Cat Gadgets!

The Six Best Products for Your Cat

in my humble opinion

and my cats' not-so-humble opinion

My litterbox better be spotless!

The CatGenie -- No more scooping! A real toilet for cats.

The ScoopFree -- A smaller and cheaper alternative; the second best litterbox ever.

Feliway Pheromones -- This has probably saved me thousands of dollars. Maybe saved Twitch's life; he gets sick whenever it runs out. I don't let it run out anymore.

PetWell Water Fountain -- The cats love it. It's the quietest I've found although that doesn't mean it's as quiet as I'd like. It encourages the little ones to drink.

Heated Cat Bed -- I cannot tell you how much they love this. You cannot give a heated pad made for humans to a cat. It wil cause burns.

Frolicat Laser Toy -- The cats find the laser endlessly amusing. I don't. This gadget moves the laser around for them.

All these products are available on my cats' Amazon Store. The Internet is weird.

Links:

Here's a link to an article in Squidoo with more details about the best products for your cats.

And here's a link to a Best Reviewer list with two more awesome products for a total of 8.

No more scooping -- the CatGenie is a toilet for cats

A Toilet for Cats

What is is

The CatGenie ($270 on Amazon) is an ingenious toilet for cats. Your cat does his business and after ten minutes the bowl slowly spins, and the rake picks up any solid wastes, plunking them into a little bin. Then water fills the bowl and the impeller in the bin breaks up the waste so it can go through a tube into your toilet where you flush it away.

Installation

photo from Amazon

Installation is fairly easy. You need to attach a tube to the toilet and you'll need to plug the CatGenie in for power. You also need to attach the included water line to your toilet's incoming water. No special tools are required, just a wrench and patience. The only difficulty is in manuevering the unwield thing into place.

photo credit: Chris Hugh

Analysis

The CatGenie relieves you of having to clean the litterbox. It really is a toilet for cats.

It sounds like heaven, but there are a couple problems.

First the reusable plastic litter is not to every cat's liking. My Mr. Kitten goes piddle in the CatGenie, but goes poopy on the tile floor in front of it. Thanks, Kitten.

Another problem is that it's not entirely reliable. Sometimes the tube gets clogged and the dirty water won't drain. It's easy to fix, but until you do, you've got poop soup and the cat has nowhere to do his business. Nowhere nice, anyway. If he holds in his pee, he can get a bladder infection and bladder infections in male cats are a life-threatening emergency. If he doesn't hold in his pee, he makes a mess. In either case, you really need a backup potty.

Third problem, as mentioned, the tube gets clogged. To fix it, you just shove the end of the hose (the part that was hanging into the toilet) against your faucet, run the water and blow out the clog. It's no big deal, but isn't super pleasant or sanitary.

Last minor problem, when the CatGenie cleans itself it will drain foamy poopy water into your toilet, leaving nasty looking stains. You'll need to clean your toilet more often to keep it looking okay.

Overall

Despite a few negatives, if you've got the space and the money, this is a great, great gadget. The best way to do this is to have two of them.

Helpful hints

• Read the directions. Seriously. I had the hose installed not-quite-right for over a year. It had too tight a kink in it, and it was clogging up.
• Write down or take a picture of the serial number before you set the machine up.
• You really need a backup litterbox. I got two CatGenie. Expensive, but very worth it to not have to scoop.

Links

Click here to read my review on examiner.com
Click here to read a review of the ScoopFree automatic litter box, another super pooper scooper

Motion-activated cat deterrent: Scat, cat! Get off the counter

Chase those cats away--with technology

Tired of cats jumping on tables and knocking over your Faberge eggs/Waterford crystal/meth-making equipment? Well, if you bring to bear the latest in human technology there's a small possibility you might teach the cat to stop it.

photo credit: Amazon

It's the Contech StayAway Pet Deterrent. (About $45 on Amazon) It's basically a motion-activated spray canister. If a cat (or you) come in range, it'll spray, or squeak or spray and squeak. The spraying (it just sprays air) really startles the cats, since it sounds like an angry cat hissing. They'll learn to avoid the area, at least as long as the device is there.

Who should get it

Everyone with a cat. You'll want to teach your cats to stay off the stove. If you're all fancy and germ phobic, I guess you might want to keep them off the kitchen counters and dining table, too.

Pros

• It really chases the cats away. Pretty fun to watch.

Cons

• Pretty expensive. You might try the Ssscat (about $25 on Amazon). Both are rated 4/5 stars.
• It would be nice if the device instilled healthy guilt and the fear of a righteous power, but it doesn't. The cats tend to learn that it is the device, not their own evil doing, that is the enemy. If you take it StayAway, well, away, the stinkers go back to their old subversive habits.
• You will get sprayed way more often than your cat will. It's harmless, but it gets old pretty quick. Perhaps it amuses the cats to see you sprayed with your own device.

Helpful hints

• Try to hide or camoflage the thing. Maybe you're cat will learn the general rule, "don't go there." Rather than the more specific rule, "don't go there until the human removes that thing or the battery runs out." Good luck outsmarting your cats.
• Get breakables and spillables out of the area. This is gonna scare the pants off your cat and he's gonna run like mad. Because cats are drama queens.