Has anyone know if this will work with small dogs. I'm considering litter training a shih tzu.

I think the Cat Genie offers an interesting alternative but I'm wondering that the monthly cost is especially when you are buying a proprietary solution and have to replace the granules with some regularity.

I love the cat genie, but 2 of the 4 cats wouldn\'t use it. And we had a heck of a time getting a 3rd to use it. My 16 year old cat took right to it, but the younger 9month old kitties didn\'t. The 4th cat was 16 as well, but she doesn\'t count, she was.. touched.

Anyhow, to answer the last guy, I now have 2 cats and run it twice a day. A cartridge lasts for a month that way and it costs 14 bucks, 11 if you find them on sale. I would suggest getting the catGenie paws it saves all the cat litter when it\'s kicked out and there\'s so much less mess. Pretty much what you spend on litter a month.

I have had the Cat Genie for about a year and a half. I only have one cat, but I would have to say it is the best investment I have made! Before this I used that Auto Rake Litter box. While better then having to use the scoop, it was still messy and required regular cleaning and supplies!

In the year and a half I have had the cat genie I have only had to spend about 30 min cleaning it 2 times! It is a pretty easy cleaning process you should do every 6 months. Other then that every 60 days I have to put a new cartridge in and every 4 months I add about 1/2 a box of granules.

With only one cat I set the Cat Genie to run once a day at 11AM when I am almost never home. We can no go on vacation and not worry about having someone change the litter... we just have a neighbor kid come and check on water and food, but they do not have to clean the box! I have never come home and smelled the cat! The cat does not track litter all over the house.

I can not say enough about this unit! I also purchased the dome. This is great because you do not have to see the box at all! It just looks like a little Kitty House in the laundry room!

Here are the only downsides and my wish list for changes as I see them:

1. Cartridge Costs $12 and no generic... but with one cat it will last 2 months, so $6 a month to not change litter is worth it!
2. On occasion the scoop may miss some fecal matter... when the unit gets to the dry cycle... it will stink.. but the smell passes when the unit stops drying, and it will catch that in the next cycle.
3. The cartridge will beep when low on solution. It will continue to beep until you clear the alarm. I use to have the unit run at night, but when it would go low I would wake up at 3AM to the beep! Now I switched it to day and eliminated this problem.
4. The unit can only be set to clean 1, 2, 3, or 4 times a day... I would like a feature where you could set it to clean 2, 3, or 4, times a day, but if the cat does not use the box... it would skip that cleaning. That being said once a day seems to work well for one cat.
5. The granules do find their way all over the house.. the GeniePaws do help. that being said I would rather find a couple granules around the house then have cat litter tracked around the house!

I can not recommend this unit enough. If something happened to my unit I would buy another one in a second. Even listing the issues… they are all much less then any other option I looked at!

I have a very small bathroom, too. I'm thinking of drilling a hole through the wall to the walk-in closet to run the tubes through. The Genie will be in the closet but still empty into the toilet. Or, I may put it in the garage where I'll have to add a kitty door. Either way, I'm going to take advantage of their 90-day free trial to see if I like it. Thanks to all who made previous comments.

I appreciate all of your comments. I am still unclear on one point. Can the Cat Genie scoop and flush solid waste without going through the complete wash cycle? If it can separate these functions, then I am sold. I have four cats, two of which are very particular about voiding only after I have removed soil. I have four regular litter pans and scoop at least 4 times a day. I have been looking for a self-cleaning litter system and have pretty much narrowed it down to the genie or scoop free based on the overall positive rater reviews they have received.

NO it will not scoop without going through the full cycle. My guess is that if it did it would clog the impeller with too much cat poo! When it runs the impeller turns on before any waste is sent to it. If it scooped all the poo up and did not run, I think it would get clogged all the time.

I do not know if you shop at COSTCO, but they have it at COSTCO.COM at a great price. PLUS if you do not like it... you can return it any time to a COSTCO store... i will bet you money you will not return it!

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11238629&;search=cat%20genie&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=cat%20genie&Ntt=cat%20genie&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

I have been researching the Cat Genie and the Litter Robot pretty heavily. I have a week of travel coming up and I am actively looking for a solution.

From what I have read of the Cat Genie it\'s not all it\'s cracked up to be. The concept is amazing but the quality isn\'t there yet. Maybe Maytag needs to make one for us. I would probably pay $600 if I could rely on it and it would last me 10 years.

Cat Genie points I don\'t see anyone mentioning:
1. It doesn\'t flush your toilet for you when it drains into the bowl. This can cause an odor issue in your bathroom until you come home and manually flush. Now if you\'re one of the few fortunate households left that has a stay at home spouse (Husband or Wife) I suppose this wouldn\'t be an issue. But unfortunately myself and my wife are both working and this could cause a problem for us.

2. The cycle does not run after each time your cat(s) do their business, and since you have plastic kitty litter, you have no odor absorbtion or cover up until your daily cycle is kicked off. I called CatGenie to ask about the odor between cleaning cycles and they confirmed that odor will be present until the cycle is performed. They mentioned there is a newer model coming out that can run after each kitty \"drop off\". However the cost of the cleaning solution I think would add up quickly.

3. I have read about a lot of performance issues with the Cat Genie. Now to be fair I think any product you get will have issues without some care and maintenance. The goal is to eliminate the daily scooping work and replace it with a shorter monthly maintenance. With that being said I wanted to share some key points I read in reviews across a plethera of websites.

A. Long Hair cats equal long hair solids. Long hair seems to clog the liquefying mechanism often. This requires cleaning. Down side like a clogged toilet you can\'t drain the liquefide solids prior to disassemblying and cleaning. Even if that happened only 3 times a year I think it would be a deal breaker for me.

b. There seems to be a larger enough percentage of units failing right out the gate or within the first 4 months. My goal is to find a unit that will last 1-2 years without breaking. Most of the dates of the reviews were late 2007 time frame. The 2 year warranty seems to be a commitment to the product but if I have to be constantly shipping it back to them and will be enduring continual costs and loss of time.

To conclude at this time I think I am going to decide against the CatGenie but watch them closely to see what they might come out with next.

Wishful Cat Lover

To respond to your post:

1. It does not flush, but you can hook it up to your laundry. Also if you can not do that you can run the hose into the bowl and down the back of the toilet. Then the CatGenie will run right into the sewer with no need to flush. Here is a detailed explanation on how it would work:

http://www.instructables.com/id/CatGenie--How-To-Use-Less-Water-and-Keep-The-Toil/

2. No the cycle does not run each time it is used. I have one cat and I had been running it 2 times a day. I switched to 1 time a day about 3 months ago and that seems to work fine. Maybe my cats S**T dose not stink, but I notice no smell from the box. I have the dome and that may help, but there is no cat smell in my home... unlike the days when we had a traditional litter box or the auto rake one.

3. Performance Issues: I have had mine for almost 2 years now and I have only had one issue and it was my fault because I did not do the full cleaning at the 6 month mark like I should have. Then I ran into a problem with the unit not going through the cycle. I called customer service and they knew right away the electronic eye was dirty and needed to be cleaned. I cleaned the whole unit in about 15 min and it has worked flawlessly since then.

I had a lot of the same concerns before I purchased this unit. I still say it was one of the best purchases I have ever made! I am about to leave on a business trip for 5 days to Asia... and I know I do not have to worry about having someone come and change the litter or clean up! It will all be done on its own!

I am interested in the cat genie. I have used other electric litter boxes and mt 2 cats burned up the moter after 4 months. My questions is I have a 30lb. cat and a 13lb. cat. Would my 30lb. cat be able to fit the cat genie? He can't use a regular litter box.

There's a review comparing the Cat Genie to the Littermaid (another automatic cat litter box) at: http://www.liveautomatic.com/reviews/34-home-item-reviews/44-automatic-litter-boxes-review

They hook it into a drain in the basement, makes more sense to me than over the edge of a toilet, plus it's out of the way then...

Hello All,

I just recently stumbled onto this website, but I have a few questions regarding the Cat Genie. It sounds like it could be wonderful! I know regular clumping litter is bad for human and cat health alike, both the silica and the clay found in it. I am currently switching to pine for environmental reasons. However, pine does not solve the problem of still having to scoop and clean. I am hesitant to use a product where I do not know the exact contents of the cleaning solution. I have been removing all cleaning chemicals from my house to reduce pollution, and now use vinegar and baking soda for everything. I would like to know what is in the solution, if it is biodegradable, etc, so I can determine its pollution potential, and whether or not I will buy the Genie at all. They state that the pellets are biodegradable (more information here would still be welcome), and its great not to have to use plastic bags for scoopings where both will sit in the landfill forever.
But, it also seems wasteful to me to use so much solution to dissolve the solid waste. I would be perfectly happy to simply dump a collection container with the solid waste every few days, because the litter would still be scooped and cleaned regularly. I agree, toxoplasmosis is a concern to sea wildlife. However to be fair, there are so many chemicals and hormones in our drinking water...after it has been through treatment...that I think we should look at the big picture altogether. These human-made compounds are having detrimental impacts all over the world that need to be addressed as well as toxoplasmosis. I do not have an answer even for myself on how to accomplish this, but being aware is the first step.
All that being said, I really do want to be convinced that using this cat genie will be a wonderful way to improve quality of living for both me and my cats, but not at the detriment of the environment. So, if anyone knows where to look or has the information about what is really in these solutions, I would find the information very helpful in my quest to provide my cats with clean, healthy litter, and I wouldn\'t mind taking a back seat in the cleaning of their box either.
Thanks for any help!

Cat Genie is really great! It has had its ups and downs with getting jammed but over all it has been a blessing. Im sure as they keep tweaking it, it will become even better. Best thing is to figure out your cats cycle and set the timer around them or if you can hit the button to clean after they go thats best since it takes more work when the poop hardens lol.

I have 5 cats and worry that it will be too much waste for the genie to handle.
How often can you set the auto clean and does anyone else use one for a lot of cats?

Talk about odor. If the Cat Genie only runs a cylce once or twice a day, what does the room smell like? I wouldn't want all the cat waste sitting around for hours smelling up the house waiting for the next cleaning cycle. What reaction does the cat have when it comes back to a dirty litter box? I imagine this is a real big problem for folks who have multiple cats. The Litter Robot cleans itself after every cycle. Check it out at www.Litter-Robot.com.