Petmate Performa litterbox

(Since this is written during the holiday season, PLEASE read before considering giving this product as a gift).

I've used a Petmate Performa Plus Jumbo Hooded Appliance for less than one week (purchased for $200.00 at Petco). It is for one cat in my house.

I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS PRODUCT.

I found this product to actually NOT be a timesaving device as advertising purports. On the contrary, I found it to be a time-consuming device and now actually prefer a good old-fashioned 20th century litterbox (and I'm a gadget-loving ex-computer enginerd).

I followed the instructions to the "t" and still cannot get the product to work as designed.

Reasons:

A. Product design flaw #1: Underpowered motor. The motor which drives the rake that pushed clumped kitty litter into the reservoir is underpowered. Quite often it jams and does not complete its cycle, leaving litter in the pan, not the reservoir. I have to manually scoop the litter out myself. Already, the inherent timesaving feature of this poopy product has been defeated. I've sarcastically pointed out that a hamster on a wheel could generate more horsepower than the electronic motor on this "appliance".

B. Product design flaw #2: The tines on the rake which pushes the litter away is spaced too far apart. Consequently, many specks of litter do not get raked into the reservoir. (And yes, I am using premium clumping litter as the instructions advise). Once again, I have to manually scoop the litter myself.

C. Product desing flaw #3: As a result of aforementioned factors A & B, I constantly (more like on a daily basis) have to take the appliance apart. This is my biggest "pet" peeve (no pun intended). I cannot emphasize enough how tediously time-CONSUMING (the essence of timesaving at this point has long been defeated) this is. The hooded version has three modular hoods (an 2 inter-connected upper hoods and 1 lower hood) that can be detached. The lower hood is monstrous and cumbersome and unwieldy (and I'm an avid weightlifter with mild back problems...hint hint). This lower hood has angled recesses that easily catch residual litter...therefore, when you lift the hood, the excessive litter will be flung all over your floor. Make sure you have a broom and dustpan handy!!! To make a long story short, I found myself having to take off all the hoods everytime the litterbox malfunctioned). The lower hood's attachment's are flimsy in terms of alignment. Can you imagine if the hood of your car had to be removed (not just lifted) everytime you had to work on it???

If alignment is not perfect, mechanical jams ARE guaranteed.

D. Oh, and the litterbox I bought was defective out of the box. The sensor which detects when the cat is in/out of the litter box and triggers the automated raking device does not work at all. All this time, I've been triggering the raking device manually by powering the device. This does not contribute favorably to my impression of this device. I haven't had time to call tech support let alone return the device.

E. The instructions have lousy and diminutive black-and-white instructions in a confusing tri-lingual columnar layout, making initial assembly of the product very confusing to me (and I'm the type of the person who LOVES to assemble gadgets and IKEA furniture). Fortunately, it includes an illustrative VHS video that can also be watched on Petmate's website.

In conclusion, I found myself doing more maintenance and floor sweeping using this $200.00 product when compared to a simple $10.00 litterbox.

I therefore do NOT recommend this product. Paws down!

Thanks for reading!!