It’s been nearly a year since I bought the Death-Star Poopy Box for Pearl.
So the question is: Did the Death-Star Poopy Box deliver on all it’s promises? Or is it simply a glorified over-sized hamster ball filled with kitty litter?
The answer:
The Litter-Robot, aka the Death-Star Poopy Box, is a winner!
Does it save time and money?
Absolutely. I used to attend to my cat’s box once a week or so, pitch the entire box and bag of litter, and wipe it down with Clorox wipes. Now, I still attend to it just as often and wipe it down, but there’s no trip outside to the garbage can because it’s just a little baggie instead of a 12 pound bag of litter.
And, there’s little waste because only used litter is pitched. I used to buy a box of litter each month. Since I purchased the Death-Star, I’ve used one box (granted, it was the super-sized Target box) and just a month ago, I started on the second. I’ve also saved money on litter bags, too. I use those thin plastic document shred bags from Staples where you get 250 for $10.
A word about scooping: I don’t. I hate scooping. Sure, you could easily argue that you could forego the $300 price tag of the Death-Star and just buy a scooper and use the cheap plastic baggies. But the argument still holds true: The Death-Star is a time-saver because it eliminates scooping. And in my case, it saves me money, too.
Patented litter sifting system that doesn’t jam or clog?
Yes. This clever over-sized whirling hamster ball spins and sifts the litter from the waste and then drops it into a drawer below. The only way this thing will clog is if your cat has diarrhea and it catches on the door or if you don’t empty the drawer.
No special receptacles or bags and it works with any clumping litter?
Yes and yes, or at least, it uses mine quite well. Like I said, I use the cheap, thin document shred bags and I still use the Arm and Hammer unscented clumping litter that Pearl loves.
Large capacity waste drawer?
Yep. Holds enough poo so that I can easily go a week between cleanings.
Reliable and safe?
Yep. Never had a problem and with the way it’s built, I don’t foresee that I ever will.
So now that we’ve reviewed the promises kept, here’s where there’s room for improvement on this wonderful device:
Litter level indicator gage. When the litter level is too low, there’s a tendency for Pearl to pee on the doorway and get urine on the entry. This may be caused by her getting confused when the litter level is too low and therefore she misses her mark (bear in mind, too, she’s an unusually messy cat and this might not happen with other cats). At any rate, you have to watch the litter level. Conversely, when the litter level is too high, the red button illuminates and the device stops indicating there’s too much weight. So you have to take care not to load it too much. It would be great if there was some sort of gage that told you how full it was, something that said, “Low, Med, Just Right,” so that as you added litter, you could stop before you had to scoop it back out again.
A litter flap. There’s no dedicated place to easily add litter to the device. You either have to reach in through the cat entry or push the black poo doors open and add it through the side. Either way is a bit awkward and/or icky. A litter flap near the top that permitted you to easily pour it in and possibly see a litter level indicator gage at the same time would be fabulous.
A 24 hour timer. The device is fairly quiet. But in the dead of the night, the noise of the device wakes me up. I purchased a separate timer and have it set so that it only cycles during waking hours.
Filter. When Pearl poos, she buries it in litter. This does two things: it dries out the poo and masks the odor. The problem is that after seven minutes, the poo is sifted out of the litter, falls into the drawer, and is exposed to air. The drawer has holes in it for ventilation and the scent of poo comes out. This is partly remedied by the timer I mentioned above; by setting the device to only clean a certain number of times a day, I reduce the likelihood of dropping fresh, smelly poo into the drawer, or at least, when I’m around to smell it. I just visited the website and discovered they now offer this exact filter I have described. I might try it out or I might not; they seem a bit pricey and the timer works fine.
Other things to consider when owning a Death-Star Poopy Box:
It’s really big. And awkward. It’s about the size of a small office/dorm fridge. I recommend storing it in a closet with a sliding door that you leave partly ajar so your cat can slip inside. I discreetly run an extension cord into the closet. I also have textured mats that I run along the inside length of the closet to collect bits of litter that stick to Pearl’s paws to help reduce tracking.
But it doesn’t smell! Every other litter box I’ve had absorbs the smell of the waste, so that even when the box is fresh, it still smells awful. This one doesn’t. The only times I smell anything are when it’s overdue to be changed, when Pearl peed on the doorway because I didn’t have enough litter inside, or on rare occasion when a fresh poo falls in the drawer and I’m around to smell it (again, remedied by the external timer or the filters now available for purchase).
Final note: I love it. I don’t want to have a cat without it. Now if only Litter-Robot would take care of the pet hair, too. That’d be true kitty nirvana.
