LitterMaid Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box

I have been using LitterMaid Self-cleaning litter boxes for many years, starting about the time they came out. I purchased my first LitterMaid box, because I loved the idea and I lived with my parents at the time and I also pet sat alot. I felt bad that I went of to take care of other pets and left my parent to take care of mine. I felt a LitterMaid would be a great solution. But, at the same time spending $100 on a cat litter box seemed crazy and I didn't have that kind of money to just spend in hopes that it will work as it claims. I ended up lucky being able to see them in action. It made it a lot easier to shell out all that money. I pet sat, several times, for a family that had several cats and several LitterMaid boxes. I saw them work. I cleaned out the containers. I became confident that $100 might be a small price to pay for a "maid".

I have had 3 LitterMaid boxes total. I have 2 out of the 3 boxes still working. My very first box that I purchased many, many, many, many (did I mention many) years ago finally died at the end of last year, after all these years of never failing. One of the 2 boxes is at my parents house, where I left it, for their kitty and the other is at my home, for my kitty.

How It Works

The LitterMaid essentially works like any other cat box. You put in the cat litter, in the box and the cat does its business. The difference is what makes it worth its weight in gold. It has a built in motorized rake that automatically rakes through the litter about 10 minutes after your kitty does its business. When the rake gets to the end of the box it scoops up the clumped waste, and lifts a lid, revealing a bin,which the clumps are dumped into. Then, the rake automatically resets itself, waiting for the next time your kitty uses it.

The rake does go automatically after about 10 minutes, each time your kitty uses the box. But, don't worry it will not rake up your kitty, if your kitty decides to hop back into the box, before or during the rake process. The box has 2 sensors built into the side walls of the box. They are what tells the rake that it has been used and to start the timer to begin the rake process. They also tell it that a kitty gets back in and to stop the raking process or to halt one that is about to begin.

Some people worry that it might scare their cat and they will end up not using it. I worried about that at the beginning too, because 2 of my cats, at the time, were afraid of their own shadow. But, it turned out, they didn't care. They are usually no where near the box when it goes off and they have gotten so use to hearing it now, that even if they are in right next to it when it does, they don't even care. They might startle briefly from the sudden break in silence, but that is it.

The LitterMaid runs on A/C power or it can be ran on 8 D batteries. They say that with one cat the battery option last for up to 3 months. I can't say whether that is true, cause I have never tried the battery option. I keep mine plugged in. I don't want to keep buying batteries. But, the battery option is great for back-up, in case there is a power outage.

Model choices and cost

LitterMaid has a few different models. The 3 different basic models, the LM500, LM700, LM900 and the Mega Elite model. The difference between the basic models is their size the LM500 and LM700 are a bit smaller than the LM900 and the LM700 and LM900 come with a paw cleaning ramp, where the 500 does not. The LM900 is best for larger or multiple cats. But, honestly the first box I had was the smaller version. I didn't know any better and just went with the cheapest one. And, at the time, before my other kitties passed on, I had 4 cats with the one box and it worked fine.

The Elite model is the most expensive model and is different in its design and has a couple added features. The rake is made out of metal, as opposed to a heavy plastic on the other models. It has an ionic air cleaner that is activated when the cat leaves the box and it also has a sleep timer. I have not tried the Elite models. It was not around when I first got mine and when I had to replace my one box that died I opted to go with boxes I knew, the LM500, 700 and LM900. Plus, they were a lot cheaper.

The retail prices of, $110 for the LM 500 and 700, $139 for the LM900 and $199 for the Mega Elite model can be a bit scary. I have found them to be worth it. I also found that I don't like to pay full price whether they are worth it or not. I purchased all my LitterMaids at Amazon, because every time I did the research they had the best price and free shipping, to top it off. You can usually find both the LM500 and LM700 for less than $100, the Lm900 for about or barely over $100 and the Elite models for about $125-$150 and, of course, free shipping. Sometimes you might even find them cheaper.

They also have optional accessories. They have an optional Kabana cover and a Privacy Tent. I have never had much luck with my cats liking a covered box. So, I have not tried them, but it is a great option for cats who do like them. Though, they are over $30, almost $40 for each of them. They also sell a litter box carpet and their own brand of litter. LitterMaid

Cleaning

You have to do it eventually, or if you are lucky, get someone else to do it. I think I will change the biggest con to the fact that the "maid" collects the trash, but does not take it out. All the waste clumps get dropped in a plastic replaceable bin. The bin is fairly easy to remove. It kind of locks under these tabs on the box and if your not careful, "unlocking" the bin could cause a stray piece of sand or 2 to shoot up at you, when the bin comes un-lodged from the tabs. The bin has a lid that snaps on the bin for easy, cleaner disposal. I dump the bin out about once a week, for my one cat. I do not replace the bin every week though. Since, i'm not rich and it is probably much better for the environment not to. It can be quite expensive to replace the bins at each cleaning. They average at about a dollar a piece if you buy a pack of bins separately. You get 4 that come with the box. I found that just dumping out the bin and using them over and over works fine. You can get many uses out of one bin.

If you need to do a thorough cleaning it is pretty easy because the litter pan can easily be snapped off of the motor housing and can be soaked, scrubbed or whatever necessary. I also read in my booklet that the rake can be removed to clean, but I haven't tried to do that. I am a bit lazy and it has never really seemed to need a big, figure out how to detach the rake, cleaning.

The LitterMaid is great at containing odors. The receptacle bin is closed off by a lid and is only opened when the rake lifts the lid open, when it dumps the clumps into the bin. The only time I ever notice odor is when I accidently forget to dump the bin and the clumps poke open the lid. My kitty has a habit of going on the same side of the box a lot, which causes the clumps to get dumped on one side of the bin and causes one side to get full first. The box came with these little square carbon filters that are suppose to stick to the inside top of the lid, to help with odors. I have never noticed an odor problem. I have never been able to get the little carbon things to stay stuck, either. So, I have never purchase any extra. Come to think of it, I think I still have some that came with the box.

Cons or something like them

You might come across some bad review about these boxes on the Internet. The only things I can think that could cause bad reviews is maybe that they were using the wrong litter or too much. It does say in the instructions to use only premium litter and gives a list of brands that work; they are recommendations not requirements. You do not have to go out and buy expensive litters. I have used Fresh Step, Scoop Away and even the PetSmart brand and they have all worked great. It has to be clumping litter, though and it has to clump well to work.

Cats do have different habits too, which may effect the ease of use of the LitterMaid box. Like, my parents cat has a habit of, uh, well, peeing in the box and just leaving without covering it and it ends up not clumping very well and sometimes causes some of the clump to stick to the rake. But, the LitterMaid comes with a scooper that has a rake like front that is made to fit perfectly between the rake tines, to scrape out anything that might get stuck in between them. The scooper also works as a normal scooper, to tidy the box to perfection if it ever gets those tiny pieces that might sneak between the rake.

Another thing that isn't really a con, but could make you think that the box is junk if you are not aware. It needs less litter, a lot less, than a normal manual box. Yes, that is a good thing. But, you might be use to a normal box, fill it up and it wont work right. If you put in too much litter the rake won't be able to push the clumps because it will get bogged down by the litter. There is a line on each side of the box to indicate where the litter should not go above. If when you put litter in you keep it under those lines, you should be fine. You might feel the need to keep filling, but just remember less litter is better, cheaper and that is good.

The biggest con, I think, is the fact that it is a bit noisy. If you keep it in your room or in a place very close to where you sleep, it might wake you, depending if you are a light sleeper, if your kitty decides to go in the middle of the night. It is the rake sweeping through the box and doing its thing that causes the noise. If your cat doesn't use the box when you are sleeping then it will not make any noise. They do have a model now that has a sleep mode; it is only on their Elite model though. If you are a light sleeper and find it a problem you could always just make it a habit to switch it off before you go to bed and switch it back on when you get up.

There is bound to be a lemon, but the warranty kicks in

The very first LitterMaid box I purchased was from Amazon, actually all 3 were purchased from Amazon. The very first box I bought is one my family and I laugh about and refer to as the poop shooter. After I got it, filled it up, hooked it up and my cat tried it out, I discovered that something was very wrong when the waste clumps completely shot over the bin and flew across my room. It was quite amusing, but not something that would stay amusing for long. I called LitterMaid customer service and the lady I spoke to was very nice and told me I needed to contact Amazon and return it to them, but if they wont accept it give them a call back. This was back when Amazon had an actual phone number to call them and I did and they easy accepted the return and initiated a new one to me immediately. I never had one problem with the replacement box.

Believe it or not but 6 or so years later when I finally had to replace that first box, my replacement box was another lemon. With the exception that this one had a not so obvious intermittent problem, where sometimes the rake would keep going over and over, several times during the cycle. I didn't call customer service till a few months after I got it, since it didn't always happen. But, the LitterMaid boxes come with a 1 year warranty, that from my experience they stand by. I talked to customer service and they walked me through a reset and one other thing and since the problem didn't happen all the time, they asked me to call back if it happens again. It did, so I called. The lady quickly issued me a brand new box. The new box hasn't failed yet and I don't expect it to anytime soon, from my past experience.

Just a few of the 101 reasons to buy

The LitterMaid Self-Cleaning litter box is perfect for anyone who doesn't have the time to keep their cats box as clean as their kitties may want it or just for anyone who hates to have to scoop the litter box all the time. It is wonderful to keep the litter box clean at all times for those really picky cats. It is better for your health by not being exposed to cat waste and the chemicals in the litters, from the dust it produces. It uses so much less litter than a normal cat litter box, that there is a chance that the savings in litter could make up for the cost of the box. That is, if you really need a financial reason to buy the box and the shear greatness of it doing the dirty work for you is not enough of a reason. Also, I can easily go away for a night or 2 and not have to worry about the litter box filling up while i'm gone. All I have to do is deal with the guilt of leaving my poor kitty alone.

I have spent so many years now not needing to scoop my own cats litter box, that I don't know what I would do if I ever had to scoop again. I think I might end up needing someone to retrain me on how to scoop a cat box. It is one of those things that once you have it it is hard to go back. One day I went in the room and the power light was not on, on my LitterMaid. My heart stopped at the thought that it could have died. Luckily, my heart started up again when I noticed that I just overloaded a circuit and had to just push the circuit reset button. Sure, that box is still under warranty. But oh, the horror of the few days I would have to scoop it myself while waiting for a new one.