Littermaid auto-tray: suitable for kittens?

Mary wrote:

I use and have used Littermaid with my brood, including two 5 month old
kittens who were brothers. They particularly were fascinated with it,
would sit by it for hours, and take turns urinating in it.

How sweet! This never occurred to me! I can just imagine kittens
thinking the thing, of course, a toy!

They used it so much, they
actually broke it after a couple of months.

Oh, dear, as you say, they aren't cheap.

Before we got another one after the first one broke, we
always knew as soon as we came home if Looy had used the box.

I think I need to investigate if there will be a MASSIVE difference in
smell if I adopt female kittens. (The walls of my house are two feet
thick - and made of rocks - so there's no possibility of inserting
another door anywhere and constructing an isolated room beyond it.
Making that one entrance porch bearable is the ONLY option.)

We clean the regular litter boxes 3 times a day; we use the sifting
litter liners so that's not too much of a problem.

This is interesting. Never heard of these. Presumably they are like
plastic nets?

One thing we do is put lots of PAM on the Littermaid tray after we wash
it each week. Nothing sticks.

Please, can you tell me what "PAM" is? (Sorry, I'm writing from Wales -
UK - and I suspect this is an American brand name?)

Thanks so much for your ideas. A REAL help in preparing for the arrival
of the kittens.

Mary wrote:

I never smell any urine smell. But
then I have girl cats, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for suggesting this possibility. It didn't occur to me that
there might be a difference in the smelliness of the two types of urine
- though, as we know, a tom's spray is vile! I am collecting together
the addresses of cat sanctuaries, so I still have the possibility of
adopting females, rather than males.

You have a great opportunity with little baby cats.
I would handle them gently a lot, touch their feet
and tails, as some cats grow up to hate that, but not
those who grow up with it.

Good idea. Yes, with the two cats I had to leave in Kuwait ten years
ago, I got one so used to being handled that he would delightedly lie
upside down in my arms like a baby! The second kitten was so skittish
that I "respected" that and never subjected her to lots of handling when
young, and then, as you say, she HATED it when older.

Look into the Alpine Scratcher,
my cats adore it and don't go near the furniture since I got two:

Thanks for this too. Yes, I am very concerned about what little claws
could do with wonderful elaborate cloths collected abroad.

Welcome to the group, you will be a great cat dad, I can tell.

VERY perceptive, you are!

Mary wrote:

I never smell any urine smell. But
then I have girl cats, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for suggesting this possibility. It didn't occur to me that
there might be a difference in the smelliness of the two types of urine
- though, as we know, a tom's spray is vile! I am collecting together
the addresses of cat sanctuaries, so I still have the possibility of
adopting females, rather than males.

You have a great opportunity with little baby cats.
I would handle them gently a lot, touch their feet
and tails, as some cats grow up to hate that, but not
those who grow up with it.

Good idea. Yes, with the two cats I had to leave in Kuwait ten years
ago, I got one so used to being handled that he would delightedly lie
upside down in my arms like a baby! The second kitten was so skittish
that I "respected" that and never subjected her to lots of handling when
young, and then, as you say, she HATED it when older.

Look into the Alpine Scratcher,
my cats adore it and don't go near the furniture since I got two:

Thanks for this too. Yes, I am very concerned about what little claws
could do with wonderful elaborate cloths collected abroad.

Welcome to the group, you will be a great cat dad, I can tell.

VERY perceptive, you are!

"Tales of Orpheus" wrote

(The walls of my house are two feet
thick - and made of rocks -

Wow! Now I want to see photos of the house and the cats!

"Tales of Orpheus" wrote

(The walls of my house are two feet
thick - and made of rocks -

Wow! Now I want to see photos of the house and the cats!

"Tales of Orpheus" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I would be grateful if people could give me some advice.

1. I am shortly to adopt a couple of kittens and would like to allow
them and me the luxury of a Littermaid ("self-cleaning" tray operated by
an electric eye). However, maybe the Littermaid is too deep for a
kitten to get in and out of ? Maybe I should leave this gadget until
they are bigger. Has anybody used it successfully with kittens?

2. What kind of food/drink do kittens require? I would like to get them
onto hard (biscuit) food only, as soon as possible. What's the earliest
age for that? And do kittens have delicate first teeth which are later
replaced by second teeth - or the same teeth all the way through?

Thanks so much for all help.

I'm not sure at what age you can start with the Littermaid, you can check the web
site and ask there. I have two Mega models for three cats and they work reasonably
well; not perfect but about 80-90%. Which means I can be away the whole day and the
boxes stay reasonably clean. Nightly I scoop a little to make sure the litter is
perfectly clean for the night.

As far as choice of litter I mix the Littermaid litter with World's Best. Both are
corn based and the mixture avoids the corn odor of the WB. The corn litter works
better in the box because it's lighter and may be healthier for the cats.

Adam

Thanks Adam.

Adam Helberg wrote:
I have two Mega models for three cats and they work reasonably
well; not perfect but about 80-90%.

Because of everybody's wonderful help in this group, my question has
been refined. Because of the way my house is constructed I have no
option but to have a litter tray or trays in the one and only entrance
(room) to the house - which also happens to be adjacent to the kitchen
and the downstairs bathroom. Human "traffic" is therefore high.
Exposure to smell will be high. I guess I was hoping that the
Littermaid might be smell-less. It seems that adopting cats, for me,
will mean either changing the litter rather too frequently (expensive!)
or allowing them free passage to the outdoors at all times (I live in
the country with a massive garden). Neither option is good. Any ideas?

"Tales of Orpheus" wrote in message
...
Thanks Adam.

Adam Helberg wrote:
I have two Mega models for three cats and they work reasonably
well; not perfect but about 80-90%.

Because of everybody's wonderful help in this group, my question has
been refined. Because of the way my house is constructed I have no
option but to have a litter tray or trays in the one and only entrance
(room) to the house - which also happens to be adjacent to the kitchen
and the downstairs bathroom. Human "traffic" is therefore high.
Exposure to smell will be high. I guess I was hoping that the
Littermaid might be smell-less. It seems that adopting cats, for me,
will mean either changing the litter rather too frequently (expensive!)
or allowing them free passage to the outdoors at all times (I live in
the country with a massive garden). Neither option is good. Any ideas?

The Littermaid does help with smell, because 10 minutes after use the waste goes into
the receptacle which gets closed. Every couple of days I add some Arm and Hammer
litter deoderizer to the waste receptacle.

I have one Littermaid in the livingroom and another in bedroom hallway and as long as
my Oreo does not pee on the carpet the smell is not too bad. Smells like home to me
.

You can also try putting the box inside the privacy tent. ( I have one in a tent and
one without and I prefer without so I can see what's going on.)

Adam

Adam Helberg wrote:

The Littermaid does help with smell, because 10 minutes after use the waste goes into
the receptacle which gets closed. Every couple of days I add some Arm and Hammer
litter deoderizer to the waste receptacle.

Thanks Adam.

Well, all this help has helped me arrive at a good solution, though it
will take quite a bit of work to implement it. With a 1-foot long
masonry drill bit I can drill through and create a hole in the six-inch
thick breeze block wall in my porch, and put a cat-flap in it that only
exits into a dog-kennel on the path outside. The kennel can have grills
in it, so that it will be aired, and it can have a sloping lift-open
roof so that snow and rain will slide off but I can get my arms into it
to clean inside and manage the litter-tray every day. The door of the
kennel can be sealed to the hole in the wall so that slugs and damp
don't creep in, and with the flap in place too, smell should be minimal
- so should tracking. It's going to take quite a bit of work but it
will be worth it in the long-run. The kittens will grow up as
house-cats-only and the amazing variety of bird-life outside won't
suffer.

All I have to do now is check with the builder where those electric
wires travel along the wall, before I start drilling!

Thanks everybody for your help! It's ideas, ideas, ideas, that help
get one nearer the solution.