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CatGenie-Self Washing, Self Flushing Cat Box | 
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| Brand: CatGenie
Category: Pet Products
List Price: $329.99
Buy New: $226.99
You Save: $103.00 (31%)
New (7) Used (2) from $179.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  144 reviews
Sales Rank: 610
Media: Misc.
Shipping Weight (lbs): 34.1
Dimensions (in): 25.8 x 22.4 x 13.8
MPN: 891329001003
Model: 891329001003
UPC: 891329001003
EAN: 0891329001003
ASIN: B000MKHQG4
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Unique self-flushing, self-washing cat box maintains itself | | • | Uses permanent washable granules that never need changing | | • | Ideal for homes with 2 to 3 cats over 6 months old | | • | Hardware, granules, cleaning solution, and instructions included | | • | Measures 24 by 19 by 21 inches; 2-year limited warranty |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
CatGenie, the world's only self-flushing, self-washing cat box. You'll never scoop, touch or change litter again. The CatGenie Secret?... Washable Granules, not litter. Collecting cat waste in a box of litter is unsanitary. Cleaning the mess out is unpleasant. To satisfy a cat's need to dig and cover, CatGenie uses comfy, permanent Washable Granules instead of disposable litter. To cats, it's just like using a clean litter box. CatGenie is more than a cat toilet it's a modern appliance. Every day, it automatically flushes just cat waste completely out of the home. Then washes itself clean. You never scoop, touch or change litter. CatGenie is cat sanitation that is as clean as a cat. Unlike all litter boxes, only CatGenie automatically: The GenieHand scoops and separates solids, which get liquefied and flushed along with liquid waste for safe, easy drainage out of the home.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 139 more reviews...
 Nice idea but it needs lots of improvement. August 29, 2008
I bought the cat genie over a year ago because I thought it would be more sanitary and less messy. My husband and I installed it fairly easily and we even got the cats (I have 2) to use it. They weren't particularly happy with the pellets, or the box for that matter, but would use it when there was no other option. First of all, anyone who buys this needs to realize that while the cat genie is cleaning, there needs to be a backup cat box until it finishes. I found this out the hard way the second time I ran the cat genie only to find my eldest cat in front of the water filled cat genie relieving himself because his toilet was unavailable. This means you need to keep your old litter box or else buy 2 cat genies. Well, we were fortunate to have enough room in the bathroom we installed it in to be able to put the "backup" litter box beside the cat genie while it was going through the cleaning cycle. Since the whole point is that you don't want your cats use to using the old litter box, you have to only unblock it's entrance when the cat genie is being cleaned. It didn't take long for the cats to catch on to this so they would wait until the cat genie was cleaning so they could use their favorite old-fashioned litter box. Thing got worse quick when it clogged. The impeller is this spinning plastic object that grinds the waste with water to liquidfy the waste so it can pass through the pipe to the toilet to be flushed. Imagine a blender spinning water/waste mixture that won't drain. It's truly a disgusting sight, smell, and mess to unclog. The book advised you take the hose that drains to the toilet and use a sink to flush it out. First of all, I wouldn't put that thing near my clean faucet. Secondly, as my husband noted, if it did flush out the clog, it could very possibly cause the clog to push out the bowl of the cat genie and spray the entire bathroom with waste.
Well, we tried to spin this as positively as we could and after successfully unclogging the cat genie, we both agreed we would from here on scoop the solids manually into the adjacent toilet before running the cat genie to clean. This pretty much blew the idea of never scooping cat poop, but we went with it. Despite the fact that we only ran the cat genie after we removed all the waste from the bowl, it then began to malfunction. It would get confused in it's cycles and got to the point where it wouldn't stop beeping at the end of a cleaning cycle. I called customer support. They agreed to send out another controller to me but upon installation, we had the exact same issue. Nothing was resolved. We got use to just unplugging the cat genie at the end of the cleaning cycle just to make the endless beeping stop. A month later the cat genie is again clogging - and we always remove the solids before running it. I don't know what it's clogging on, but it clogs every time it runs now. We have tried working through all the troubleshooting from the manual but nothing helps. This is where it now stands. We are sick of the cat genie - would like a refund but doubt they would cooperate. I guess I need to call customer support again, but figure it will just result in getting another part that doesn't resolve the issue. The cats are happy now though - with the cat genie broken, they get back their long time favorite LitterMaid box :) The cat genine is a nice idea but it just doesn't work.
 Wonderful for busy people! August 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is by far the best self-cleaning litter box out there! There is an adjustment period, but once the kitties get over it, it is the most incredible product I've ever purchased! I have 3 cats and run it 4 times a day. I haven't had any clogging issues. Customer service is so helpful and nice. I've had 2 minor issues and they ship replacement parts practically overnight! I often leave for short trips and I'm so happy to come home to a fresh smelling home. I can't imagine having to go back to old litter boxes. This is a great product and anyone who says otherwise must not be using it correctly!
 I wish it scared the poop out of my cat, not just scared him August 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm sure this product works great. Now if only my cat would use it. If I were granted one five-minute period where I could fluently communicate with my cat, I would use all of that time to explain to him why he should use this product. But alas, I cannot speak cat. He is set in his ways. Apparently this thing isn't even good enough for my cat to poop on.
If it didn't malfunction so much it would've been perfect! August 19, 2008
Got mine 9/07. All was fine for 3 months but then the processing unit began to malfunction. Since then I replaced the processing unit 4 times (all under warranty). When it malfunctions it stops working & beeps continuously until you unplug it. Not good if you're away! This noise eventually scared one of my cats so she refuses to use it. To test her, I opened an old box of Feline Pine clumping litter and she walked right into the pine and used it.
I wanted to be environmentally responsible (and I admit, not have to deal with litter), but now I realize that all the plastic it takes to make the cartridges and recycle them (it doesn't have a recycle code on it but customer service says they are recyclable) and all the water used to wash the box isn't that earth-friendly. I also wonder about the chemicals going into the water supply.
The Pros: When it works it works really well. No smell and no worry.
The Cons: If it malfunctions it stops and beeps constantly. Imagine what happens if you're out of town and no one's checking up on the box? If hair clogs the exit pipe you get a large bowl full of blended poop water. The cleanup was one of the most disgusting things I've ever had to do. Too many granules getting into the machine (even if you don't overfill it they get in there) causes loud grinding noises. If grass, hair or something the cat ate clogs the hopper it stops and you have to open all of it up and clean it. Again, it's poop water you're dealing with.
Bottom Line: If Cat Genie makes a better version in a few years that uses refillable cartridges, less water and electricity and no constant beeps I would seriously consider buying another. And as nice as customer service is, it doesn't help if it malfunctions in the middle of the night or if there is a power outage. What is surprising is that the user's manual doesn't tell you how to reset the processing unit. You have to call customer service and they tell you what buttons to push, etc. And they aren't available 24 hours. I was even told that this info was "proprietary information" ??!
I'm buying another Litter-Robot for now.
An outstanding concept, but fails to deliver on all promises August 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
First, I must admit I am hooked on this unit, despite all of the many problems it has - try it, being forewarned of all the problems below, and decide for yourself.
It is a true, self-cleaning box, unlike every other box on the market. ... for me, the ability to go on short vacations without worrying about or asking someone, to change litter, is a godsend.
They spend a lot of documentation on cat acclimation. For me, it was no problem. These two things were enough for me to live with the problems below:
In concept, this product gets 5 stars ... dropped to 3.5 (or 3 as listed) for the following reasons:
1) The marketing promise that you will never have to clean litter again is far from the truth. In the fine print in the manual, they state you only have to do a thorough clean every 6 months - not so. It's worse than that.
Those negative reviews about "baking poo" have hit the time when the unit needs a full clean - which is more like every 2 months, max. The problem with this unit is that no detergent - that wouldn't kill cats and plastic - can remove a slow build-up of waste/film inside the unit. Also, the unit moves water far too slowly (other than the hopper) to force clean it, and has no brush/friction underneath. Once a layer of film forms ... it grows, and grows ... and smells. Get out the gloves every couple months, and - at least for 2 cats - set the clean frequency to the max (4x a day) ... and you will be fine.
You better not hate nasty cleaning, to buy this unit ... you will do it a few times a year.
2) The marketing promise you will save money is far from the truth. For two cats, given you really need max cleaning frequency, you will be running through detergent AND granules at 2-4x the rate. Include water use and electricity ... litter is cheaper.
3) The marketing claim it is environmentally friendly is complete hogwash. The detergent boxes are not recyclable unless you hammer/smash/disassemble them - even then, in most cases they are not, since the plastic grade is not marked. All that water, electricity, wasted plastic (and microchips!) in the trash vs. simple clay litter in the trash. At best, it's a toss up what's better.
4) The unit - as evidenced in 1) - has some serious design flaws. Others other than 1) include:
a) the GenieEyes are very poorly designed. My theory is that they cannot handle large temperature fluctuations (e.g. genie is near a window, or perhaps in the garage) ... in any case, what happens is that they misfire a lot, which keeps the unit from starting on time ... sometimes for hours, sometimes (bad unit) : never [see comments for more info + rebuttal].
b) the hopper impeller (perhaps for safety) has no real blades (more like fins). As such, it cannot shred hair or ... thanks to one of my cats ... plastic. These things will immediately break the funneling action of the impeller - they don't even need to clog it, just break the funnel action... and the unit will not drain. In short - your cat better have a "normal" diet.
c) the error monitoring on this unit - compared against devices of the year 2008 - is as dumb as a turnip. I have given up trying to spot-fix the unit when (good news: rarely) it has an error. Instead - I completely disassemble and clean the entire unit at this time, which guarantees it works again (e.g. light pipe is clean, hopper is free of plastic, etc.)
d) They placed the buttons that control the unit right on top of the unit - a nice flat surface that any cat (certainly mine) just can't wait to jump on. A well placed paw and ... chaos ensues. Fortunately they have a "child lock" - who are they kidding? It's really a "cat lock" function - but it is a real pain to unlock/lock every time you wish to change/start/manage the controls. I can think of many ways that could have been done better.
e) Cartridge microchip "counter" contacts - or some connection between the machine and the cartridge - is sometimes flaky. This is especially true when the units vibrates itself while cleaning. The result: the unit reports a cartridge error (most likely a cartridge empty error) after cleaning, when in fact there was no real error. Reseating the cartridge usually fixes it, sometimes not - in this case, a full power cycle is required. CatGenie is aware of this issue, and recommends placing a piece of paper or equiv. inbetween the cartridge and the unit to keep in in place. This has never worked for me, personally - I usually end up carefully placing the cartridge, and hope the cats don't land another well placed paw while jumping on the unit.
[edited to in fact upgrade stars, in part due to CatGenie themselves responding to this review (how many companies ever respond ... to anything?), albeit my strong objection to the content of their response]
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