PetSafe ScoopFree Crystal Pro Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box, Front-Entry, Includes 1 Disposable Crystal Litter Tray

After using this litter box for 3 months, I can say that it performs extremely well. Based on my experience, complaints in some reviews seem to be due more to customers not following instructions and/or expecting it to somehow due more than is realistically feasible for any product for managing waste.I bought the hooded box with the refillable forever tray for my large male adult cat. He goes quite a bit and one package of litter does last him for the whole month. My only caveat is that while you can go a whole month without touching the box (I did so for one month), I find it preferable to do some very minor maintenance. One is to occasionally mix up the litter as there will be areas where fresh unused litter collects (corners, behind the rake). This is especially helpful if your cat tends to urinate in the exact same spot each time. It takes literally a few seconds to do, how often would depend on how frequent & much your cat goes.`For me it's not a daily thing, maybe 1x a week (when I remember). Another thing that helps is to clean out the container holding solid waste about half-way through the month. It can and will hold an entire month of waste but doing so really tests its capacity. I prefer to empty it after the first two weeks and stir up the litter at that time too. With a regular litter scoop and a plastic grocery bag, you're looking at a minute of effort.As for tracking, there is far less than compared to clay litter. Though, like any other litter, you need a mat in front of the box to catch what may come out on your cat's paws. I have one that's designed for this type of litter (mine is by Gorilla Grip but there are other brands too). The litter box is on a tiled floor and I'm often am bare foot walking past it. If there were crystals, I would absolutely feel them. Once in a while there may be a stray crystal or two (literally) that manages to get to the floor. Otherwise, 99.9% of stray crystals are caught in the mat.As for how well it reduces smells, this again is where I think complaints are due to customers rather than the product. Firstly, the litter does not work instantaneously. So yes, if your cat just went, there will be some odor that wafts out (air, molecules, hello). But the litter does evaporate urine and desiccates solids which is what reduces the majority of odors. However, it needs a chance to do its job and it appears some people think it should do so within seconds, it won't. The default timer setting is 20 mins which is what I've left mine at. If you set it to rake 5 mins after the cat goes, it may not be long enough for your situation. If you have a kitten or a cat that produces a little, that may be long enough. If you have a cat that leaves a lot or more than one cat, well that's more to absorb and dry out, which means you need to give the litter time to do so. Play with the timer, see what works best for your situation.For most of the month there is no odor, though there is a minor loss of efficacy towards the end of the month and you may, if you're standing right at the box, get a whiff. But very minor compared to regular litter. I'll sprinkle a little deodorizer on it to help it through the last few days (I've got some Arm & Hammer left over from our clay litter days). But seriously, even then any odor is minor and local, there is no smell through out the room. I've been out in fresh air, come in and smelled nothing.The litter absolutely changes color after extensive use (I've used the blue and the purple litters), that's unavoidable. It takes on a yellow tinge but that's not a big deal and helps you to see where there is fresh litter to move to the high use areas.The rake tines haven't gotten messy. Twice I've had an instance where some waste did stick, but it was no big deal. I just wiped them clean with a disposable disinfectant towel. Most of the time, there's nothing. But this is something that will happen/not happen depending on what your cat leaves, a loose stool can end up sticking.Finally, my cat had only known a clay litter box but took to this one right away, no adjustment period. it's also very quiet which is really nice. He's curious and watches it rake, but isn't scared of it.Overall, this is great for anyone who has difficulty bending for an extended time to clean out a box and/or struggles to lift pounds of dirty clay litter. It's excellent for anyone who is busy or out a lot: no more setting out extra boxes, the cat always has a freshly cleaned box. It definitely lessens the amount of work involved in keeping a clean litter box.

Week 1: I didn't set this up when I first got the new litter system a few weeks ago because I wanted to use the rest of my cats clumping arm and hammer litter first. So this is the end of the actual first week of my kitty boy using it. He was petrified of it the day I set it up, for the entire day, which is probably due to the earthquake we apparently had here last Monday in Buffalo, 2/6/23, in which he may have thought that this thing made all that commotion.After work, when I realized he hadn't used it, I then put him in it while I sat next to him, petting him and talking calmly, telling him it's ok. He still didn't want anything to do with it, so I then started to throw treats by it and even a couple inside of it. He did muster the courage to go by it and get some of the treats but he wouldn't go in it to retrieve the ones inside.The next day before I left for work, I made sure to leave one treat in the litter box near the opening and sure enough, he went in at some point to retrieve it and then at some point, he then used it. I noticed this right away, once I seen some of the litter on the litter tracking mat and then realized the cat treat was gone and then I seen yellow in the litter. I have to say that I was ecstatic 😁Now a bit about the litter. It does do what it is supposed to do and does definitely dehydrate the feces, which while scooping the waste out today (trash day), it didn't smell at all. It also does do the same for the urine except that it doesn't do it immediately and so the urine obviously goes straight to the bottom and sits there, so constant stirring / mixing (daily, but no more than every few days) is a must when using these cardboard litter pans or having your cat track the wet urine outside of the litter pan, if they step in the spot they just went in.I do have a bed liner protector under the card board box to protect the floor and was thinking of doubling it up, but so far I think it's fine with the cardboard top placed underneath. Plus it has a smooth sleek sticker inside which protects the cardboard from becoming saturated, but eventually will if you don't stir/mix the litter every 1-3 days. This may extend the life for 1 cat for a full 30 days. I would assume the more you stir/mix up the litter,.the quicker it will.dry out in between uses and the longer the box will last. I couldn't say that for a multiple cat household, but I'm sure it will at least extend its life by a few extra days.One thing I really don't like about this litter is that it's crystals are huge. They definitely stick in my cat paws and he tracks it everywhere even though there is a tracking litter mat directly in front of the liter box. He does try to get it out of his paws before he leaves the pan, pawing at the lid, which I am assuming thats why. I definitely suggest wearing slippers or shoes while walking wherever the litter is tracked otherwise it does hurts when stepping on it. With that, I'd definitely suggest sweeping or vacuuming at least once daily is a must too.Now more about the actual unit its self. This came with everything you need to start using this right away including a bag of crystal silica litter and a disposable cardboard litter pan, which today while scooping the waste out, I did find it broken on the left side, which I'm assuming happened because maybe I didn't put any litter in that spot which only one piece of waste was on that side (which is where I actually thought it was collected), while the rest stayed on the other side and when the litter and feces was being pushed back, it some how crushed it and it broke and came loose (see picture).I'm not sure why there isn't an option to buy this system with the plastic pan, which I actually did buy the plastic pan at the same time, which also came with a bag of the crystal litter. So I will be putting up with this litter for an entire 2 months before I switch to pretty litter, which I hope doesn't track nearly as much as this one and if it does, hopefully it doesn't hurt nearly as much.It really does do exactly what it says it is suposoed to do and its so quite and thats music to my ears. It definitely goes off 20 minutes after my boy has been in the box to rake any feces to the waste compartment area and I guess to help distribute the urine, but it doesn't really incorporate the urine that collects at the bottom that turns to slush. So this means you'll have to stir / mix it up with a standard scooper to help distribute the urine evenly to help with the dehydration process.It also does keeps count of how many times my cat goes in the box and obviously goes up when the rake button is pressed manually after stirring the litter. So you'll have to try to keep track of how many times you might have pushed the button to rake the litter after you've mixed up. I'll continue doing this even after I've switched over to the plastic tray next month or sooner if this box or litter doesn't hold up for the entire month. All in all, the use of this system during the first week, I am happy with it. I'll definitely update weekly for at least the first month and maybe when I switch over to the plastic tray.EditWeek 2: Everything is still good except this time while removing the waste to dispose for trash day this morning, I did notice the urine odor isn't really absorbing as much and I'll have to assume will only get worse as the days go on. However, now that I'm not on top of the litter pan, I have to saythat don't smell anything being just 5 ft from it. I also decided to mix a good amount of baking soda in with the litter, so hopefully it will keep the urine odor down.If the results are the same next week, I'll give an update sometime soon thereafter depending on when the odor starts to be more noticable and if the litter and card board tray holds up for the entire 30 days or if I'll have to change over to the plastic tray early! But yeah, so far, so good still.Week 3, the odor was a bit more noticable but not too unbearable...Week 4 update... I just changed the card board tray out for the plastic reusable one, in which I did put a litter liner ( I buy the Johnny cat jumbo liners 5 pk, since they're thick for about $4 a box) over it and after putting the new crystal litter in, I raked it and the liner didn't interfere with the rake at all since there is a bit of a gap between the liner and the rake.Now update on the card board tray... The tray held up very well, even after deciding not to stir up the litter at all this past week, since I knew I was changing the entire thing out. Plus I wanted to see if by chance by not doing so for the full week, if the tray would have began to leak on the bed pad liner I have under it. It did not, but I'd still say to stir it often because it will help extend the life of it.Now regarding odor... It was starting to get a bit strong with both feces and urine odor, but not over powering. I also, did buy a pair of sheer white curtains off Amazon (see pic above) for like $10 and took the bottom that is stitched and folded up once and stitched it up so that it wasn't dragging on the floor to help keep any odors from leaving the closet I have it in, since I have to leave the door opened for him to have 24/7 access. I put these up with spring loaded curtain rods I purchased at Walmart for $3.50 each, since I rent and also so that the curtain can be up as high as possible. Lastly, I also purchased a urine absorber 2 pk and has a box with a velcro sticker on it so you can stick it to the litter box. Which I stuck sideways to the very front, top of the lid (see pic above) from walmart for $3.50, that is claimed to last for 30 days but I just put it on about a week ago when I noticed a slight urine odor, to help prevent it from getting really unbearable. Not sure if it helped since it was getting toward the end of the litter life cycle and it's bound to smell somewhat like it did.Over all, I have to say that even though there was somewhat of a stronger odor during this last week, it is no where as bad as clay litter that doesn't help.with odor at all! I definitely would recommend investing in this litter box system with the option of either buying disposable or the plastic reusable tray and if doing so, placing a litter liner over it as shown in the picture above, making sure to have it as smooth as possible on the bottom so it doesn't interfere with the rake.