Great, but not without some problems
Written: Jun 04 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: You only have to think about the litterbox once a month.
Cons: Expensive, not great for multiple cat households.
The Bottom Line: It’s not a completely maintenance free solution, but it’s as close as anyone has come thus far.
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| jaimehsiao's Full Review: LitterFree Self Washing Cat Box |
After a long, painful experience with the Litter Maid, I was afraid to try the Litterfree. Sure, the demonstration video on their website looks great, but what if I get stuck with a $300 mistake? After using it for about a year or so, some thoughts:
The LitterFree requires an outlet, a cold water input line and a sewage output (or toilet), so ideally it should be situated in the bathroom or laundry room. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of a guest walking into my bathroom and being greeted with a toilet full of liquefied poop, so I opted to install the unit next to my washer and dryer.
Installation was relatively straightforward for me, taking a total of about 30 minutes. No arcane tools were needed. Starting it up for the first time was an embarrassingly exciting event. Who knew watching a little piece of poop getting pulverized would be so satisfying?
The unit can be programmed to go off at set times in the day. They recommend one wash cycle per day per cat. The cycle takes about 15 minutes total, in which the box washes the plastic litter pellets 3 times, the last time including the detergent. It then blows dries the litter.
The pros for this product are obvious: You no longer have to be a litter box-cleaning slave. If you have one cat, you simply need to replace the detergent cartridge once a month and the litter pellets once every six months.
There are some cons:
You might have some issues on getting your cat to use the LitterFree. The plastic pellets feel quite different on their paws, so if you have a picky litter box user, this is not a good solution for you. They do include a small bag full of the pellets to put in your existing litter box to get your cat accustomed to the pellets, but I did have a few “accidents” the first week I used it. Also, the fact the cycle starts regardless of whether there is a cat inside using it doesn’t help either. Skittish cats might have an issue.
The wash/dry cycle is quite loud. Which might not be a problem if you set it to go off during the day while you are at work.
In addition to the initial high cost of the unit, the detergent and pellet refills are also very expensive ($20-25 each) and you’ll need to replace those more often if you have multiple cats.
During shedding months, this thing can get clogged with undigested fur. I know it sounds gross, and it is. Dealing with a pan full of poop smoothie is no walk in the park. In fact, this is the biggest issue I’ve had with it thus far. You have to separate the top portion from the pan, dump out the contents, scrape out the fur from the intake, wash everything out and put in new pellets. You might be able to get around this problem if you brush your cats every day.
All in all, I’d have to say that under the right circumstances (you have one or two cats who aren’t very picky about their litter), the LitterFree delivers its promises.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jaimehsiao
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Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 3 members
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