The Cat Genie is one of those things that can seem really green or really un-green, depending on how you look at it. I bought the first version of it after I had been in a car accident and injured my wrists pretty badly. I wasn't able to carry heavy loads, which meant clumping cat litter and the Litter Robot I had considered purchasing for my four felines was out of the question.
The glory of the Cat Genie is that it uses washable litter granules (made from recycled plastic). During each cycle it sanitizes (washes) the granules, drys them (yup, you read that right) and flushes all the waste down the drain. Pretty amazing concept when you consider than you only use up the granules as they track from your cat's feet or the small bits that stick to the solid waste when it's flushed away. The granules biodegrade in 9 months, so they're safe for septic systems.
But, what about all that electricity and water? Cat Genie states that regular strip-mined litter requires considerable resources to produce, including 2000 degrees of heat, packaging and transportation. An estimated 8 billion non-biodegradable pounds of litter enters our landfills each year! They also illustrate the cost of up to $252 in bagged litter for two cats in a year versus the $205 you would spend on their cleaning solution and recycled granules is a decent financial gain. So when you think about it, which option really uses more resources or does more damage to the environment?
The system can be set up in either your bathroom or laundry room. I've done both and found the laundry room preferable because you don't need to flush it...it goes down the drain on its own. In the bathroom you will have to flush it yourself after each cycle.
Since my wrists have healed, I now have three cats who use the Cat Genie and one hold-out who prefers The World's Best Cat Litter and her traditional box.
Do any of you also use the Cat Genie? How about the Litter Robot (aka: The Deathstar)? What's working for you? What isn't?
Related Posts:
• How to: Make Your Cat's Litter Box Less Smelly
• How To Keep Cats From Using the Lawn As a Litter Box?
• Green Your Pets
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Major yes! I have one, and it sits in my laundry room and I have not had to clean it once! It's the most amazing thing since sliced bread. The only downside is that it's a pain to set up and it's quite boxy. So if your living in a small space you're gonna have to sacrifice some space!
I used to have one but when I bought a house there was no real good place for it with convenient plumbing. Also, it occasionally leaves teeny poops in it and during the drying process those teeny poops are hot air baked, filling the whole house with a horrible very memorable smell.
I switched to the Litter Robot and put it in a closet because it doesn't require plumbing. I empty the receptacle once a week and use regular trashbags instead of buying their more expensive bags.
One of my friends uses chicken feed instead of litter. I tried it on my cat and she put up with it for a couple months but when she kept pooing on the floor next to her litter box I knew she wanted the old stuff back. I kept the chicken feed box for awhile afterward and she seemed to like to pee in the feed and poo in the litter. It's called Sprout Poultry Mix and she buys it at Fleet Farm.
NAY
You shouldn't flush cat waste down the drain. It may contain parasites that the sewage treatment can't get and will kill wildlife.
Not all cats are positive for toxoplasmosis (the parasite that can kill sea otters). Cats get this parasite from coming in contact with infected rodents.
You can get your cats tested to see if they're positive for the parasite. Most 100% indoor cats are, in fact, negative for toxoplasmosis. It's the indoor/outdoor and roaming cats who are most likely to have it (and they generally do their business outside).
I'm trying to look up to see if the Cat Genie Sani-Solution kills the parasites as it cleans. Will report back when I find out...
We have had a Cat Genie and a Litter Robot and our cats were even toilet trained for awhile (awesome if they'll do it!)... The Cat Genie either really works, or is completely disgusting- and the 'hot baked cat poo' is a very real issue. There can't be anything green about it- the litter is little bits of plastic that go everywhere and the chemicals can't be too friendly either.
Could those of you who are citing % of indoor only and indoor/outdoor or outdoor/feral cats who carry toxo please cite your sources?
The ones I've seen in JAVMA and the like had indicated that indoor cats also carry toxo in low percentages.
These are the studies I was personally thinking of but I would like to know what studies others are thinking of:
http://www.avma.org/avmacollections/feral_cats/javma_225_9_1394.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15303992
I mainly consider toxo to be a food-borne human issue (http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/prevent.html) but due to the low risk of my indoor cats possibly carrying it and that affecting wildlife, I don't flush.
It worked well when we had it for a while, maybe a year. We definitely experienced Baked Cat Poo Smell, and the granules ended up tracked throughout our house and were sometimes found by the toddler. Yuck. I was a big fan for a while but we have since returned to the basement litter box.
For crying out loud.
We use litter made from recycled newspaper. No smell, the cat likes it, and it's compostable.
Yeah, someone has to clean it out regularly, but then, our arms have yet to drop off.
Yay, most definitely yay.
I posted my thoughts on an older Apartment Therapy Cat Genie article.