| Never touch cat litter again. The new and unique CatGenie self-flushing, self-washing cat box grants the cat lover's wish to never scoop, touch, buy or change cat litter again. Instead of traditional litter, the high-tech CatGenie uses permanent Washable Granules that never need changing. For cats, CatGenie is just like using a clean litter box. The Washable Granules satisfy your cat's need to dig and cover. When your cat goes, liquids drain through the Granules, which don't clump or create waste. Touch a button or pre set the timer to start the wash cycle. The solid waste is automatically scooped, liquefied, and flushed down the drain. Using water and the veterinarian-approved SaniSolution, the CatGenie scours and sanitizes the Granules and cat box interior to eliminate germs and odors. A built-in dryer blows hot air over the Granules to dry them for your cat's comfort. The CatGenie acts like a cat box, washes and dries like an appliance, and flushes waste out of the home like a toilet. A one-time, DIY connection to a cold-water supply line from a sink, toilet, or laundry and you're set. T-adapters for laundry or bath are supplied. CatGenie is the only automatic cat box that's just like your cat, completely self-washing. |
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 Convenient, but be prepared |
| Review Date: November 16, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Kyle Davis, |
I have two cats, one 5yo and one 2yo, both female. I got the Cat Genie for them, after dealing with several other auto-scooping litter boxes that broke after maybe 6 months each.
In terms of cleanliness and maintenance, this is a great product. If you can put it in your laundry room, you'll be much happier than if you put it into a bathroom that sees any kind of frequent use. If you DO put it into a bathroom, make sure you flush the toilet at least once a day (but NOT while the cat genie is in a cleaning cycle!)
Some words of warning:
1) the little plastic pellets that act as "litter" get all over the floor. You'll have to sweep them up occasionally and dump them back into the bowl for cleaning. This isn't from the cats kicking them up, it's from the normal cleaning cycle ... there's a mechanism to shake the rake free of pellets, which causes some to scatter.
2) Be prepared for a long adjustment period with your cats. The 2yo took to it pretty well, but the older cat had a hard time. She used a laundry basket, a bathroom rug, and my bed before she finally came to grips with it and started using the genie. (Laundry hint: white vinegar in the washer gets out the smell of cat urine!)
Now that the cats have adjusted and I've gotten used to the new sounds and smells of cleaning (the cleaning solution has a potent but not terrible smell), I'm happy with this product. |
Must have for any cat owner
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| Review Date: June 11, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Ryan Turner, |
I have now owned 2 versions of a self washing cat box: a Litter Free, and now a Cat Genie. The Litter Free, while not perfect, made me appreciate how nice it is not to tend a litter box. However, that unit had plenty of flaws, and a newly formed company engineered a better unit that fixed a lot of the issues the Litter Free.
I purchased the unit in September of 2006. I am on my 10th month. Up until recently, I was not the happiest person with the unit... I had a lot of clogging issues. Had I given up on the unit a few months ago, my review would have been very mixed, with the unit failing to process its daily duties a few times a month. However, I knew the company was working on some improvements to the most common issues, and my patience was rewarded (more on this later).
If you read the other reviews, you probably have an idea how the unit works. Up to 4 times a day the unit will clean the box. First, the stool is removed by a scoop. The stool is dumped into a processing unit. The litter box is filled with water, which also fills the stool processing bin with water. There is an impeller which spins the stool around the processor, that dissolves the waste, and then the waste water is pumped out through your sewer connection. The unit is filled with water and flushed several times. During the last flushing, a sanitizing solution is dispensed into the water. Once that water is removed, the litter is dried, and the process is done. This takes about 30 minutes.
There were two big problems that affected some early purchasers of the box. Due to a packing issue with the original unit, some buyers got warped bowls that would not spin properly. This wasn't a hard fix. You either got a new bowl with their excellent customer service, or they walked you through a process to unwarp the bowl. The packing issue was resolved, and this is no longer a problem. The biggest issue was clogging of the water exhaust line from undissolved stool. Not only did it stop the show, but the unit would not drain (leaving it filled with water), but cleaning up this mess is not fun. This is the part of my Cat Genie experience which was not fun. I have a single cat that uses the litter box once a day. Her stool is small and hard. It was clogging a lot. I found a dietary solution before the mechanical solution came out. I bought her food high in fiber, which softened the stool, and the unit processed without any failures for 2 months. That seemed to do it. Then the makers of Cat Genie came out with a new impeller. It prevented the hardened small stool from making it into the water drain line before it had been properly reduced. From all the comments I am reading from owners on forums where litter boxes are discussed, this fixed just about all those problems. People that had nightmares before replaced the impeller (again, all under warranty) to have the unit operating correctly without issue.
The Cat Genie folks said that the actual number of people with the clogging issues was a small percentage, but they are very vocal group.
The biggest problem I now have with the box is the plastic granules that get tracked through my house. The company is going to have some mats that catch these granules as the cat gets out to help mitigate this, but at the time of this review, they were not available. I think the price of the supplies is reasonable, and cheaper than buying normal litter on a regular basis.
You should read other reviews for information on cat acclimation to this box. My cat was raised on plastic litter granules. That is all she knows, and has not problem using this box. So for that reason, I can't really tell you much about in this area.
One thing I want to note for people on the fence: You get a 90 day money back guarantee if you don't like it. The customer service for this unit is TOP NOTCH. They will do just about anything to make you happy. The unit has a 2 year warranty, which is better than just about any major appliance you could buy. Assuming your cat adjusts to the box, this will make a noticeable improvement to the quality of your life.
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Worth it, for me.
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| Review Date: October 29, 2007 |
| Reviewer: RINNY, New York |
Cat Genie uses reusable plastic cat littler; drains cat pee; rakes cat poop and liquifies it; then pumps it out to your toilet; uses cold water and sanitizer to then wash, scrub, sanitize and dry cat litter leaving a fresh clean box for your cat(s) daily.
Pros:
1 Never have to buy and carry large bags of cat litter again.
2 Dust Free.
3 Fresh clean box once or twice daily, depending on how many times you want to run it (recommended one time per cat per day).
4 Never need to scrub and wash a litter box again.
5 Never carry heavy dirty litter to the trash again.
6 Easy Hook Up.
Cons:
1. HUGE. (The thing takes up a good portion of my bathroom but then again I live in an apartment and have a small bathroom so if you have a large bathroom or better yet an extra bathroom or a laundry room, this won't be a con for you)
2. Hoses are rather cumbersome if you don't need the entire length of them (which in a small bathroom, I don't).
3. The rake can miss the cat poop (which means the cat poop gets washed, scrubbed and dried - which for me meant burning three glade candles, scooping the missed pieces of cat poop, and rerunning a wash cycle to get rid of the awful smell which was probably toxic).
4. Not entirely scoop-free... See con #3; I never want to smell that smell again and will probably scoop the poop before running--not a huge deal since you are in the bathroom anyway and the litter is flushable. Also, since it's dust free you're not inhaling the dust of normal cat litter.
5. The box drains the cat pee into a bucket underneath the litter bowl (it has small drain holes in it); Also the cat poop is left in the bowl until either you run a wash cycle or it runs automatically at the time you set up. So, since the litter is non-aborbent, it won't temporarily cover the smell like normal cat litter does. But still, the whole scenario smells so much better than normal used litter in a box.
6. Buy a dust buster, the plastic re-usable litter is lightweight and will be tracked out of the box. In this way, it's very much like normal cat litter but it doesn't stick to the floor like regular cat litter and is easier to clean/ vacuum. You can't really sweep and toss the litter back in the bowl because you don't want to be adding cat hair you might have swept up as well for the next reason I will mention.
7. Brush, brush, brush your cat gently down the back. Cat hair is in poop and cat hair can supposedly cause clogs and drains in this machine. It hasn't happened to me but I did notice cat hair in the toilet after I ran the machine. Catgenie specifically tells you to make sure you brush your cat to limit the amount of hair he ingests and passes through in his feces. (See con #4 - another reason to scoop poop)
8. It takes half hour to run completely (and apparently my cat could not hold it until the machine finished and decided to pee in the puppy's bed instead - poor Oscar).
9. Expensive. Supposedly in the long run - in years - it will be cheaper than the normal litter box set-up, but with the expensive supplies, I haven't worked out if this is true or not.
10. If the company goes out of business, you're out of luck with refilling your supplies (litter and sanitizer) so stock up.
11. When the machine dries the litter, expect your whole bathroom to be nice and toasty. This could be a pro as well, I guess.
12. Ugly hose permanently over your toilet. Live with it or buy a normal litter box.
13. Sometimes the draining can cause splashing in your toilet and you may find some mess on your toilet seat (very minor, few droplets, no big deal).
Notes:
My cats adjusted quite nicely to it - very surprising since I have one cat who is nervous and would never use an automatic rake litter box because he was scared of it. I prevented him being scared of it by closing the bathroom door when it's running so he won't have a clue. The other cat was strange about it, would use it and then retreat to his next favorite spot (bathroom floor) and pee there. He always did this, regardless of which box was used. I prevented this by placing tin foil (and scrubbing lemon oil on top with a cotton ball) on the floor where he likes to pee and it hasn't happened since. I think his peeing on the floor was out of habit instead of being scared of the new box. Also, my cats aren't exactly small (they take after me), yet the bowl is big enough for them.
I decided on scooping poop before running it for reasons #1 so the rake doesn't miss it and wash and dry it #2 prevent clogging in the hoses #3 save on sanitizing fluid. I have two cats, so by scooping the poop I only run it once a day to drain the urine and wash the litter. Like I said, I don't mind this since the litter is dust-free and flushable.
For my personal situation, the pros I listed very much outweigh all of the cons for me - especially never having to drag boxes of cat litter to my apartment from my parking spot or dragging dirty litter out to the trash. I just listed out as many cons as I could think of so you would know what to expect. I have only had it almost a week so I haven't had any mechanical failures but based on other reviews I have read, it seems to be hit or miss. Some people have had a wonderful experience while others have had breakdowns, more than once and on more than one replacement machine. We shall see, knock on wood or a cat's head. (I will however, go out and buy emergency normal litter and a pan in case I find myself looking at cat litter swimming in a bowl of water if the machine breaks down on me.) When I spoke to a customer service rep, he said to me "make sure the litter is drying completely"... well, that made me nervous and made me expect a problem in the future.
And come to think of it, already, a normal litter box sounds so ancient to me and I will never return to one as long as this machine keeps on kickin'. I predict simplified, smaller and better versions will come along in years to come.
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