02.21.06
Everyone poops, even cats :^(
I love my cats, but I hate cleaning the cat box. I have wished and wished for a cat that will use the toilet, like Jeannie’s does, but no dice. So instead, I’ve used my geek boyfriend to turn to technology to solve this inconvenience.
Before I discovered technology, I bought a book several years ago that has instructions to teach your cat how to use the toilet. I’ve tried a couple of times, but it hasn’t worked. I tend not to get very bright cats, though. Cute, usually loving, but not bright.
Lilith is the smarter of the two. She plays fetch. She’s a bit of a princess and grooms a lot. She loves to play, but is learning to like affection. She also likes to sleep with us. Unfortunately, she also likes to play in the middle of the night…
Whisper is sweet but dumb. He likes hiding under things and being in high places. In this picture, he’s doing both. He’s so happy. He’s kind of like a dog because he eats almost anything and he hates cleaning himself. But his daddy’s Siamese, so he’s VERY talkative. Especially at meal times.
Anyway, we’ve gradually upgraded our litter cleaning options. We’ve always used clumping kitty litter. It’s made in from clay in such a way that when moistened, it sticks together into clumps. It saves litter because you just scoop out the clumps of waste with a slotted scoop. At first we used the flushable kind, but now we just toss it in the trash.
Keith found a litter box that used 3 alternating slotted, stacking pans. You just lift the top one of the three to scoop the entire box at once. Once empty, you return it to the bottom of the stack. It’s much handier than scooping by hand, but heavy. It also leaks a bit of clean litter when the slots come apart during emptying. Also, if you stack the pans wrong, all the litter can leak out the next time you try to sift it.
About a year ago, we upgraded to the Litter Maid pans. It’s pretty fancy. There is a motor that moves a rake through the litter after the cat uses it. A sensor knows when the cat uses the box, and waits 10 minutes after use before raking. The waste is pushed into a special receptacle. We have 2 for convenience.
It’s OK, and our cat’s like it, but while Keith’s leg was broken, both of the LitterMaids broke in succession. So for a while, we were back to the 3 pan sifter. LitterMaids take a lot less cat litter, so that was nice.
Keith looked at repairing them for a while, but eventually gave up. On the internet, he discovered the marvelous Litter Robot. It’s a large, beautiful device with a futuristic feeling.
The Litter Robot uses normal trash bags, so we don’t have to worry about buying special waste receptacles. Often we would re-use the LitterMaid receptacles, so we wouldn’t have to buy new ones.
The Litter Robot has a cleaning cycle that begins 7 minutes after the cat enters the device. It does a lovely, slow rotational cleaning cycle.
Keith and I had our high hopes dashed. The cats won’t use it. Lilith tried it once, but Whisper refuses outright. The instructions say it will hold cats up to 15 lbs (6-7 kg). But clearly the inside of the machine would be tight quarters for Whisper (13 lbs) and not great for Lilith (12 lbs).
However, Keith is in love with it, so he won’t send it back, even though they have a money back guarantee if the cat won’t use it. Someday we’ll have a cat that will use it.
I hope. Or use the toilet. One of those.