Customer Reviews

LitterMaid Automatic Litter Box LM920

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have owned a number of LitterMaids, and I highly recommend them. Below are the reasons I love having one and tips to make it as economical and efficient as possible.

You can't tell when you walk into my house that I have two cats, because the LitterMaid rakes the waste into the receptacle shortly after the cat leaves the box.

One of my cats is a timid, nervous type, and she was able to adjust to the sight and sound of the Littermaid's raking action within a few days. I followed the instructions in the manual about how to acclimate your cat to the new Littermaid, and I think that significantly helped my cats get used to it. In fact, within a day of it being here, my cats got excited whenever they heard the LitterMaid start raking and would run downstairs to watch it work. We keep our LitterMaid in the basement and can only barely hear it when we're on the first floor of the house, and that's WITHOUT having a basement door to block any sound out. (We can't hear it at all from the second floor of the house, and even from parts of the first floor.) So, I don't think it's loud at all.

I used to have to scoop our two large litter boxes twice a day in order to keep up with the waste habits of our two cats. Now, I just check the LitterMaid once every day or two to make sure nothing has gotten stuck in the rack, and I just add a little more litter to bring it up to the "fill to here" line. (Notice that I used the singular term for our LitterMaid: we went from two large, regular litter boxes to just one LitterMaid. I know that some households may require more than one LitterMaid, but our cats are fine with one.) When the waste receptacle is full, I just tie up the bag lining it, toss the bag, and re-line the receptacle. (See Money-Saving Tip below.)

You don't use very much cat litter with a LitterMaid. (I used to go through A LOT more with my standard boxes.) You DO need to buy the premium litter, but you use so little in the box at a time that it doesn't cost more. I generally use Fresh Step premium clumping litter, which isn't expensive at all, when compared to other premium litters. Speaking of which, LitterMaid makes its own litter (which I've bought at Target and Petsmart), and some people think it's better than the rest (at not sticking to the rake, etc.). I thought it did a good job, but when comparing the price for the LitterMaid litter to the Fresh Step, I thought the Fresh Step one was more economical for similar performance. I personally would not try any litters with crystals or those pearl-type things. I think anything other than standard premium clumping litter is asking for possible mechanical problems. I believe another brand that LitterMaid has recommended in the past is the EverClean premium litter. In case you are considering buying the cheap litter: I once tried store-brand clumping litter in my LitterMaid and will never do it again. It didn't clump well enough for the raking action.

DON'T OVERFILL the litter past the line marked on the LitterMaid's tray. It will confuse the rake when it's trying to rake what it thinks is waste out. A confused rake is an inefficient waste remover. Also, just to keep the machine in tip-top shape, make a habit of smoothing the cat litter out after you add more, so that one side is not drastically fuller than the other. Reason: same as before, it confuses the machine's raking action if the litter isn't at least reasonably level. It doesn't take but a few seconds, and it ensures that the LitterMaid can keep doing its job. Which is the whole point of this machine: to make things easier for you and happier for the cats.

Money-saving tip:
One way to reduce how often you buy the plastic waste receptacles is to line them with plastic grocery bags. (I use two plastic bags at a time, so that the receptacle is double-lined.) Then, when the receptacle is filled, pull the bags out, tie them shut, and throw them in the trash. I love that this gives all of those plastic bags a second purpose, once you'ved used them to carry home your groceries. Another way to reduce your having to buy the waste receptacles is to buy the Petmate Purrforma Self-Cleaning Litter Appliance Easy-tie Wastebags and line the receptacle with them. (These are availabe here on Amazon in the Kitchen & Housewares section or in large pet stores, like Petsmart.) These wastebags obviously weren't DESIGNED to be used on a LitterMaid (since the two items are made by different companies), but they do work. I bought one package after having heard that they work on Littermaid, and they did fine. However, since the grocery bags are free and already here in my house, I just use the grocery bags.

I am able to get by with completely emptying out the litter and washing out the tray just a few times a year, but if you have more time than I do, it wouldn't hurt to do it more often. MAJOR WARNING: DO NOT SUBMERGE THE MECHANICAL HOUSING WHICH OPERATES THE RAKE IN WATER, NOR SPRAY IT WITH WATER. (I ruined a LitterMaid because I forgot that important warning.) The litter tray that sits below the housing is easily detached from the mechanical housing; THAT can be washed any old way you choose. (I prefer to wash it in a large laundry sink, or with a garden hose out in my driveway, with some liquid dishwashing detergent.) JUST DON'T GET THE MECHANICAL PART WET! It's best to clean any soiled surface of that housing with a soapy cloth or paper towel (being careful to keep the moisture away from the inside workings of the motor). Those antibacterial wipes that people use to clean bathroom and kitchen surfaces would work also, and I've used baby wipes to clean my LitterMaid in the past. Before you set up the LitterMaid for its first use (and again each time after you wash the litter tray out), I recommend you spray anywhere that waste may touch (the rake, the litter tray, the inside walls, etc.) with silicone spray. (I have tried using baby oil instead, and I know some people use non-stick cooking spray. You will find what works best in your opinion through your own personal experience.) The spray (or baby oil) will make it easier to do the necessary tidy-ups when the waste occasionally sticks to that surface (or the cat pees on the inside wall of the LitterMaid, as one of my cats does sometimes). You WILL have to help the LitterMaid along at times, by unwedging poop or clumps that have gotten stuck between the tines of the rake. But, I imagine that the more often you clean the tray and the rake with the soapy rag or antibacterial wipe (and follow that with the silicone or nonstick spray or baby oil application), the less waste that will stick to the rake or the litter tray. (I work two jobs, so I don't get it washed out as much as I might prefer to.) Still with this minor maintenance, you can keep the LitterMaid handling most of the "hands-on" contact with the waste for you.

In the past, I have had problems with the motor on a previous LitterMaid (so that it started raking slower and with greater reluctance--kind of like a wind-up toy that is winding down). But, that didn't put me off LitterMaids, and I have not encountered that with all of the models I've owned. The cost-benefit ratio of how much it costs versus how much easier it makes my life makes it worthwhile to have around. Also, with the number of times cats can go to the bathroom in your average day, many years of use adds up to a lot of raking that machine has been put through.

So, I recommend LitterMaids to my family and friends, and I hope you give them a shot also. Life is easier when it's there 24/7 to scoop the waste for you.

This is not a set-it and forget-it tool. If you let litter get into the rake's track and don't clean it out for a long time, it gets jammed. I bought ONE of these, 5 years ago, for my THREE cats, and it still works. If you don't think it has enough oomph, you can get a cord that increases the juice to the rake. I have used a name brand clumping litter for the entire time I have had the unit...I didn't even know Litter Maid made litter. And you know what? If your unit breaks, you can use the thing as a regular cat box until your replacement arrives. In conclusion...buy this, clean it (and not just taking the waste out...you have to CLEAN IT) take care of it and change the litter, and you've got a friend for a long time. If you neglect it, you'll have a regular catbox that weighs 9 times as much, but has a swell paw-cleaning ramp.

PS
If your kitty is afraid of noise, I think it's your cat's problem, not the producers of this item. What does your cat do when you vaccuum? This thing makes ahout as much noise as any other small electonic motor...less than an electric toothbrush or pencil sharpener.

I really did not think it would work as good as it did in the TV commercial. Boy was I wrong. We have three cat's and they all love it. The old type of litter box had to be cleaned almost every night or the cats would pick other places. With this now in place yes I have to dump the tray but that is no biggie. It saves litter and it keeps the house smelling much nicer with this system. Why did I put this off for so long? After having had this for a month it has been the best thing we could have done for our cats and my back. Dont you put it off try it and you will not look back. ::: Almost Two months and it is still the greatest since sliced bread. Not once kitty accident since it has been setup. Cats took to it like ducks to water. :::

dray

I have 5 cats. Once I had 5 litter boxes to scoop twice a day. 2 Booda boxes, 2 extra large pans, and a 3-part sifter pan (which I did not like as it dropped used litter all over after you sifted). My life has been transformed by a Litter Maid Mega automatic litter box. All five cats use the same box now.

I use plastic grocery sacks to line the storage container. I put in about 4-5 at once. About once every two days, I just pull the full one out and tie it closed, dress over the litter and make sure the rake is clean. They give you a tool to clean the rake. I use a regular litter rake to make sure any used litter is scraped loose from the bottom of the pan. (One of my boys uses the same spot for every urine break. The litter in that corner sticks to the bottom of the pan.) This whole process takes about 5 minutes.

About once a month, I Dust Buster the mechanical parts and use a bathroom wipe as needed. I have always used disposable blue plastic-lined bed pads under litter boxes so any accidents are easy to take care of. You can get them in the Depends aisle at the drug store -- or search for "underpads" here at Amazon. Accidents are few and far between with the LitterMaid as the sides are very high. I had one dear sweet princess that would, at times, stand in the box with her back-end over the storage container. Until she passed away we just didn't use a lid. The Littermaid even kept her from peeing on the floor.

I clean the whole box about twice a year. The bottom pan pops off. I spray it with bathroom cleaner -- Scrubbing Bubbles -- let it sit a bit and then rinse it with a garden hose. I vacumm the upper (mechanical) part of the pan and then wipe it off with a bathroom cleaning wipe. (The rake will unscrew from the motorized arm and I could soak it in a bucket of Clorox water - but this is a litter box and I am not that fastidious.) All this takes about 20 minutes. Make sure all the parts are bone dry before reloading with new litter.

Some people have had problems with the automatic mechanism jamming, etc. The trick is to not overfill the litter pan. Keep the level between the two red marks. I used a ruler and a red Sharpie to extended the "FULL" mark all the way across the pan so it was easier to tell where the "DO NOT GO ABOVE THIS LINE" was. Secondly you have to use premimum litter. I have had best results with "Scoop Away" litter. I have never tried the Littermaid litter. I have never tried or needed to use silicon spray or Pam cooking spray.

Even though the Scoop Away litter costs more than a store brand, it last longer with the LitterMaid. Because the waste is scooped automatically 10 minutes after the cat uses the box, the litter stays cleaner. Even with 5 cats, we use 7 pound bucket of litter every 2 months or so.

I don't think the sound is too obnoxious -- much quieter than a washing machine or vaccumm -- about equal to a dishwasher. I have the box in the laundry room next to the kitchen. If I hear it working, I say, "Thank God."

To get your cats to accept it very fast: pset it up with litter beside your present box, but leave it unplugged. Manually scoop it for a day or so. Be diligent. Don't scoop the old box at all. Then, plug the Littermaid in, and turn on the switch on to rake, and off when done. Do this for a day or so. Then start leaving the switch on for a few hours and off for a few hours. If the cats go in the Littermaid while the switch is off, go turn it on after they are done and admire their progress. Continue to keep the Littermaid clean all week and leave the old box smelly. The cats naturally prefer a clean box.

I had 18, 19 and 20 year old cats, feral cats, shy cats and nervous cats all learn to use the box in one week with no problems. If you have a cat that is terrorized by a dominant cat and you use two litter boxes -- you may want to leave the scaredy cat his "safe zone" box in place. When I first got the Littermaid, the cats used 5 boxes in different locations around the house. At first I left 3 of them in place. They got less and less use, so I decommissioned one after another -- probably over 6-8 months. Now we just have the Littermaid. I have used the same LM900 Mega since March of 2004.

With one cat it may not be worth the financial investment to have an auto poopy-scooper ($100-150 US). It has added an hour to my life every day -- plus added to my cats' health and well-being so it was well worth it for me.

Best of luck to you and your kittens!

I finally spent the money on one of these litterboxes, and it was definitely worth it. People come over to my apartment and think the litterbox is a waste of money (or that I'm just really lazy), but they always change their minds once they've stayed a few hours and seen it in action. I have three cats who are all very picky about the cleanliness of their litterbox, and they love this. They got used to it quickly, although the first few weeks they would run and stare at it whenever the rake would go through. It's been a few months now, and they don't even notice it anymore. When the litterbox goes through its cycle, it is a little noisy, but you get used to it and it just becomes background noise. Many people will say that you need to use premium (as in super expensive) clumping litter, but I've found any clumping litter works just as well. I use Tidy Cats Multiple Cats and it works fine. Another way to save money is to reuse the waste receptacles. I usually use each one two to four times, and I usually empty the receptacle about every 5-7 days (that's with 3 cats). The only problem I've noticed is that clumps often stick to the rake. So it's a good idea to check it a few times a day to make sure the rake is clean. If the rake has clumps on it, they keep building up until the litterbox is a huge mess. Besides that, this litterbox is awesome. The waste receptacles do an excellent job of sealing in the smell (when you open it to change it, it smells absolutely disgusting) so your house doesn't smell at all. Oh, and be sure to plug the litterbox in. You can use batteries, but you have to use a whole bunch and they only last several days. Well, that's about it! If you're sick of scooping the poop, buy one of these litterboxes. Your cats will thank you, your guests will thank you, and (if you have one) your landlord will thank you!

(This review co-written with the help of my cat)

First my cat's point of view: I was very, very skeptical about using a self-cleaning litter box. I could imagine all the things that might go wrong - the electric "eye" might trigger at the wrong moment. I would not like that and I warned my owner that if this happened, there WOULD be consequences.

I'm glad I took the chance and tried this. Although my owner really was very good about changing the cat box, it was always too stinky. No more....this thing truly is magic!

It works very simply: Once I'm finished, the litter is cleaned and all waste is put in a box, ready and waiting to be disposed of. It is far more sanitary for both me and my human. When I need to use the box, I have the feeling I am stepping into clean, fresh litter. This is everything I expected -and more.

Oh - my human wants me to note that this has lasted for 3 years and is still going strong and that it is a "great value" . Okay, done.

ME: What more can I add?

I just bought the LitterMaid LM920 Mega. It was between this product and the PetMate Purrforma, because those were the two models available at Petsmart and Petco. I decided on the LitterMaid because I read relatively more negative reviews of earlier models of the Purrforma. I also noticed that the newer models of the LitterMaid seemed to get at least middle of the road to positive reviews but I couldn't find very much feedback at all on the new Purrforma. Anyway . . . I am not at all disappointed with my choice. The box works just like it is supposed to. The waste goes into the replaceable cartridges without myself or my wife even having to lift a finger! And our 2 month old kitten took to it no problem, even without the ramp installed (the unit itself is almost too large and adding on the ramp makes it even more bulky). So far so good. If it keeps working like this I will definitely be a happy camper.

We've had this litterbox for four years now with almost no problems. The only problems we've had have been caused by our own laziness, or mistakes we've made.

1. The cat litter you use is directly proportional to the success of the product. We don't believe in using clay littlers, so even before we got the box, we were using "World's Best Cat Litter" which you can get on Amazon for a good price. We have two cats, and have NEVER had anything stick to the rake using this litter -- not even when my cat had diarrhea. And we don't use baby oil or cooking spray on the rake. We also have never had "flying clumps" come out of the box. But our tent flaps would stop it anyway.

2. You still have to pull the bottom out and wash it once a month or so. It's a great unit, but it's not perfect, and in time some stuff will stick to the bottom and impair the rake... but not very often. We only wash ours every month or two. At that time, I also take the hose attachment of my vacuum and vacuum out the tracks of the top part. Works wonders.

3. I'd much rather deal with the soft maintenance issues of this box than spend 5-10 minutes a day raking litter. If you don't want dogs in it, buy the tent. If you don't want to use the cord for aesthetic purposes, use batteries. And I have to say that adding litter to the box is MUCH EASIER than scooping it.

We've had two problems that were our fault. First, we had the unit plugged into a wall switch that was controlled by a light switch. And the light switch accidentally got turned off. Our unit is tented, and we didn't realize it was turned off for several days, which caused a cleaning nightmare

Second, the motor stopped working for a while... but this is because "someone" (coughhusbandcough) thought it would be a good idea to just let the rake clean up after we discovered that the box hadn't been working for a while again after the light switch was accidentally turned off... again. It was too much for the motor, and rather than burn out, it shut itself off. I called into the customer support, and they helped me to get it working again with some cycling procedure. We still have the same unit, and it works brilliantly with no problems since.

Oh, and two more things:

1. My skittish cat got used to the box rather quickly. I too recommend following the suggestions on the insert to acclimate scaredy cats to the box.

2. I have gotten so used to the noise that I totally sleep through it, and the box is in our bedroom right now (small apartment, don't ask).

I travel a lot with my job, so having 2 cats wasn't always easy. I could leave them a big bowl of food and water, and have someone check on them every 3-4 days or so, but litter was a problem. I got my first Littermaid about 10 years ago. I have since bought 2 more. The reviews below are correct, DO NOT rinse the electric portion of the box. Littermaid has made several improvements over the years, such as a completely detachable top instead of having to slide only the bottom tray in and out like before. I did learn my lesson not to spray the electric part, that one I replaced myself. The motors seem to have improved over the last few models, and I highly recommend the Littermaid Mega for 2 cats or more. The motor on my second one went bad though, and instead of paying for a 3rd one, I called Littermaid. I got through immediately, they were extremely nice and helpful, and exceeded my expectations. They simply asked me to cut the cord and send it, along with a couple of other things, and a $15 check. My replacement was in the mail before I could even mail all that stuff out myself!

I have tried the Purrforma by Petmate, and was so disappointed within the first couple of days I sent it back.

I didn't know about a "cord that provides more juice" as stated in a review below, but I would recommend it and am going to check into it myself. However, like I said, over the years Littermaid has made constant improvements and I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever with my latest unit they sent to replace my last one, so the "juicier cord" is not really necessary. As stated in other reviews, you just have to be careful not to overfill. I have almost NEVER had to remove poop from the tines, if I did I just used the edge of the regular pooper scooper to knock it back down into the litter. I also use the lining the scoop tray with a bag method. I purchase the smallest (4 gallon) bags at your grocery store, and the scented kind really help! I wouldn't buy the bags made for litterboxes, they're too big and WAY too expensive. A small box of 4 gallon trash bags costs me around $2.50 for 10-20 bags or more.

As for litter getting all around the edge of the box, that is true. To avoid that I simply purchased a large mat or rug. I think I paid $5 at Dollar General or something. Make sure it is large enough to extend at least 6 inches from the side of the litterbox, and in front of the paw cleaning ramp. So, when I'm vacuuming I use my upholstery attachment to vacuum around it; or if I'm not vacuuming I just move the litterbox over, roll the mat up, take it outside and shake it off--that does the trick. I put the box in my laundry room so now I can't hear it and because it's pretty well ventilated I don't smell the litter at all.

Take care of it, read the instructions, and don't be an idiot and you'll love the Littermaid!

With 5 cats, I could NEVER keep up with the scooping and cleaning of a regular litter box. With the LitterMaid, I no longer have the problem of dirty boxes. I use baby oil (the cheap kind) to spray on the rake and directly underneath the plastic container. Helps tremendously with sticking problems, although debris does still stick to the rake. I also line the plastic container so they can be used over and over. While there certainly are some problems with this product, overall the pluses far outweigh any minuses.