Typical internet cats. Videos, pics, memes, and discussion welcome!
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I've had the non internet connected one for a few years, and overall I like it a lot. There've been a couple of maintenance issues, but all in all I was able to fix them myself with youtube tutorials.
Mine tends to go about a week and a half to 2 weeks between emptying it out, and it does smell a bit by 2 weeks. I've thought about rigging it up to have a larger bin, but then I'd have to carry a larger bag of refuse out.
Ours is connected, and the one reason we like that function is for trips. We hook up a camera to point at it, and then if it seems like it has a fault or something, we can force it to reset or cycle. Worst case scenario is that we turn it off and then on again from the app. So far it’s always managed to fix it, all remotely. We have one very prissy cat (out of three) which is why we got it in the first place, so if we know the person checking in on them won’t be coming soon, it’s nice to know that they won’t arrive to a mess from a pity party.
All that being said, the price is still a gut punch. Even with the privilege to afford it, you’re still spending an obscene amount of money on a computerized shit receptacle.
Does the Internet connected one require an account and specific company app or something? Or is this something I could block from Internet access and connect to Home Assistant so I can deal with it over VPN instead?
It has an app, but I am fairly sure home assistant can work with it. I connected it to a similar program a couple years ago and had some limited functionality.
Looked at the home assistant docs (not sure why I didn't just do that first lol) and looks like it would be a cloud push integration (requires the external account) :( so continued waiting game for me unless there's a custom firmware someone has out there.
I’ve had the litter robot 4 for a little over a year and I love it. I have 3 cats and it’s so nice only having to empty a waste bag every few days instead of scooping every day. Totally worth the high cost if you hate cleaning litter boxes.
Note that this is the older model. There is a Litter Robot 4 now, and it’s much quieter and has additional features like weight tracking.
I personally think they’re a huge quality of life improvement. When my old model 3 gave up after something like 5 years, I ordered a new one the same day. Scooping is gross and tiresome, and if you like to travel on short notice, this can buy you about 4 days for two cats or 7-8 days for one if you also have an automatic feeder (much cheaper than this) or free feed them. By that point, it’s almost nice to get a sitter just so your cat(s) won’t get lonely while you’re away.
Yes, it’s expensive. But if you spend 5 minutes a day scooping, that’s about 1800 minutes a year or 30 hours. In my experience, the units last at least 4 years usually. Up to you.
My sister in law has one (I named it the Space Shittle) and she hasn’t had any issues with it for the year she’s had it and I have to admit that it’s a pretty nifty gadget. Personally, I continue to scoop because it’s a pretty hefty price tag for replacing 5 minutes of work a day.
If you can afford it, get it.
Greatly reduces smell and there's no more arguing on whose turn it is to clean the litter box. Not to mention scooping poop is just gross. You just put a bag in the bottom, and replace it when it says it's full. To clean the litter box the sphere comes off the base and has no electronics in it so you can clean it with a hose outside. At this point I couldn't go back to a normal litter box, they sell parts to fix it should you ever need to (got mine ~3 years ago and no issues) but even if I couldn't fix it with replacement parts I'd be getting a new one.
Only disadvantages in my mind are, it's a bit bigger than a normal litterbox, it needs to be near into an outlet, and my cat took a bit of time before he liked it.
Overall, this is something that I tell everyone they need if they tell me they have cats.
I have one and like it. Instead of sifting and dealing with cleaning on a regular basis, I basically just have to empty a bag and top up the litter once a week or so and spray the globe down about once every other month. The only negative thing about the new model is sometimes if the cat is pointed in a specific way, urine sent towards the front will drip through the system and wind up below the collection tray. My cat also sometimes stands in such a way that he'll poop on a slope causing it to roll towards his back paws and get in on his paws or tail due to the lack of room. Ymmv. It's still worth having to me.
I havd the same thoughts before we got one. After using it a couple months I am happy with it.
And I thought the $45 I spent on a metal litter box was excessive! At least the metal box I have will outlive every cat I ever have, I’d be surprised if the self scooping ones last more than 5 years.