We have three cats. Two of them, 9 year old males, are at least 15 pounds and the third, a 2 year old female, that weights only 8 pounds, eats (and poops) like she is 15 pounds.

That’s a lot of cat litter each day that needs disposal. Ideally, I want an automatic cat box that I don’t have to clean out for weeks at a time, doesn’t make a mess, never needs maintenance and the cats can use effortlessly. I accept the fact that I will have to add kitty litter every so often.

I’ve tried all the ones found at Petsmart and some of the ones online. The one that looked good to me is the RobotCat box– a sphere that rotates around to self clean and dumps the clumps into a slide out drawer. A bag collects the used kitty litter which is easy to dispose of. I bought two of them.

While it was good for me, the cats don’t use them very often. It’s a little too confining for my very large cats. While I still have them, they are only for backup.

The one solution that has worked is the Littermaid automatic cat box. They’ve produced some newer versions, but they don’t work as well as the older generation box. I’ve bought a total of six of them over the last 10 years.

They last about 4 years before the gears go or the motor goes or they just wear out. This is acceptable to me, considering how they get abused.

They are easy to set up and best of all the cats love them. With three cats, I need two working units on at all times, and then I also have the robotcat boxes as backup. I’m not sure why, but more often than not I see all three cats in the back room using the the cat boxes at the same time.

Now my problem is the Littermaid cat boxes don’t hold enough used cat litter before they have to be cleaned out and if I wait more than 1 week, they over fill and it is just harder and messier to dispose of. I want to go two weeks or more without having to change the containers, and I want an easier and less messy way of disposing of the used cat litter.

So, I modified the cat boxes slightly.

I needed a way of increasing the capacity of the container for the used litter and I wanted to have it dump directly into a bag that I would normally dump the containers into.

First, I elevated the cat boxes so they are about 1 foot off the ground. They sit on top of a platform made from cardboard boxes. There is a small stand in between the two boxes for the cats to step from into the cat boxes.

Then, I modified the plastic container that normally holds the used cat litter. I cut out the bottom of one of the container, and use it as a frame to hold a 13 gallon garbage bag to collect the used cat liter. The bag sits directly underneath the opening where the litter is dumped so it falls right in the bag, instead of into one of the small containers.

The bag will hold about 10 times the capacity of the plastic container, and the used kitty litter is already in a bag when I’m ready to dispose of it. It takes about 1 minute to set up a new bag, but it goes for 2-4 weeks before I have to change the bag. The lid always closes securely over the top of the frame, even with 4 weeks worth of used cat litter.

This combination has been a life saver for me. Now, when I am off for extended travel, Susan or Brad don’t have to worry about cleaning the cat boxes. All they have to do is refill the cat litter. And, as long as it is not overfilled, we never have problems with the litter box jamming.

Finally, a practical solution to the odorous task of cat box maintenance. I just wish Littermaid would implement this as a more robust commercial solution. Hey Littermaid, are you listening?