (knock tray back a bit, clumps stay behind, again just grab with bagged hand then spread the litter back). No need for all this extra manual labour and tumbling of poops, it just seems like a lot more work than it has to be? Not having a go, genuinely curious…
    Edit: I do realise more cats mean more work and I appreciate it might help then, but still, it seems like making more work for yourself…

    • ramirezmike@programming.dev
      4·
      11 months ago

      do you use clumping litter? not everyone does, which can make it messy if you leave it for them to kick up the next time they go. Not to mention the smell… if you’re really leaving your cat’s pee go for days at a time you might be nose blind to the smell it makes.

      • DessertStorms@kbin.social
        1·
        11 months ago

        Honestly I don’t see why anyone would use litter that isn’t clumping, but obviously my habits are different to others, so what do I know… As for the smell, the pee seeps to the bottom and clumps there, where it’s buried under the rest of the litter which keeps the smell trapped. When I shift the litter every other day (so not “days at a time”), yeah, it smells, it’s cat piss, so no smell blindness here, just a system that works for us… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

    • Supervisor194@lemmy.world
      3·
      11 months ago

      I hate an open catbox. I also don’t want to directly pick it up, bag or not. So I had to unclip the top and use a scoop, and I had three cats so I did it every day and I just effing hated it.

    • Coreidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      You’re definitely missing something. That something is that some people hate dealing with litter every day. This is a solution to that.