The CatGenie and Other Automatic Litter Boxes.

I received some promotional material from a company that makes the "CatGenie" automatic "self-flushing, self -washing" cat box. This sounds great but the mechanism seems a little complicated and I'd worry about it being prone to malfunctioning. I'm sure the company can supply comments from satisfied customers. It will be interesting to see if there are comments in response to this column from customers who have had problems.

The CatGenie looks a lot like a small toilet, and must be hooked up to a water supply, which involves a little elementary plumbing work. It also has a drain tube that must be connected to a toilet or other drain. You have to set it up in a corner of a bathroom or somewhere else that has an accessible water pipe and floor drain.

It uses a special type of litter that does not absorb any of the waste. Periodically, an automatic scoop on an arm-like mechanism reaches into the bowl of litter and scoops out the urine clumps solid waste, which is somehow liquefied so it all goes down the drain. Another mechanism washes the litter, and there is a third mechanism that blow-dries the litter.

If all these mechanisms work reliably, and if your cat finds the CatGenie acceptable, I think it would be well worth the $300 price tag, and the work or cost involved in setting it up.

I found other automatic boxes on the Internet. The "Litter Robot" also has an automatic mechanism for scooping the litter, but it is quite simple. It uses clumping cat litter. The litter box is covered and the scoop is hidden in the upper part of the cover. A timer starts the scooping a few minutes after the cat leaves the box. The scoop rotates down through the litter, and the clumps and sold waste are raked out. As the scoop continues to rotate, the clumps and waste fall into a drawer in lower part of the box that is lined with an ordinary plastic garbage bag. You have to empty the bag periodically, and replenish the litter, but there is no plumbing required. It also costs about $300.

The "Omega Paw Self Cleaning Box" works on the same principle as the "Litter Robot" except it doesn’t automatically rotate. You have manually roll the whole box over 360 degrees and the litter falls into a lower drawer, lined by a garbage bag. The price tag is $30 for the small size, $37 for the large size.

The "Simple Clean Litter Box" has an automatic mechanism that scoops the litter continuously. The round litter box is on a sort of "Lazy Susan" turntable that rotates very slowly in a horizontal plane. The scooping takes place as the litter box rotates through a covered section, and the waste drops into a garbage bag in a lower box.

In local stores (PetCo and Bob's Pet and Pond) I found self-scooping litter boxes - the Petmate Purrforma (about $190) and the Littermaid Mega (About $160). I found customer ratings of each on the PetSmart website. Neither has a good rating - 2 out of 5 stars - but Littermaid is rated slightly higher, and PetCo told me I could return it for a full refund if I didn't like it. I'll let you know in a future column how it works out.

Whatever you do, be careful changing to a new litter or litter box system. Some cats are fussy about where they poop and pee. I'd keep the old system available for a while, so your cat doesn't start using your carpet.