Are these worth the high price most of them command?
Any to recommend?

My wife is looking at this one: https://meowant.com/products/m...w-sc02#opinew-plugin

My friend had one when I lived in Calgary, but this was 2015-2016 so not real recent. We took turns feeding each other cats when the other was out of the country (i.e. we were both US citizens working in Calgary). Hers was litter robot brand, she was pleased with it, and IME seemed to do a good job and be reliable. However, one of the tasks she asked me to perform during visits was checking the litter robot as sometimes dust would get on a sensor and it wouldn't cycle. Once or twice, I had to hit reset and use windex on sensor.

The reason it had stuck with me as it was many orders of magnitude better than the one I had purchased a few years prior. My hunk of junk was Petsafe brand and the rake mechanism was so loud that it terrified both cats, wasn't reliable, and had a disposable tray that you had to keep purchasing. Mine ended up in the garbage.

I don’t know about automatic litter boxes. But I trained several cats to use the toilet. Both #1 and #2. It wasn’t difficult, and I think it’s a better solution. Less odor, less work for me, and negligible cost. The only downside is that I had to leave the lid up. Seat down, lid up.

I’ll post the training method if you’re interested.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I don’t know about automatic litter boxes. But I trained several cats to use the toilet. Both #1 and #2. It wasn’t difficult, and I think it’s a better solution. Less odor, less work for me, and negligible cost. The only downside is that I had to leave the lid up. Seat down, lid up.

I’ll post the training method if you’re interested.

The real trick is teaching them how to flush.

I have not had good luck with the automatic litter boxes. The noise it made scared the cat. I have fully adopted a corn based flushable litter called The Worlds Best Cat Litter. Scoop the box, then flush the waste. It costs a bit more than conventional litter, but it seems to last longer. The store where I buy it has a buy 10, next one is free deal that I take advantage of.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
<snip>
The real trick is teaching them how to flush.

I considered doing that, and think that I could have. But it occurred to me that the cats might have considered flushing to be recreational.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I have not had good luck with the automatic litter boxes. The noise it made scared the cat. I have fully adopted a corn based flushable litter called The Worlds Best Cat Litter. Scoop the box, then flush the waste. It costs a bit more than conventional litter, but it seems to last longer. The store where I buy it has a buy 10, next one is free deal that I take advantage of.

That's the litter we've been using since we got them. In a basic cheap litter box.
Getting a teenager & pre-teen to keep up with the box cleaning is part of the reason for considering the auto-box.

I would say, no. But, it depends on the cat.

We use storage boxes for litterboxes as the sides are tall; I cut out a U-shaped hole on one end. Our cats tend to raise their butts when they pee and regular large cat boxes were insufficient. Automatic litterboxes tend to be small and low.

We simply scoop the two litterboxes twice a day. Simple.

We have 4 cats. We had a Litter Robot 3 and upgraded to a 4. Absolutely love it. Wouldn’t go back to scooping.

We have the litter robot 4 made by whisker. We paid $750 for it 2 years ago. If it broke tomorrow I would pay $750 again for another one, luckily it has a decent warranty and replacement parts can be had online if ever needed.

We use the tidy cats litter you get in a square 5 gal bucket for $22 with good results.

We have used it with 4 cats without issue. I did replace the liner due to some wear under warranty

You can probably find used ones for around $300 on FB Marketplace

Been a litter robot user since they first came out, have the #4 model now, great products, great service and I would not have a cat without one. USA made. You can look for a second, on the website. I bought one once and it looked like new. Saved a few bucks.

Thanks gents, think we might try the model in the OP, at less than 1/2 the cost with BF deals, it's an easier baby step into it.

We had one. We gave the litter trays to my wife's niece. We didn't like it. She did

My wife purchased this, https://a.co/d/aydvx9v and so far it's working good.

Yes. Especially if the human agility and memory to do task is less than typical, such as a senior citizen.

You can save money on special litter required to interact with the mechanics of the box, rather than buy the original brand.

Three litter robots that are great, app works well too. We us Dr Elsey's litter, about $21 for a 40 lb bag