self-cleaning litter box?

Oh yes. I have one. I think it is something like 'littermate' or something. I'll look...

Okay, scratch that. It's 'littermaid'.

Now granted we were younger when mommy bought it, but we didn't care for the Littermaid. They've changed over the years since we had one more than 10 years ago. However, there's one out that is actually "self-cleaning" with water and everything. Check out www.catgenie.com. It's expensive, but my mom is buying one for my grandma for us.

We have the Littermaid, and got an updated model a couple of years ago that is far superior to the first one we had. We keep it plugged in, as it goes through batteries like crazy if you don't. The only reason we got it was to keep the dogs out of the kitty smorgasbord. It is not perfect, as it doesn't go through the scooping cycle until 10 minutes have passed since it was triggered, but you can manually cycle it by flipping the switch or unplugging and then replugging. We just try to keep the door to the bathroom closed to the dogs until it has cycled. You will have the expense of the trays that gather the clumped litter, but it's a pretty nifty system. We have 3 cats, they all use that box, and none of them have ever been afraid of it, even if it begins cycling just as they are about to enter it. They just wait till it's done. I don't know if there is one made that scoops immediately after the cat leaves it. That would be a great innovation.

thanks everybody! I have done a little research, and the soonest I have found that any of them will cycle is the 10 minute one. I saw a few that were like 20 or 40 min., 1 hour, or even once a day, which in my opinion, completely defeats the purpose lol :)