Pros: never have to touch litter, clumps come out so easily!
Cons: will likely have to clean the grate after prolonged use, a bit bulky
The Bottom Line: This far exceeded my expectations, and has made litter box cleaning simple, quick, and painless. As long as you have enough room to use it, it's an excellent choice.
elderberries's Full Review: Omega Paw SelfCleaning Litter Box 257532
When I adopted two kittens, a friend of mine offered to give me her regular-sized Omega Paw self-cleaning litter box, since her cats were too big for it, and wouldn't use it. (She'd have bought a larger one, but she was storing her litter box in a small area under her stairs, and there wasn't enough room to use it.)
The idea is this: No batteries, no electricity... just a covered, slightly rounded plastic litter box that you roll to one side, roll back to the other side, and pull out a small drawer full of cat unmentionables, which you can easily dump into a trash bag without ever having to touch litter or a scoop.
I had doubts. Nothing ever really works that way, I thought. I remember years ago spending some ungodly amount of money on an automatic self-cleaning litter box, which not only scared the bejeezus out of the cats with the sound of the motor, but got clogged on a regular basis, requiring me to go at it with a letter opener to pry out all the hard crusty (and not-so-fresh) bits. It was miserable, and eventually I chunked it in favor of a plain low-tech covered box. I was sure that, given my last bad experience with a supposed self-cleaning box, this one would get clogged too, or the plastic would pop out of place, or it would drop litter everywhere when it rolled, or something. But there was always the chance that it might work, so I accepted it.
And work it DOES! This thing is incredible. I've emptied it now every day for three weeks, and only once have I had to use a scooper to dislodge a few clumps that weren't coming out on their own. But even that was easier than cleaning out a regular litter box even once, since all I had to do was take the top off, dislodge them from the side, put the top back on and re-roll the box, and they all came out perfectly. There was no sifting, no holding trash bags open and dumping scoop after scoop of litter. And -- maybe I'm the only one with this problem - since I never have to take the top off and I'm actively rolling it to clean it, I don't have to deal with my cats taking the opportunity to hop in right at the moment I start cleaning to take a giant poop right in front of me. (Yuck!)
My cats like it just fine (as a matter of fact, they love to play on top of it), and the most amazing part? Not once has any litter fallen out when I've cleaned it. Not even when the litter box is completely on its top! I've read a few reviews saying that litter falls out when it's rolled, but all I know is that my floor's clean around it, and I haven't vacuumed once since I started using it three weeks ago (and remember, I'm emptying it every day).
Now this is probably very dependent on the litter you use, but I'm using Arm and Hammer clumping litter, and it holds together so well that the stuff left in the box seems to be very well contained to the stuff I'm supposed to be throwing away, as opposed to catching much of the clean litter. This means that the level of clean litter stays pretty high. In three weeks I've only had to top off the litter with some fresh stuff 3 times, and I haven't had a need to totally empty it yet.
Once you've rolled it over, top and all, and given it a little wiggle to help dislodge the clumps, you roll it back upright, and back the other way just a bit to get the clean litter back into place. And the last step? Just pull out the drawer, empty it into a bag, and toss it. So easy! Believe it or not, I've had two kids watch me do it so far, and they think it's the coolest thing they've ever seen, as if the litter clumps were just appearing in the drawer like magic (kids are easily entertained).
Inside, the clean litter slides through a grate when the box is flipped, leaving only the clumps still in the main section, which then fall to the roof as it's upside down. When you roll it back the other way, they fall along the curved top and end up in an easy pull-out drawer. Rolling it slightly back the other direction lets the clean litter slide back through the grate into place.
I'm sure at some point it'll get clogged and I'll need to clean it, but considering it's made it through 3 weeks of daily use and it's still working perfectly, it's already far exceeded my expectations, and I'll definitely be buying a larger one once my kittens outgrow it.
A covered litter box that is particularly easy to clean, just a roll to the side and back and that nasty chore is done!More at J-B Wholesale Pet Supplies, Inc
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
The Self Cleaning Litter Box is a covered litter box that is particularly easy to clean. When the box needs cleaning simply roll the top of the box t...More at Amazon Marketplace
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