LitterMaid LM500 Automated Litter Box

by LitterMaid

Product Features

• Automatically rakes waste into sealable container 10 minutes after use
• Plugs into wall socket or operates with eight D-cell batteries (not included)
• Four reusable/disposable waster containers included
• Detachable litter tray for convenient cleaning
• 23-1/2 inches long, 16-1/2 inches wide, 8-1/2 inches high

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 24 x 18 x 10 inches ; 10 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00005MF9T
• Item model number: LM500
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (220 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,103 in Pet Supplies (See Top 100 in Pet Supplies)
  • #12 in Pet Supplies > Dogs > Litter & Housebreaking > Litter Boxes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

This self-cleaning litter box eliminates most odors while keeping the litter pleasingly fresh for tabby. It's ingenious in design: a cat entering the box triggers a sensor; the sensor sets a timer that counts off 10 minutes; then a rake runs through the litter, scooping out clumps and depositing them in a plastic container at the box's end; the container is automatically sealed until the next cat visit, when the raking cycle opens the container for another deposit. (Four reusable/disposable containers are included.) The litter box can be plugged into a wall socket (AC adapter included) or operated on eight D-cell batteries (not included). For safety, the rake stops and reverses at the slightest touch if an object gets behind the rake while it's returning to its home position. If a cat re-enters the box before the initial 10 minutes have elapsed, the timer automatically resets. The litter box is made of hard plastic and measures 23-1/2 inches long, 16-1/2 inches wide, and 8-1/2 inches high. For proper operation, it requires premium clumping litter but does not need as much as a nonautomated litter box of the same size. For cleaning, the litter tray can be detached. Instructions for acclimating a cat to the box are included. --Fred Brack

Product Description

Plastic automatic litter box, Simple style and smart design eliminates scooping and odor with carbon air filtering, Safety bar stops unit if animal jumps in during operation, Assembly required; comes with AC adapter and removable standardsize litter pan, 9.25Hx17.5Wx24D"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

256 of 260 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Product, December 31, 2001

By 

Mrmxwll (Rocky Mountains) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LitterMaid LM500 Automated Litter Box (Kitchen)

i'm a cat lover of the first order, and presently own
4 Himalayan Seal Points.
this product is a dream come true.
with a little care and common sense, it does everything they say it does.

after years of digging and scratching around in litter
boxes myself, it's a joy to own something that brings the process into the 21st Century.

some thoughts:
use the premium litters they recommend. anything else, and you'll
be cleaning the rake and scraping the bottom of the tray more often than would be necessary.

spray the bottom of the tray with silicone from time to time.
it makes the operation much smoother.

don't overfill it. the cats will naturally form mounds in the litter, in the process of trying to "bury" their waste,
so smooth the litter around in the tray now and then, to keep it even.

keep the unit set on a piece of old carpet, and keep a hand-vac nearby. small granules make litter tracking a little more of an issue.

forget about the tent.
if you like to keep the box as clean as your cats probably like to have it, the tent makes the box impossible to get to, and work around in.

the disposable trays are very handy. they're stiff plastic. line them with a small garbage bag, or wash them out and reuse them. throwing them out every time is an expensive proposition.

keep your supply of litter next to the box. (i store it in one of
those plastic stackable bins.) as the volume of litter is reduced
just add more as needed. you'll be dumping the whole tray a lot less often.

with 4 cats, i clean the entire unit about once every two weeks.
i use a lot less litter, and spend almost no time dealing with the waste itself.
any issue with smell is easily dealt with by sprinkling a little
baking soda in the waste receptcle from time to time.

all in all it's a very fine product, that makes caring for your
pets much more efficient.

162 of 165 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could be better, but it's the best there is..., December 5, 2001

By 

derry (Tacoma, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LitterMaid LM500 Automated Litter Box (Kitchen)

I've used the littermaid for several years and find it reliable and easy to use. With two indoor cats and a schedule that takes me away from home for several days at a time, the littermaid has saved me a lot of hassels. If one cat didn't clean up after himself the other cat may decide to use the bathtub or the floor next to the litterbox for it's toilet, this problem was solved by the regular raking of the littermaid.
It does require a thorough cleaning from time to time, but this mainly occurs when I'm not diligent about daily or subweekly checks. If there's too little litter the litter will not form an easily rakeable clump. The litter remains wet and will either cling to the rake or harden to the bottom of the box and require manual scraping to dislodge.
If there's too much litter, the rake cannot rake to the end and will cycle continuouly, creating a mound of litter or eventually stop until enough litter is removed and redistributed to work with only one cycle. It's difficult to know when it's too full, and I keep a plastic cup close by to remove excess litter when I overfill. By shutting off the switch and restaring the littermaid you can see if the rake cycles correctly (without waiting the 10 minutes it takes for it to automatically cycle.)

So, until they come up with something better I'll make the following suggestions: 1) use high quality clumping litter, 2)don't overfill 3)Make sure there's enough litter so your cat can't dig a hole that exposes or allows any liquid to reach the plastic bottom 4)keep a small vacuum cleaner (Dust Buster, Dirt Devil,etc.)nearby to vacuum any loose litter off the floor and the track path of the rake and 5)For economy and I find it easier, line the "disposable" collection trays with a 4 gallon garbage bag or small plastic shopping bag. When the tray is full, remove the bag for garbage disposal and reline the tray with another bag. (I've never had to buy additional trays in 7+ years.)

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars product stops functioning correctly over the long term, March 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: LitterMaid LM500 Automated Litter Box (Kitchen)

We have two young cats and the LitterMaid box worked well for us for approximately 3 or 4 months before extended kitty use took its devestating toll on it.

1. Cats scratch up the litter which then ends up in the tracks the cleaning comb moves in. Litter and other debris (you know what I mean :-) can gum up the tracks and prohibit the comb from sweeping all the way across the litter box. Fixing this requires a major, detailed cleaning which is hard to do well and not risk damaging the electronic components of the box. Aside from the "cleaning the box thoroughly" issue (see #2 below), prior to cleaning the product it will sometimes get stuck in this loop where it continually tries to keep push comb down the track, get jammed, detect this, and then retry only to fail again. It effectively prohibits the cats from using the litter box until you fix it by unplugging it and waiting a few seconds and plugging it back in. This is disasterous when it happens while you are not home for several hours -- say at work all day.

2. Cats often don't pee directly down into the litter. Our male cat hit the sensors, tracks, etc... There were two consequences: (a) you have to be very careful cleaning out the sensors and wiring to make sure the water doesn't damage the electronic components of the box -- this was a huge pain and very easy to screw up and (b) and in the end, even if you are diligent about trying to keep the electronics clean, dry and functioning, I don't think they are designed to handle long term exposure to the pee. In the end, all the sensors and electonics simply stopped functioning for us, making it a very expensive regular litter box which is hard to clean.