PetSafeScoopFree Crystal Pro Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box, Front-Entry, Includes 1 Disposable Crystal Litter Tray

After using this litter box for 3 months, I can say that it performs extremely well. Based on my experience, complaints in some reviews seem to be due more to customers not following instructions and/or expecting it to somehow due more than is realistically feasible for any product for managing waste.I bought the hooded box with the refillable forever tray for my large male adult cat. He goes quite a bit and one package of litter does last him for the whole month. My only caveat is that while you can go a whole month without touching the box (I did so for one month), I find it preferable to do some very minor maintenance. One is to occasionally mix up the litter as there will be areas where fresh unused litter collects (corners, behind the rake). This is especially helpful if your cat tends to urinate in the exact same spot each time. It takes literally a few seconds to do, how often would depend on how frequent & much your cat goes.`For me it's not a daily thing, maybe 1x a week (when I remember). Another thing that helps is to clean out the container holding solid waste about half-way through the month. It can and will hold an entire month of waste but doing so really tests its capacity. I prefer to empty it after the first two weeks and stir up the litter at that time too. With a regular litter scoop and a plastic grocery bag, you're looking at a minute of effort.As for tracking, there is far less than compared to clay litter. Though, like any other litter, you need a mat in front of the box to catch what may come out on your cat's paws. I have one that's designed for this type of litter (mine is by Gorilla Grip but there are other brands too). The litter box is on a tiled floor and I'm often am bare foot walking past it. If there were crystals, I would absolutely feel them. Once in a while there may be a stray crystal or two (literally) that manages to get to the floor. Otherwise, 99.9% of stray crystals are caught in the mat.As for how well it reduces smells, this again is where I think complaints are due to customers rather than the product. Firstly, the litter does not work instantaneously. So yes, if your cat just went, there will be some odor that wafts out (air, molecules, hello). But the litter does evaporate urine and desiccates solids which is what reduces the majority of odors. However, it needs a chance to do its job and it appears some people think it should do so within seconds, it won't. The default timer setting is 20 mins which is what I've left mine at. If you set it to rake 5 mins after the cat goes, it may not be long enough for your situation. If you have a kitten or a cat that produces a little, that may be long enough. If you have a cat that leaves a lot or more than one cat, well that's more to absorb and dry out, which means you need to give the litter time to do so. Play with the timer, see what works best for your situation.For most of the month there is no odor, though there is a minor loss of efficacy towards the end of the month and you may, if you're standing right at the box, get a whiff. But very minor compared to regular litter. I'll sprinkle a little deodorizer on it to help it through the last few days (I've got some Arm & Hammer left over from our clay litter days). But seriously, even then any odor is minor and local, there is no smell through out the room. I've been out in fresh air, come in and smelled nothing.The litter absolutely changes color after extensive use (I've used the blue and the purple litters), that's unavoidable. It takes on a yellow tinge but that's not a big deal and helps you to see where there is fresh litter to move to the high use areas.The rake tines haven't gotten messy. Twice I've had an instance where some waste did stick, but it was no big deal. I just wiped them clean with a disposable disinfectant towel. Most of the time, there's nothing. But this is something that will happen/not happen depending on what your cat leaves, a loose stool can end up sticking.Finally, my cat had only known a clay litter box but took to this one right away, no adjustment period. it's also very quiet which is really nice. He's curious and watches it rake, but isn't scared of it.Overall, this is great for anyone who has difficulty bending for an extended time to clean out a box and/or struggles to lift pounds of dirty clay litter. It's excellent for anyone who is busy or out a lot: no more setting out extra boxes, the cat always has a freshly cleaned box. It definitely lessens the amount of work involved in keeping a clean litter box.

We've now purchased five of these and aside from one that died (maybe the dog stepped on it we're not sure) they have been a game changer. They really keep the cat mess out of the way without having to scoop. Expensive but worth it. I don't think you need to get the really expensive ones, this does the job, the cats took to it quickly and there is no odor. We change ours weekly.

Cat litter reviewI just changed my third box of this new litter box, so I think I’ve had a good feel for how it works by now.The manufacturer says this litter box system can handle 2 cats for 2 weeks, or 1 cat for 1 month.This was NOT possible for my cat. It’s gross to even think about what it smelled like when I changed it for my single cat after a month of use.This MAY be possible if your cat doesn’t drink a lot of water, but my healthy cat likes to drink a healthy amount of water for her size.My cat is on the smaller side for a cat, and by 1 month (4 weeks of her using this litter box the first time), the cat litter smelled of strong, burning-your-nostrils ammonia. And something about that ammonia + whatever smell I couldn’t make out because my nose was burning, made me retch really bad. And I don’t ever recall any of the dirtiest clumping litter boxes of my past ever causing me to retch like that. While I tried to put the soiled litter box into a garbage bag, I clumsily spilled about a cup of the urine-saturated litter on my floor. After cleaning it up (or what I thought was all of it), the room still had the overpowering ammonia smell to it. I checked the area where the litter was placed, originally, and there was nothing. The bag of used litter was in my open garage, sealed up and so that wasn’t it, either. I looked again at the spot I cleaned up the spilled cat litter and there were like, 5 crystals still on the floor that I planned on vacuuming up later, and it was THOSE tiny pieces that caused the ENTIRE area to smell like a very used, dirty litter box was still in there.Yes, I did take the manufacturer’s suggestion at their word, and wow, I feel SO bad for my cat. My husband said our poor cat must love me/us a LOT to have continued hotboxing herself with this incredibly strong, burning ammonia smell for the past week or so (instead of soiling herself elsewhere) before I changed it at the recommended 1 month timetable.I vowed to never, ever let my litter box get back to this point, ever again. For my and my cat’s safety.I forgot to record how many times the litter box raked over during that first month. I just know it was 4 weeks, not 5.The second time, I changed the litter after 2.5 weeks. I noticed the rake counter was at 155 rakes (one month). After 2.5 weeks, for a single cat (or just MY cat), the litter still grossed me out a bit with the smell (but not to throwing up point, like the first time). I also made sure to have lots of windows and doors open and held my breath a lot. When I would run out of breath, I would go far, far away to take in fresh air, held my breath, and then rush back to try to finish changing a little more before I had to get more air. So I was getting better at this: Less time between changing, lots of fresh air and open doors/windows during changing, and holding my breath.The following month, I let my litter box go to 4 weeks, again, because I dreaded cleaning and possibly smelling that ammonia in the litter box, and just kept pushing it off another week. And then another week. And of course, it was stinky. This time, the raking counter said my cat used the box a total of 96 times. Maybe my cat knew to space out her potty breaks as far as possible when things started to get bad in the box.So, the reason I scored “Odor Elimination” at 2 stars is because there is no odor, at first, but by 2 weeks for my single cat, there is some odor, and by 4 weeks, the smell can kill. Literally. So yes, there is still mostly odor elimination when the litter is close to halfway saturated, but there is absolutely NO odor elimination for the strong ammonia by 4 weeks (for my one cat).I scored “Easy to Clean” at 2 stars as well because, it is MOSTLY easy to clean, but kinda not. Lifting up the raking portion of the litter box, I inevitably will drop crystals on the floor. And I am scared of those crystals. Because I have PTSD from remembering how just a FEW crystals can create such pungent, widespread smells. So, with THIS particular litter brand/box/type, I want a 100% chance of getting ZERO litter onto the floor while I change it.I rated the “Scent” at 3 stars because:When the crystals are new and clean, they don’t smell. I don’t like smell. The smell of both the original scent and unscented are fine for me.But when the crystals are getting more and more saturated, it gets smelly, along with chemical hazard (ammonia exposure) smelly.Note: If I use my hands to spread the clean crystals around the new tray, the crystals leave behind a coat of powder on my skin. This may matter to you if you worry about your cat ingesting the residual powder of this substance(s) after using the litter box.I rated this litter system an “Overall” score of 2 stars because:Ok, it is convenient for the box to automatically rake the poop into a covered area of the box. One star there.And I’ll give it another star for being MOSTLY convenient in trying to keep the changing of the entire box system easy (as long as there is no ammonia smell ramping up in the box)But I knocked off 3 stars because it is also NOT convenient. For my cat, at least, the frequency of changing the litter box is nowhere near the manufacturer’s suggested change rate. My single cat needs the litter box changed, not 1 month, not 2 weeks, but BEFORE 2 weeks have passed.Paying for convenience did not actually pay for convenience, in my situation, for my particular cat.