I have cats. Two of ‘um. I once got one of those LitterMaid things, but after a few days, I realized it was a lot more complicated than just changing the litter box manually. Sure it’s a gross chore, but it’s nothing difficult.
So I’m sure you can anticipate my reaction for this new cat poop accessory. That’s right, in the spirit of LitterMaid comes the Cat Genie Automatic Litter Box. And it takes it so much further than the LitterMaid.
Rather than simply scooping the poop and placing it neatly into a little poop container for you to dispose of (read: throw over the fence into your neighbor’s yard), it actually connects to your home plumbing to send turds sailing toward the sea. It also sprays some sort sanitation juice to make it all less yick.
Now, I’m not going to consider all of the possible problems here. Just let me point out two. First, look at the size of the of the box. Cats are weird with litter boxes. They might get in it, but if it’s small, they’ll gladly just crap over the side (then they’ll scrape the floor to cover it with nothing). Secondly, who the hell has a phantom pipe sticking somewhere convenient just for a litter box? Oh and it costs $350. GG.
Product Page [via Gizmodo]
Poop. Turds. Crap. I appreciate you keeping the post fresh by using various B.M. synonyms. Well done!
I almost bought one of these the other day until I thought about two facts – where is the pipe that I will hook up to this thing, it’s too small – my cats will crap over the side. Nice in theory, but a few more bugs to work out. I bought a littermaid instead.
This is the one thing that I hate about blogs. People post things as facts that are factually incorrect. No problem with opinion after you know the facts. So, as an owner of the CatGenie I will tell you.
1. Bigger area than the Littermaid.
2. Pipe? It took me 15 minutes to set-up in my bathroom and it involves no plumber or crazy hook-up. Go to the website and see how to set it up VERY EASY.And, if I wanted to I could have put it into my laundry room.
3. Cats (2) love it and took to it no problem and I know I am not the only one with such success.
Also the price from the product page you referenced is WRONG it sell for $299.99. The price you posted was from either Ebay and some hack that is overpriced on Amazon becaue for a while they were backordered and anyone that got more units were trying to sell them for a premium.
read more: http://www.catgenie.com
This is the best thing made for our cat. It is NOT too small for a cat. It is just as large, but round, as most boxes. For a pipe, I have it in a closet next to the laundry and it reaches the washer pipe/drain well, and that washer on the other side of the dryer that is next to the closet.
Don’t guess at how things work. Ask someone who has one.
Excellent product, bought one in July and regret not purchasing this wonderful invention sooner.
i have two large cats and both use the catgenie with ease. I also love the automatic setting feature that begins the cleaning process… great for those times I am out of town etc…
great product- that works for me!
NOT WORTH IT. I own one and it breaks or clogs every other day. I have it on the MAXIMUM cleaning cycle amount (4 times a day). I only have two cats and both are short haired. YOU ARE GARUNTEED to be up to your elbows in what catgenie owners lovingly call “poop soup” (google it). I didn’t believe it until I had to handle a batch of my own. Then AGAIN three days later….and AGAIN two days after that! BUYER BEWARE
I am sorry to hear you had problems with clogging. Have you tried calling customer service, you may need to upgrade to the TurboHopper, it is available on their website for only $10
I have to agree with Avi. I have 1 short hair cat and am dealing with “3 beeps and an error code” almost on a daily basis. We clean the Hopper all the time. It doesn’t drain properly. I have called the customer service and they are NO help. I could tell one of the people I talked to was reading from a script. Worthless. I spent all this money hoping not to have to mess with litter and end up messing with crap soup on a too-often basis. We have had it now for just over 2 months and have had a ton of problems, have taken completely apart to clean at least half a dozen times. We are lucky and are going to be sending it back for a refund because we are within the 90 days of purchase. I want so want to have a catgenie without the problems so we’re going to get another one in the hopes that the first one is just a dud. Wish us luck!
so….have you gotten the new one? how does it work? this thing sounds too good to be true but your post makes me wonder?
Sorry to hear you had regular challenges with the CatGenie. We’ve only had ours about two months, and I have to admit that we went though a learning curve, both for one and three beep errors. The one beep error is manageable by regularly cleaning the water sensor (the long clear plastic rods connected at one end). The three beep error seems to happen after our cats are allowed outside and chew on grass, etc. I’ve had to take the hopper apart a few times; yuck. But in the end, we much prefer occasional hopper cleaning to dealing with all of the other options.
On the poop soup, it is very easy not to get into it. On the old style, simply take the drain hose out and back flush. Then place the drain back in. The new style doesn’t have this problem and the items are available at a very low cost to retro-fit the rest.
The NEW CatGenie 120 is now available at http://www.catgenie.com
wonderful product