CatGenie Litter Box: The Clean Fresh Smell of Civilization’s Discontents

Ever since the Egyptians ( Mayans ? Indians ? ) invented zero , curmudgeon have argued that technology creates as many problems as it puzzle out , but I ’ve never encounter a intersection that does exactly that , until now . I ’m talking about a litter box .

We all know there are plenty of ware that make more problems than they figure out . As a professional technologian , my job is to sift through creation to see which ones make for an improved life , and which ones are too troublesome for their own goodness .

CatGenie — excuse the pun — give me interruption .

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After spending a calendar month with it , I declare that it is the perfect zero - totality conception . Every individual progress comes with drawbacks . While my wife and I no longer stomach from any of the problems associated with a traditional bedding material box , we are beset with an abundance of unlooked-for others .

CatGenie is one of these SkyMall - type gadgets that bills itself as the “ World ’s Only Self - Flushing , Self - Washing Cat Box , ” tossing in , for just mensuration , a weighty promise : “ Never touch , olfactory modality , or buy cat litter again . ” You install it easy by splice the cold water system blood from underneath your toilet , run a waste tube up around the backtalk of the same toilet , and plugging the contraption into the wall . You pour in beads that resemble litter enough that qat get the melodic theme , and you click in a replaceable magazine of strip agent .

When the robotlike cleaning cycle is engage , a mechanically skillful scooper removes the poo , and detergent - infused water floods the box and then enfeeble , taking any trace of funk with it . The moistened beads are then blown dry , like Ron Burgundy ’s hairsbreadth , as a honeyed flowered scent fills the lavatory and any adjacent livelihood quarter . The shite in the potty is easily purge aside , as long as you call back to do it .

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Compared to the alternative of sifting out chunks from a litter box and tying them off in environmentally uncool plastic pocketbook , this is a beautiful promise . Because of the machinelike setup , there ’s no chance of getting punished by your cat for forgetting to clean a box oftentimes enough . Everything I described above happens exactly as billed . And even our dumb psychoneurotic sidekick - and - sister enactment somehow figured out how to use it very early on . They were n’t even intimidated by the swirling Sarlacc pit that it becomes during cleaning . My fundamental initial fear wrench out to be totally wild .

So why does the thing make me long for the 24-hour interval of the scoopable Arm & Hammer , even though PetNovations Ltd enunciate there are 82,940 households already enjoying this contraption ?

When I first watched the cleansing rhythm , with my gadget - lover ’s grin , I marvel at the swirling and churning and slooshing and blab . I celebrate marvel for about 15 minutes , by which time my smile had soured , and I was looking at my watch . By minute 25 I stormed out of the toilet in pain , came back at minute 35 , shocked that the affair was still doing its business , and then render again , sometime after it had stopped , just about 40 moment after it had begun . CatGenie recommends that for two cat , the process should lean two to three time a day . That ’s two strong hours of cleanup cycle .

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The induction is unintelligent simple , but you need to be within 8 feet of both a power seaman and a toilet ( or laundry water line of credit and waste pipe ) . If you remember that ’s wanton , stick your foreland in the can — very few have power diddly-squat anywhere near bathroom , and I had to run my power electric cord up along the back of a swallow hole . It ’s not a peril , but it appear like Wilson ’s Amateur Home Improvement Show down there .

CatGenie is also massive . Its basin has about half the volume our cats are used to , but because of its full surrounding rim and the pillar of machinery , the system is belike 25 % with child than a secure - sized plastic bedding box .

After a few days , we discovered an interesting feature of the non - toxic litter beads : They do not take up odor . Right around 8:30 every morning , our big male cat , Wade , comes trotting up the stairs with a combining guilty / sticking out aspect on his human face , and soon after , we are engulfed in a sickening stink . bear in mind you , the cats ’ depository is an entire floor away down the stair in the node bathroom . Scooping the offending dung into the toilet would defeat the role of owning a robotic bedding box . ( “ Never touch litter again , ” they promised . ) My sole move is to , yep , launch the damn automobile .

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Only the problem does n’t go away instantly . In fact , it gets spoilt before it gets better .

As the detergent rising tide the basin containing Wade ’s leavings , the whole thing becomes a savory turd sweat . Even when we endure the fan in the toilet , the odor is unbearable for about 10 minutes , after which it disappear like a shot , put back by the machine ’s pleasant aroma .

I kept telling myself that these problems are just growing pains , things to get accustomed to . CatGenie is not as mussy as a bedding box . There ’s none of that residuary ammonia feeling that you ca n’t get disembarrass of permanently , and for the most part , none of the crusty extras that come from overzealous ( or just ill-conceived ) burying . The plastic drop manage to find their way all over the house , and I am embarrassed to fink , our 1.5 - class - old kid manage to stick one in her mouth about every two weeks , but they are non - toxic charge card beads after all , and nothing that ca n’t be vacuumed up .

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At least , I once tell myself , there are no more plastic bags full of poop and urea headed out to some landfill . I read somewhere once that San Francisco had solved something like 90 % of its trash problem , and that the remaining 10 % was cat and dog crap in formative bags . ( Not the actual stats , btw . ) At least by change over to a bagless litter system like this , I ’m being environmentally kosher , right ?

Not in the least .

During every cleansing hertz , CatGenie runs a built - in hair dryer over all the beads for about 20 second . I plugged in my Kill - a - James Watt meter and discovered this demanded a invariant and alarming 1160 watts of electrical energy . For up to an hour per mean solar day , I am launch the equivalent weight of four enceinte plasma idiot box , just so I do n’t have to tinct bedding .

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The cost start up to mount . Besides the up - front $ 300 and the day-after-day running of water and electricity , the $ 15 cartridge demand to be replaced every 60 cycle — that is , every 20 to 30 Clarence Day . And the scatter - prone pearl ask to be replenished every three to six months , at $ 24 per cartonful . Like an inkjet printing machine , the alimony costs continue everlastingly , pass water the notion of buy a $ 7 box of Arm & Hammer every two weeks seem all the more reasonable .

Despite all these negatives , a great debate rages in my household : I would like to come back to the olden ways of scoop and bag , and my wife says , “ No . ” Her argument , a expert one , is that the bathroom has never stayed cleaner . guest have to maltreat around an horribly large gismo , but at least “ it does n’t palpate like you ’re walk into a barn . ”

As Sigmund Freud once explained , move from the wild to the towns did n’t lick humankind ’s problems , it just swapped out the countrified difficulties for more urbane unity . His conclusion , though , was that while life still suck , there ’s a reason we do n’t move back to caves . After experiencing a more civilised bedding box , I ca n’t revert to lift out low-down , but I impatiently look the next evolutionary leap in cat sanitisation . [ mathematical product Page ]