Confessions of a Litter Maid Slave
Written: Feb 09 '04 (Updated Mar 29 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The illusion that you won't have to scoop out the cat box anymore.
Cons: Realizing it was only an illusion.
The Bottom Line: If you have a cat-owning enemy, give them one of these as a gift.
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| ordiewife's Full Review: Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Maid Litte... |
Let's face it. Scooping out the cat box ranks second only to having a root canal on everyone's list of least favorite activities. Anything that can promise us that we can have cats and yet never again have to touch soiled cat litter has got to be worth its weight in gold, right? Sure!! But only if it actually works!!
After 9 months of owning a Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box, I am ready to admit that it was the worst consumer purchasing decision I have ever made, second to none. "Why?" you ask? Let me count the ways...
But first, get comfortable. It's going to take a while, but I promise to make it as interesting as I can.
The Concept
The design of the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box is fairly simple. A tray to hold litter, a monster housing on top of it which contains The Motor, The Rake and The Waste Receptacle. It also houses sensors which detect when your kitty has made a "deposit", and shortly thereafter, sends The Rake on its mission. Simple, right? You have no idea.
The unit runs on either 8 "D" cell batteries, or the included A/C power adapter. Unless you intend to spend considerable amounts of your hard-earned money buying new pink suits for the Energizer Bunny, then the A/C adapter is the preferable power source.
The Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box also comes with 12 disposable Waste Receptacles, with lids. Plan to spend a dollar a day replacing these. I chose to reuse mine by lining them with plastic bags instead.
You are advised to use only "Premium" clumping cat litter. Several brands are recommended in the product literature which comes in the package, but several other brands will do just as well.
Optional accessories include the Paw Cleaning Ramp, the Privacy Tent and the Litter Catching Mat (which I did not purchase). The ramp attaches to the unit at the door end. The Privacy Tent consists of a hard plastic pole frame and a two piece, zip-together soft plastic material cover. The door end has a vertical slit, and velcro that allows you to pin back the flaps in a sort of inverted "V".
I ordered the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box with the Paw Cleaning Ramp, and the Privacy Tent online, and I spent a total of $175 including shipping. For a cat box.
The Reality
When you first install the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box in your home, your cat may take great delight in racing to the cat box when they hear it operate. Some cats may race in the opposite direction. The brave cat will find hours of fascination in watching this new living creature which has taken up residence in your home. Once they decide it is not a Cat Eating Machine, they may actually venture inside and discover a fresh bed of litter, nearly irresistible to most cats, and voila - you have no worries. The neurotic cat will never come near what it has decided is definitely a Cat Eating Machine, and since the old litter box has disappeared, they will go elsewhere. Yes, elsewhere.
Now, lets take the simple features of the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box one by one, and see how they hold up under practical application.
That sensor that sends The Rake on its path does so far too soon after the box has received a deposit. Then, instead of pushing a tidy clump into the Waste Receptacle, The Rake is actually being dragged through semi-soft solid matter or semi-soft liquid matter. It becomes coated in various shades ranging from beige to blackest coal. The litter becomes filled with tiny clumps that are the perfect size for being passed over by the tines of The Rake. More on this later.
If you have made the critical error of putting too much litter into the tray, and The Rake encounters what it considers to be a mountain too high to climb, it will still continue to try. Over and over again. The already disturbingly loud Motor then becomes more and more unbearable with each subsequent attempt.
Of course, if you have made the critical error of putting too little litter in the tray, you have another problem altogether. True, there are markings on the tray indicating at what level you should add more litter, and at what point you have reached Maximum Litter Capacity. Only problem here is that filling to the "full" line means too much litter. Filling only to the "fill" line means too little litter. They are exactly one inch apart. Have fun.
Now, I suppose if your cat uniformly decided where in the cat box to make his "deposits", they would then be uniformly raked into the Waste Receptacle. As any cat owner already knows, cats have cat box "spot" preferences. This results in the Waste Receptacle filling in anything but a uniform manner. Which would be ok, if the clumps were hard. They would simply roll to a less filled area of the Waste Receptacle in deference to gravity. But since semi-soft and moist clumps tend to cling to one another, gravity has a much tougher job at this. More on this later.
The Privacy Tent does just what it sounds like it does. Shields your bashful kitty from your prying eyes while attending to business. It also serves quite well at containing stray litter, especially if you have a kitty that likes to "fling". Sounds great, doesn't it? You guessed it, more on this later.
Oh, the Humanity!
If you are a person who has no problem in attending to your cat box daily, then you will have no trouble whatsoever with the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box. Then again, if you are a person who has no problem in attending to your cat box daily, I have absolutely no idea why you would subject yourself to the Litter Maid Advanced Deluxe Litter Box. You obviously have more money than you know what to do with, and I will gladly take donations.
As for the claim that this will keep your lovable mutt from snacking in the cat box? There are far less expensive alternatives.
If, on the other hand, you are a person who is interested in the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box because it is supposed to allow you the freedom of NOT attending to your cat box daily, you are in for quite a surprise.
Lets say you have let several days go buy without supervising the operation of the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box. Why would you let this happen? For a couple of reasons. First, because it is easy to forget about. You think "It scoops itself. It's fine." Second, because attending to it is such an unbelievable pain in the hind end that you will find yourself dreading the very thought, and you will put it off.
First, in order to access the Waste Receptacle, you will need to pull the unit at least halfway out of the Privacy Tent. When you consider the fact that the unit is wider than the door opening, this is much easier said than done. You will need to simultaneously stretch both sides of the doorway wide enough to fit around the unit, and then slide the heavy unit out of the very light Privacy Tent which will need to be held in place or it just moves right along with the unit. You have four hands, don't you?
Once you have accomplished this, you will begin to grasp the horror of the situation with which you are confronted.
The Waste Receptacle is overfull. This may have a lot to do with the fact that the majority of the deposits have been raked toward one side or the other, causing your Waste Receptacle to runneth over. You can not simply press down on the lid to contain the deposits as was intended. Therefore, you must find a way to get it out of its designated location without actually sticking your fingers into its contents. When you do manage to pry it loose, I recommend you turn your head away. That way you will not end up wishing you could replace your face when it comes out with a "pop" and pieces of the contents fly through the air.
What remains of the litter in the tray is filled with clumps too small to catch the attention of The Rake. If you have woefully underfilled the litter, you will also have multicolored smears and lumps coating the bottom of the tray. The tray will need to be removed for emptying and cleaning. Simply pop up the levers on both sides of the unit and lift the unit off the tray. Emptying the tray will involve scraping. Cleaning it will involve scrubbing. You will need rubber gloves.
You will need to sweep out or simply shake out the stray litter which has inserted itself into every possible nook and cranny on the unit. There may also be several inexplicable brownish smears in various locations on the unit which will need to be cleaned off as well.
Now is when you notice that lovely coating on the tines of The Rake. It must be removed for cleaning. You will need a screwdriver.
The Paw Cleaning Ramp is full of some of the litter it was intended to catch. The rest is already on the floor. So the ramp needs cleaning. It is simple enough to shake the litter out of it onto the floor. Not to worry, by this time, the floor is already covered with much worse.
So. You now have the unit cleaned, reassembled and filled with clean litter. You are about to undertake the reinsertion of it into the Privacy Tent. Wait! What's that in the Privacy Tent?? Of course, the stray litter that has been "flung" is in there, but that's not all. Several of the items that were supposed to be raked into the Waste Receptacle are also in there. How did that happen?? You will need a whisk broom and a dustpan reserved only for cat litter use. You will also need a vacuum cleaner.
The Aftermath
Finally! The fresh, clean Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box has been wrestled back into the Privacy Tent. All that is left to do now is to sweep and mop the floor, and then it is off to a long, hot shower. The images of carnage will only flash in your mind for a few hours. You will repeat this in a few days, despite the fact that you have just promised yourself to attend to Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box daily. You will continue this routine for several months, because you refuse to admit that it was a mistake to buy it, and because you spent so much money on it.
What you will understand after this wretched experience is that it was far, FAR easier to pop the lid off your manual cat box every other day, or even every single day, and scoop the clumps out. Worst case scenario used to be dumping the entire contents of the box, washing it out and refilling it. I would imagine the cost of doing this every day for a year would work out to about the same as buying the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box.
My dear consumers, I have finally reached a point where I am no longer willing to live in denial and be a slave to my Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box. Now, if I can only convince some sucker to buy it, I might actually recover a fraction of my investment.
I sincerely hope that I have at least given you food for thought; that is, if you still have an appetite after reading my review. If I am able to prevent even ONE mindless, tragic purchase of the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box then I will consider my purpose in life to have been fulfilled.
Let me just say that I love my cats. Obviously, if I am willing to spend the money I did on this contraption, and subject myself to what I have just described to you, I must love my cats more than I love my money and sanity. However, I do not live to serve my cats either. I have far too many other things to spend my time and money on. You probably do too. Save the money for something else, and save yourself the headache of the Litter Maid Mega Advanced Deluxe Litter Box.
Update: I found a wonderful alternative and I couldn't be happier. The Booda Dome Clean Step Litter Box. Only $29.69 at Petco. Cat enters the door, goes up a miniature set of steps, and goes to the litter area off to the side. Because of this, only the litter that is stuck to the cats' paws comes out the door, which is minimal. It could easily be completely contained by purchasing the litter catching mat also made by Booda. The litter area is not accessible to dogs which are larger than cats. The only way they can snack in there is if they can actually fit inside. Not likely with most dogs. Cleaning consists of lifting off the lid, scooping, and replacing the lid. No latching, no moving. Daily time requirement is about a minute. I'd love to do a review if the product were listed here on Epinions.)
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ordiewife
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Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 3 members
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