I review the PetSafe Simply Clean self-cleaning litter box which has proven itself to be a labor saving workhorse in our household.
Why a self-cleaning litter box?
Our family planned a vacation last year which would leave our cats unattended at home for several days. Rather than board them in an unfamiliar place, we decided to try to set up automatic feeders, water fountains, and sand boxes to provide them with their basic needs while we were away. We planned a dry run before our vacation to make sure everything would work properly. This is the first of several reviews on the products that we used.
How the Simply Clean litter box works:
The Simply Clean litter box is the least expensive self-cleaning litter box offered by PetSafe. It is a continuous cleaning box that consists of a circular sand tray that rotates like a turntable once every hour. The slow “minute hand” clock movement of the tray is nearly imperceptible, providing a safe, stable sand container for your cat. As the tray rotates, it carries waste through a conveyor that hauls the waste up a shallow covered ramp and dumps it off into a removable waste bin. Once a day or so, you simply slide out the wast bin and empty it out.
How to set up the Simply Clean litter box:
The unit is quick to set up with minimal assembly right out of the box. The conveyor ramp drops down onto the round sand and is secured by 2 thumb screws. A round sand “fence” is snapped onto the top of the sand box pan to help reduce flung sand. Finally, the conveyor cover is snapped into place and you are ready to fill the sand box, plug in the AC adapter and start it up.
How well do cats accept the self-cleaning litter box?
Our cats took to the new box immediately; no coaxing was required whatsoever. My feeling is that the cats prefer freshly cleaned boxes (who wouldn’t!), so they appreciate the constantly cleaned sand of the Simply Clean box. At any rate, the new box became the instant favorite among our cats.
What routine maintenance is required for the Simply Clean litter box?
We generally empty out the waste bin once a day and add a bit of fresh sand to the box to replace the clumping sand that had been removed by the self cleaning process. About once a month we replace the clumping sand entirely with a new load of sand. Individual results will vary, depending on the number of cats using the box and whether any of the cats have health issues resulting in large urine output. In our household, we have a very old tomcat that has a large urine output which challenges the Simply Clean’s capacity in the form of occasionally very large balls of clumped litter. Although the unit cheerfully processes the large balls, every once in a while a very large ball on the conveyor will push against the conveyor cover enough to raise it, which causes the unit to shut down. When this happens, we just lift off the conveyor cover, remove the large ball, and then pop the cover back on.
How reliable is the Simply Clean litter box?
There are a number of reviews on Amazon from individuals that have reported electric motor failures on their Simply Clean units. Some reviewers have suggested putting the Simply Clean on a timer to reduce the number of hours per day that it runs in order to extend the life of the motor. We have been using two of the Simply Clean boxes for over 9 months now, one with a timer and the other running 24/7 and have not experienced any problems with the motors so far. PetSafe reports that the motor only consumes 8 watts of electricity, so the cost of operating a box 24/7 should be pretty minimal.
What problems are there when using the Simply Clean litter box?
Mechanically, the Simply Clean seems to be very well made and robust. The only problems we really have had are associated with the behavior of our cats. One of our cats is very enthusiastic in digging cat sand. As a result, he frequently manages to fling some of the cat sand over the top of the sand guard onto the floor near the box. In addition, the flung sand does increase the noise of the box. The “sand flinging” cat uses one of the boxes almost exclusively. A lot of the flung sand falls down the side of the rotating sand pan and ends up between the bottom of the sand pan and the motor drive. Although the motor seems to handle the debris in stride, that box does have a slight but noticeable noise which the other box does not. The noise goes away when I clean out the displaced sand during my monthly sand replacement; but it returns after several sessions from the “flinger”.
Conclusion:
We have been very pleased with the Simply Clean sand box. We had used some other types of self-cleaning sand boxes in the past and had always found them lacking. But the Simply Clean box has proven to be convenient and reliable during the 9 months or so that we have used it. Cleanup is much easier than traditional sand boxes. Additionally, our cats also seem to prefer these boxes over their former traditional sand boxes. We have not experienced the motor problems reported by some other reviewers with our boxes.
Check out my reviews of other automatic cat care appliances
PetSafe Eatwell 5-meal automatic feeder
QPets 6-meal automatic pet feeder
Westlink 6l automatic pet feeder
PetSafe Drinkwell pet fountain
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PetSafe Simply Clean self-cleaning litter box