Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Cat in the Hut

Cleaning the cat box is a thankless job. Those of you who are cat owners need no further explanation. I think the only thing worse would be being a dog owner. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs. I'm referring to owning a dog in the city, where you have to follow behind them with a plastic bag on your hand waiting for nature to call. Not for me.

In fact, grooming anyone but me to do the dirty task of cleaning the cat box may very well subconsciously be the real reason I wanted kids. So, when Mrs. LIAYF and I saw the new concept Omega Paw Self Cleaning Litter Box the other day on Amazon.com there was no hesitation. We immediately had the same impulse to purchase it.


Although calling it 'Self Cleaning' may be stretching the truth just a bit since you do still have to physically roll the thing and then remove the waste from the sliding container, it is still a HUGE improvement over standard cat boxes.

To briefly sum it up, somebody finally applied the laws of physics to a litter box. You just roll the box onto its side, where a grated container catches the clean stuff, then roll a bit further and the clumps fall neatly into the slide out bin. Very slick. What I can't figure out is that since Einstein was a cat owner, why wasn't this available 50 years ago? He must have had a cat-door.

I nearly tripped making a cat-quick move toward my wallet. But I landed on my feet, with my hands on the keyboard.

The shiny, new, unsoiled cat box arrived a couple days ago. . . .and was promptly made into a fun-filled toddler fort by an excited Lukas.


Mrs. LIAYF and I took a few pictures, and laughed at this for a minute or so. Only until we realized that Lukas absolutely loves to play in his sandbox. . . . . .

I guess we will have to be extra diligent about steering him clear of this play house from now on.

Those aren't SAND TOYS!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe just buy him one too.

Being us... said...

Looks interesting, make sure you post whether or not it actually works with the cat litter....we are thinking about getting a cat since our other cat passed away over a year ago!

SciFi Dad said...

nor are they chocolates covered in crushed peanuts

Dad Stuff said...

It looks like he is sending out the sliding tray for his snack order.

Surfer Jay said...

Hah! Good luck with that one. I found my boy inside the soiled cat box the other day. Fun stuff.

James (SeattleDad) said...

@MTAE - I think we will find him soemthing else to play with.

@BeingUs - Actually, I have been using it for a week or so now and it really does work as advertised.

@Scifi - Thankfully Lukas does not recognize chocolates, with or without peanuts.

@Dadstuff - Yeah, looking at it again, it kind of reminds me of solitary confinement in many movies I've seen.

@SurferJay - For now, it is in the basement, and Luke doesn't go there.

DCUrbanDad said...

I am just waiting for the day when the little one decided to ride Murphy our mutt. That should be fun. Great picture. Looks a little bit like a Star Wars escape pod.

Rob said...

That has got to be the most bitchin' thing I've seen in a long time. Now, I need to convince wifey that forking over the money is a wise investment :-)

Thanks for sharing. As the guy who handles cat-cleaning duty, I'd love to know your results with this thing.

Ed said...

I'm still skeptical. But hey, if it doesn't work you at least know Lucas will enjoy it.

Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy said...

That's really cool!

And it does look really fun to play in. Watch that boy closely!

Momo Fali said...

Ew.

I think there has to be a way to train my new puppy to use the toilet. THAT would be awesome. Right now, we're working on housetraining her AND SHE HAS A UTI. She has to go out to pee like every two seconds. Seriously. It's killing me.

DGB said...

Seriously, you have to let me know if after a week or so, this thing still works. Every single "self-cleaning" litter box I've tried has been a nightmare.

Knatolee said...

The cat isn't freaked out?? Cuz it is looking mighty fine to me. We have three kitties and lucky for me, I only have to clean the boxes when hubster is out of town. But I'm thinking one or two of these could be a fine addition to our basement!

James (SeattleDad) said...

@DC - Luke went through the 'riding the cats' phase. They are finally approaching him again.

@Rob - Yeah, it is a great concept. It's only about $30 bucks so not a huge investment. It works fairly good so far. Except when something is sticking to the bottom or the side, you still have to do extra.

@Ed - Lukas has seen the last of this one.

@Petra - It is out of sight and out of mind.

@Momo - That would be way too much for me. I feel for ya.

@DaddyGeekBoy - See above comment to Rob.

@Knatolee - The cats seem to use it no problem, except for one 'miss' we had yesterday. Not sure what that was about. But overall, it has worked.

Jason Roth said...

That's quite a large contraption.