MeOW and welcome to an unService Cat Monday on Service Cat Monday. Which, due to technical difficulties beyond our control is wayyyyyyyy late. Now that was a mouthful wasn’t it? Anyways, fur mommy’s sanity and to furee up some time, Service Cat Monday question and answer and Training tips will resume in the new year. Altho’ mommy did say that our posty today could actually qualify as a Service Cat Monday posty. So, fur that reason, the followin’ will be in human English fur reader and translator ease. Actually, mommy will be doin’ most of this posty herself. But, you know Raena and me have to have our own meows ‘bout everythin’, so we’ll be includin’ our 2 cents too. Fur now, mommy, take it away.
Disclaimer: This is a Sponsored post. We received the Litter Robot Open Air III in exchange for our honest opinion. As always, we tell it like we see it and only bring products we feel would be of interest to you, our readers and friends.
Thank you baby. As you all know this blog is all about the girls. And, as special as they are, there are still things they can’t do and require a human touch. Most of you know that I’m disabled and need help with a few things. Let me give you a little back story before we proceed. Dezi came to me as a very sick little girl at the age of 2 1/2 – 3 weeks old. She had one of the worst cases of tape worm I’d ever seen in a kitten her size. And, with all that baby fine fur, the diarrhea, and the worms exiting her little body were constantly getting stuck to her bloomers. My response was to clean the litter box and her every time she exited. I must say, it was definitely the right thing to do, but it had lasting consequences. Long after the worms and diarrhea were gone, Dezi expected me to clean the litter box the minute it got used. As far as she’s concerned, we could have 10 boxes and she would still want the one that was used to be cleaned.
When you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense. I mean, would you want to use a toilet that hadn’t been flushed after it’s last “visitor”? So, as much of a chore scooping might be, I didn’t really give it a second thought. But, c’mon now, all of us kitty parents know the litter box is probably our least favorite thing about being owned by cats. As I get older and my health declines, scooping at certain times of the day gets more difficult. And with the wheelchair broken, getting to the box first thing in the morning is almost impossible. That brings us to today’s topic, Automated Litter Boxes. If you missed our post about Litter Boxes, Litter and Feline Urinary habits, you can catch up by clicking here.
Yep, that’s the right litter this time mommy.
Automated litter boxes have been around for quite some time now. So, I began my search for the “purrfect” automated box that could meet all the needs the girls have and still work for me and my budget and ideals. Ideals being no clay litters. As a Vet Tech I’d seen too many kitties come in with blockages from clay litter, to be comfortable using it especially with long haired cats that get it stuck to their bloomers. That right there, made it almost impossible for us to use one of those automated raking systems. Not to mention the actual box size available for kitty to do their business. But, today’s not about the “bads” of certain boxes, but rather the good and bad of the automated litter box we chose.
After much research, reading reviews, watching videos, and studying how and why the equipment works, we decided on the Litter Robot Open Air III. Now I’ll be honest, it wasn’t until I could actually see a video up close that I decided this was a good product. My initial thoughts were that the litter must end up in the top of the box since it rotates around to empty itself. With that thought, I couldn’t imagine why any cat would want to use it. After all, how would you feel if somebody pee’d or worse on your ceiling and you had to sit under that smell when you went to the bathroom? Thankfully, that’s not the case at all. you’ll see in the video below that the roof of the box stays free of dirty litter and smell. Before we get to the video, let me tell you what we were looking for in an automated litter box.
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Covered: Raena occasionally still tries to swat Dezi’s tail when she’s in the litter box, so we have to have a covered litter box for privacy issues.
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Size: Dezi is a large cat and Raena will be, so they need plenty of room to get in, turn around, stand, squat, dig and exit.
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Works with almost any Litter: I’m not changing my mind and using clay litter, so the box we choose must allow for the litter we currently use: Swheatscoop and/or Garfield.
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No Continued Expenses’ beyond electricity and inexpensive filters: Being on a fixed income means I can’t afford to by additional expensive boxes, special bags or trays.
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Night Light: Yes I Know it sounds silly, but something happened to Dezi when our apartment flooded and she won’t go to the litter box in the dark.
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Easy to Use: The girls must be able to enter and exit with ease.
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Easy to Clean: Even the cleanest of kitties and “dustless” litter can eventually get any box a little dirty. But, due to my disabilities, handling and cleaning the size box the girls require must be easy.
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Safe: The girls can sometimes get a little dig crazy and curious, so I don’t want anything around that could hurt or cut them.
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Flexible Timer: Since Dezi will often pee and then need to poo almost immediately after, we need to be able to set a shorter timer than the traditional 15 minutes.
To watch on Youtube click here.
The Litter Robot Open Air III meets all our needs. If I had to say something negative, it would be about the Control Panel. As most of you know, the girls are Service Cats, and as such they are trained to turn on and off certain equipment. And, as a lot of you may recall, Raena’s been turning on all the power toys since she was about 8 weeks old. So, if I could, I would probably have a small door of some kind covering the buttons on the Control Panel. The thing is, there probably aren’t many other cats out there pressing the cycle button besides Raena; so I can’t really fault the Litter Robot peeps for not thinking about that.
They recently launched the Litter Robot Open Air Connect. If you already own a Litter Robot Open Air, you can purchase the upgrade equipment and install it yourself without voiding any warranty you may have or having to purchase a whole new system. The app connects your Litter Robot to your Apple iphone or ipad and allows you to monitor the waste drawer levels, usage and you could even trigger it to cycle if you have a kitty like Dezi that just peed and now needs to poo and can’t wait the 3 minutes.
The Litter Robot Open Air III sells for $449.00, with the Connect upgrade it’s $499.00. Trust me, I realize that’s a lot of money. I don’t make this recommendation lightly. But, after all the research I’ve done, and after having the unit in our home, I must say, the Litter Robot is worth every penny. The company sells replacement parts for the entire unit, so that you can replace only what may break or wear out in the future. They do sell reconditioned parts and units as well, so that may be another avenue to consider. Yes, it’s an investment, but, aren’t your cats worth it? Aren’t you worth it? As cat owners, most of us scoop the litter box without even thinking about it, but it’s really nice not having too. I definitely give the Litter Robot Open Air III 2 thumbs up. I’ll let the girls tell you how they feel.
Fanks mommy. Me luvs PB. It’s pawsum to always have a clean pawtty no matter the time of day or what you might be doin’. It’s an all paws up from me.
Is it mine’s turn now? Well it’s a bout time. I’s luvs, luvs, luvs PB the Litter Robot. I’s luvs to ride the rim sometimes. It’s so much fun. I’s still tryin’ to figger out how to make sissy go ‘round and ‘round like a ferris wheel. Fur some reason, it won’t cycle with her in it?. Other than that, I’s give it 4 paws up too.
(Dezi shakes head.) That’s a safety feature Raena. Fankfully, PB has better sense than you do. Cuz guess who’d be getting’ the whacky paw ifin you did send me ‘round and ‘round?. Anyways, we sure are glad PB’s working in our house. Ifin ya’ have any questions, thoughts or comments, purrlease leave ‘em in the comments section. And, any purchases thru the links in our posty mean we make a few green papers. Our Blessin’ today fur the Blessing Train is Health. We have been blest with good health. Yeah Raena’s eyes might be a bit purroblematic, but overall she’s healthy and we’re both happy.
Till the next time……………………………………..Be Blest!!!
Dezi: Vibrant Blue
Raena: Navy Blue
Mommy A: Black
Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses
Service Cats U.S. 