Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2021
Excellent product. Far superior to any other automated cat litter box. All of our cats adapted to it within hours of setting it up.
My only complaint would be that the side of the rotating bowl is not tall enough to stop litter from being kicked out. However I believe I can remedy that pretty easily with some help from Home Depot, i.e., a strip of plexiglass about four or five inches wide and thin enough to bend into a circle without cracking it. I will then attach this band of plexiglass near the top of the side using duct tape or some kind of contact cement or such. This should add enough height to the side to contain flying litter with minimal effort and no real changes to the product itself.
Until I can get this accomplished, it is noteworthy that the shape of the product after it is set up pretty much confines the cat using it to about an 18 or 20 inch long space on one side of the bowl, as the opposite side of the bowl is covered up by the conveyor that carries the clumps up to the retrieval bag after they are sifted out of the unused litter. As a result of this, virtually all of the litter that gets scratched out of the bowl lands in pretty much the same spot, making it fairly easy to clean up with a couple of passes of a stick type vacuum cleaner.
I am also very happy to report that this product has no kind of comb or rake being used to clean the litter as do most other automated litter boxes. Said rakes and combs get gummed up with clumping litter and become fairly useless after just a few passes through the litter.
This product operates by means of the rotating bowl forcing all of the litter through a grid, a little at a time. The unused litter continues on around the rotation path while the screen grid also guides the clumps into the bottom of the conveyor.
The user manual states that the bowl makes one complete rotation every 90 minutes. This means of course that all of the litter in bowl is sifted once every 90 minutes as well. The litter in the bowl is also being constantly leveled out as the bowl rotates, despite how often your cats are scribbling their signatures into the litter.
The conveyor is also interesting. Rather than a belt or such, there are some stationary strips mounted on a gentle rise. The top edge of these strips is scrolled with a wavelike pattern to prevent the clumps from rolling or sliding back down. In between these strips are other identical strips which are not stationary. These strips move up and down in a circular motion, similar to that of a horse on a merry-go-round. These moving strips pick up the clumps at one point and set them back down on the other strips a little farther up the slope. Thusly, the clumps sort of climb the stairs to the drop-off point.
A very ingenious conveyor. Minimal moving parts and minimal likelihood of the conveyor becoming jammed up by clumps falling off the edge of the conveyor and getting wedged between a roller and a belt or suchlike.
Hats off to the manufacturer, PetSafe, for their innovative idea, and extremely competent engineering of same. I would suggest to the designers a future revision of the product, simply adding about four more inches of height to the litter containment ring, which should not be at all difficult since said ring does not rotate with the rest of the bowl, i.e., the ring rests on top of the rotating bowl, seated on slick nylon slides to minimize friction, so that only the ring itself would really need to be changed to add height.
When I purchased this unit, I recall reading in the hype that the bowl was deep enough to prevent litter from being tracked out of the bowl. Unfortunately, I don't think whoever wrote that statement, has actually had very many cats, if any, in his/her lifetime. 🤔
The overall height of the side of the bowl from the bottom to the top edge of the ring is approximately 6 in, which understandably, might seem adequate height to prevent litter from being spilled over the side, if one has had little or no experience with cats . However, when it comes to selecting and preparing the spot they wish to use, and later covering up their business, cats are very energetic and fastidious about seeing that the job is done right from their perspective. 😼
The height of the side of the bowl should be increased from its current 6 in or so to at least 10 in if not more. At the current height, virtually all house cats can walk in and out of the box simply stepping over the side as though it's not even there. 🙀
Yes, it is true that increasing the height of the side that much would mean the cat would have to climb or jump a bit to get inside the box. But that is what cats do. In fact, it's their favorite pastime. 😺 So a 10-in high wall on the side of the litter box is no obstacle to any ordinary cat by any means. Even newly weaned kittens can scale an object of that height with little or no effort.Excellent product. Far superior to any other automated cat litter box. All of our cats adapted to it within hours of setting it up.
My only complaint would be that the side of the rotating bowl is not tall enough to stop litter from being kicked out. However I believe I can remedy that pretty easily with some help from Home Depot, i.e., a strip of plexiglass about four or five inches wide and thin enough to bend into a circle without cracking it. I will then attach this band of plexiglass near the top of the side using duct tape or some kind of contact cement or such. This should add enough height to the side to contain flying litter with minimal effort and no real changes to the product itself.
Until I can get this accomplished, it is noteworthy that the shape of the product after it is set up pretty much confines the cat using it to about a 12 inch long space on one side of the bowl, as the other side of the bowl is covered up by the conveyor that carries the clumps up to the retrieval bag after they are sifted out of the unused litter. As a result of this, virtually all of the litter that gets scratched out of the bowl lands in pretty much the same spot, making it fairly easy to clean up with a couple of passes of a stick type vacuum cleaner.
I am also very happy to report that this product has no kind of comb or rake being used to clean the litter as do most other automated litter boxes. Said rakes and combs get gummed up with clumping litter and become fairly useless after just a few passes through the litter.
This product operates by means of the rotating bowl forcing all of the litter through a grid, a little at a time. The unused litter continues on around the rotation path while the screen grid also guides the clumps into the bottom of the conveyor.
The user manual states that the bowl makes one complete rotation every 90 minutes. This means of course that all of the litter in the bowl is sifted through the grid once every 90 minutes as well. The litter in the bowl is also being constantly leveled out as the bowl rotates, despite how often your cats are scribbling their signatures into the litter.
The conveyor is also interesting. Rather than a belt or such, there are some stationary strips mounted on a gentle rise. The top of these strips is scrolled with a wavelike pattern to prevent the clumps from rolling or sliding back down. In between these strips are other identical strips which are not stationary. These strips move up and down in a circular motion, similar to that of a horse on a merry-go-round. These moving strips pick up the clumps at one point and set them back down on the other strips a little farther up the slope. Thusly, the clumps sort of climb the stairs to the drop-off point.
A very ingenious conveyor. Minimal moving parts and minimal likelihood of the conveyor becoming jammed up by clumps falling off the edge of the conveyor and getting wedged between a roller and a belt or suchlike.
Hats off to the manufacturer, PetSafe, for their innovative idea, and extremely competent engineering of the same. I would suggest to the designers a future revision of the product, simply adding about four more inches of height to the litter containment ring, which should not be at all difficult since said ring does not rotate with the rest of the bowl, i.e., the ring rests on top of the bowl, seated on slick nylon slides to minimize friction, so that only the ring itself would really need to be changed to add height.
When I purchased this unit, I recall reading in the hype that the bowl was deep enough to prevent litter from being tracked out of the bowl. Unfortunately, I don't think whoever wrote that statement, has actually had very many cats, if any, in his/her lifetime. 🤔 In fact, within a couple of hours of discovering the new litter box, my cats had deposited probably at least a quarter cup of litter in a circular area about 6 or 8 inches in diameter just outside of the ring.
The overall height of the side of the bowl from the bottom to the top edge of the ring is approximately 6 in, which understandably, might seem to be adequate height to prevent litter from being spilled over the side, if one has had little or no experience with cats . However, when it comes to selecting and preparing the spot they wish to use, and later covering up their business, cats are very energetic and fastidious about seeing that the job is done right from their perspective. 😼
The height of the side of the bowl should be increased from its current 6 in or so to at least 10 in if not more. At the current height, virtually all house cats can walk in and out of the box by simply stepping over the side as though it's not even there. 🙀
Yes, it is true that increasing the height of the side that much would mean the cat would have to climb or jump a bit to get inside the box. But that is what cats do. In fact, it's their favorite pastime. 😺 So a 10-in high wall on the side of the litter box is no obstacle to any ordinary cat. Even newly weaned kittens can scale an object of that height with little or no effort.
Only cats with severe disabilities, such as the loss of two or more limbs, would have a problem with a higher sidewall, and such cats would need special arrangements anyway, i.e., ramps leading into and out of the litter box or suchlike.
So please make that height adjustment to your product so that it lives up to the hype you have published on your sale page, and also please make a replacement ring available for those like myself who have already purchased the product as it is. You have already created an exceptional product. Making that adjustment to what you are currently marketing would make it just about perfect. 😏 😸.
