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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 39 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
96 of 97 found the following review helpful:
 Best litterbox I have used hands down. Jan 05, 2011
By bobaroo
I have owned 3 of these with 4 different large (up to 16 lbs) cats and a variety of litter types. I would like to echo Esther G.'s review - this box is amazing if used "correctly"!!
I'll try and explain another way for the sake of repetition.
This system comes with 2 bottoms: at any time one bottom contains the litter (let's call this the "active box") and the other is empty (the "standby box"). The boxes fit inside of eachother so the standby is stored below the active box. In fact, the lid won't seal properly unless the boxes and sifter are all stacked together in a nice package.
There are two major ways to use the system - the NASTY WAY and the AWESOME WAY:
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NASTY WAY (most people do this):
Most everyone leaves the sifter inside the active box so that the litter itself is sitting inside the sifter. The sifter, in turn, sits inside the active box. From top to bottom we have:
SIFTER (contains litter)
ACTIVE
STANDBY
When it's time to change the litter, people simply pull the sifter out and dump the contents into the trash. The sifter then goes into the standby box and the (cleaned) litter is dumped from one box to the other. What was previously the active box is now the standby box and everything gets re-stacked like before.
This is the most obvious way and I think the product literature even suggests this. However, there is a small gap between the sifter and active box which leaves room for liquid to gather below (and around) the sifter. Clumping litter will clump *around* the holes in the sifter and create clogs. This also allows for some small clumps to gather on the inside walls of the box - these get smeared over time. After a week or two, you're left with a messy, stinky box and a sifter that needs lots of attention.
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AWESOME WAY (everyone should do this):
You can eliminate the clumping inside the sifter if you don't leave the sifter sitting in the litter!!
You can order the boxes like this:
ACTIVE (contains litter)
SIFTER
STANDBY
When it's time to clean, you simply pull the active box out and pour its contents (including clumped waste) into the sifter (which is sitting inside the standby box). Next, you pull the sifter out like you would have done for the NASTY WAY. The sifter now contains all the waste but, since it hasn't been sitting in the waste, doesn't have any clumps or clogs!! Throw away the waste, put the sifter into the empty box, and stack everything up. Voila! You're done.
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I have 2 cats sharing 1 of these boxes. I can completely clean the box in less than 1 minute using this method. This allows me to clean the box every day without trouble. I change out the litter once every few weeks, rub down the insides every few months and do a deep clean maybe twice a year.
That's seriously low maintenance and I have the cleanest box of anyone I know!! That includes those with fancy auto-cleaning systems!
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 a must have for owners of many cats Oct 13, 2008
By Nicholas A. Evans
"software craftsman"
I love this litter box. It lets me finish my most dreaded chore (cleaning six litter boxes for four cats) in only a few minutes. And since the chore now has less dread associated with it, I'm likely to do it more often (like I'm supposed to), which makes it easier still (and makes for happier kitties!). I dread cleaning every litter box other than these, so I'm in the process of replacing all of our litter boxes with this type.
My only major complaint is that I can't find it (or something like it) in an extra large size, and one of our cats really needs an extra large litter box (he sometimes misses when he uses the smaller boxes).
Is it something you should buy? I don't know. Please read the other (less positive) reviews. The complaints that others have are real. My wife has similar complaints, and doesn't really like these boxes. But it's my job to clean the kitty litter, so this is my review. ;-) I've dealt with a couple of mechanical self-cleaning litter boxes in the past, and keeping them clean was far more of a hassle than this litter box.
One reviewer mentioned that "tipping it over even a large trash receptacle is awkward and messy." I have a different approach: once the litter has been sifted, I place the tray (with the waste) into the empty pan, and place the entire thing into the mouth of a large garbage bag before pouring it out. There's no mess at all with this strategy.
The slots in the sifting pan *do* get clogged if your cat pees a lot. I solve this by banging the tray and empty pan against the wall or floor a couple of times (while inside the garbage bag), and it always gets out the wet litter. It also helps if you put a thin layer of baking soda on the bottom after most cleanings (before adding back the litter). Since the large clumps wet litter is less likely break up while sifting with this tray than when sifting with a scoop, the litter also stays cleaner for longer.
A minor complaint: the swinging door is flimsy and was both too stiff (so the cats tended to avoid that box) and it kept falling off, so I just pulled it off.
I haven't used the "Omega Paw Self Cleaning Litter Box" (probably linked under "What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?"). But I'll be buying one of those soon, to compare, because they have such positive reviews.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 DO NOT use with pine pellets! Jul 25, 2011
By J. Bell
I got this box as an experiment for use with a type of Pine Pellet litter. For anyone who uses pine pellet litter, we know it does wonders to get rid of tracking issues and smells great, but the urine breaks the pellets down into a soggy and smelly sawdust. I didn't want to buy the Feline Pine sifting box because it lacks a hood. My room mates have dogs who like to go after the "kitty crunchies", and having a hood greatly reduces odor and the unwanted sight of your beloved pet taking a deuce in the middle of your apartment's kitchen.
Anyway, my thinking was I could fill this with the pellets and sift out the urine soaked sawdust while the pellets remained on top, and scoop the solid waste.
Bad idea. The holes are JUST too big to keep the pellets from sifting through. So don't bother if you're thinking this is the miracle solution like I did.
So I bit the bullet and bought a Breeze system, which I will be using with the pine pellets instead of the type that comes with it. I'm going to try and jerry rig the hood of this litter box on top of the Breeze which has similar measurements.
God help me. God help us all.
Update: The breeze system was a complete fail. I do not recommend it at all.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
good-but not perfect Aug 03, 2007
By T. Nirider
This system of litter box cleaning is much better than scooping by hand, especially with multiple cats. However, as all things, it's not perfect. Some of the clumps do get stuck in the sifter (especially when urine is fresh) and I end up having to wipe down anyway. Outside of buying an electronic self-cleaning litter box (about which I've not read great things), this systems does the job pretty painlessly.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Not quite worth it Apr 19, 2009
By J. Seamans
When I first saw this in the store I thought it was a great idea and a possible time saver, even at the higher price than other traditional litter boxes. The extra money would be worth the time saving. When I brought it home and started to use it I was disappointed.
First, the grate holes in the sifting screen are too large and so much of the smaller clumps fall through you have to scoop anyway. The clumps that fall through are so small that they fall through a regular hand-held scoop as well, I had to find a strainer that would work. Also, the grate gets easily clogged and you have to clear it out. The other thing that I find really annoying is that the lid system does not seal well so litter was falling out the back as my cat tossed litter around in the box. This added a chore that I never had before, cleaning in back of the litter box.
All in all I don't think this product has saved me any time or made the job of cleaning out the box any easier. It actually created more work. I will replace it with a traditional litter box and send this one to the recycling bin. I really would not recommend it.
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