Do the self cleaning litter boxes work? I was thinking about getting one, but they are so expensive I don't want to buy one and have my cats not use it because they are afraid of the noise.

I have never talked to anyone who was satisfied with these litter boxes. If you have more than one cat especially!

In my experience, they can work well enough with one cat, but not so well with multiple cats. Since they'll occasionally be visiting the box shortly after one another, it will start auto-sifting while one cat is using it, which will make the cat less comfortable. Cats who are uncomfortable in the box are going to be very unhappy cats.

Even with a single cat, the auto-sifters are only really good if your cat has more solid stools. It becomes a horrendous mess if your cat gets diarrhea or generally has less solid stool.

Unless you're away from the house an awful lot, you're probably better off with a traditional box. It'll never scare your cat off, and you'll be more aware of any changes in their habits that might give an early indication of trouble.

Just in case you check again... I have two cats that pee A lot!! :) The auto-sifter on these restart the 10min timer when something goes by the sensor. I LOVE my auto litter box. The only ones that it startles are the people that stop by:) Cats don't mind it a bit. The only people that I could say would complain are the lazy ones (which I am one myself), if you have more than 1 cat... you have to empty the bucket more!

I've heard of someone who had one and the cat was going in and out of the box in mid poo the box started cleaning and the cat got stuck. I don't know if it's true, but I say there are not worth the price. Either way you have to clean up the mess, what's the difference between scooping it and dumping, either way it's manual labour. I say buy your cat a wonderful cat tree and keep on scooping. :)

I've got the Litter-Robot ($$$$) and it does seem to work really well, technically. Unfortunately, I have two cats, and I could probably transition one to it without too much work, but the other one is absolutely refusing to use it at all. And cats tend to win any issues with litterboxes! So, it's going back. At least I'm only out the shipping.

And for the non-self-cleaning option, I like litterboxes with sifters. But do NOT use them the way that they say (with the sifter in the box with the clean litter). You want to keep it in the empty box, so that you pour the dirty litter in it and pull it up. That way anything that is going to stick doesn't do it in the sifter slits, and it's easy to take a scoop and do a quick knock-off of any clumps on the edges of the box.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by trach

Do the self cleaning litter boxes work? I was thinking about getting one, but they are so expensive I don't want to buy one and have my cats not use it because they are afraid of the noise.

---

My cats and I all LOVE our Litter-Maid!!

Yep I got that litter box with the sifter in to I like it I stor it the same it is a lot easer I use the clumping liter and my cats dig so yah id have a mess if I left the sifter in it ! Glad I thought before I put it in the box!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by trach

Do the self cleaning litter boxes work? I was thinking about getting one, but they are so expensive I don't want to buy one and have my cats not use it because they are afraid of the noise.

---

Not that I know of... train your cat to go outside... or put it in a area that it doesn't bother anyone.