Omega Paw Self-Cleaning Litter Box Review.

Post Published on June 10, 2013.
Last Updated on April 29, 2016 by davemackey.

I have four cats and five four¹The cats seem more willing to use the Omega Paw litter boxes, so I eliminated one litter box – I now have two Omega Paw litter boxes and have purchased another which is on its way. I hope to eliminate one more little box so that I’ll only have three boxes total. litter boxes. The vet says I should have more, but where am I supposed to put them? And keeping five litter boxes clean already takes too much time! I have tried several different automated litter boxes, including the CatGenie. In the end, I’ve always gone back to the old-fashioned litter boxes that require manual scooping.²Though I’d like to try the latest model of CatGenie, I’m not about to shell out the money for a new one.

Still, I’m always keeping my eyes open for ways to reduce the amount of time, smells, and mess litter boxes create for me. On April 10th I purchased an Omega Paw Self-Cleaning Litter Box (Large). The price was right – $30 – and while it didn’t flush the litter down the septic like the CatGenie, it did simplify the process significantly.

When it arrived a few days later it took only a few minutes to assemble – but I didn’t listen to the “use clumping litter” instructions, since I didn’t have any around the house and instead used some regular litter – yeah, that didn’t work at all!

So, I purchased a 40 lb bag of Precious Cat Ultra Premium Clumping Cat Litter for $23 on April 24th and have been using it ever since. As of today (June 10th) I still have 10-15 lbs left. I was worried I was going to go broke buying litter – but whether it is the litter which is so long-lasting, the Omega Paw litter box which performs the magic, or some combination of the two – the litter seems to last FOREVER, so I’m not so worried about that any more.

Using the Omega Paw is easy-as-pie. I move it into a wide open space (and yes, you need a wide open space), roll it upside down, hit the bottom two or three times (to dislodge anything stuck to the bottom) and then roll it back. I pull out the scoop and dump the collected cat refuse into a plastic bag and take it outside and place it in a trash can.³Which, btw, seems to keep other creatures – e.g. raccoons and squirrels – from diving into your household trash.

I’m very happy with the product – and hoping to replace at least two⁴I have replaced two already and have a third on its way. one more of the existing litter boxes with Omega Paw’s. Currently there are two I can’t replace, b/c they are in too tight of a space and it would be too great of a hassle to move them into a space large enough to roll them.⁵I’ve replaced the two litter boxes with one Omega Paw. It is a tiny bit of a hassle, but still worth it.

Another really nice element of this litter box is the hood. Some of my cats occasionally “miss” (especially our biggest cat, Barclay, whose butt occasionally hangs out of the litter box when she attempts to “do her business”) – and the hood has prevented this 100% 95%!

Now that I’ve raved about the Omega Paw, let me highlight a few drawbacks:

1. The Omega Paw needs to be cleaned regularly. If you forget to clean the litter box for a day too many and too much refuse builds up, it will overflow the scoop and it becomes difficult to get the scoop out of the Omega Paw and can make a little mess in the process.
   
2. It is overly difficult to add litter to the Omega Paw. You either have to remove the top (which has a number of tabs so it doesn’t fall open when rolling) or you have to throw litter into the Omega Paw via the entrance way the cats use.⁶While I still think a door in the hood would be nice, I realized if I roll the box onto its back the door is then facing upwards and I can easily pour litter in that way. This isn’t impossible or even that difficult, but it sure would be nice if there was a door in the hood which could be easily opened and would allow one to drop litter in from the top!
3. The plastic tabs are of poor quality. I haven’t had any break, but they just don’t show a high quality of workmanship, with extraneous plastic on some of them, rough fits, and so on. Once you get it put together you really don’t need to take the hood off often, but still, a little extra work on this front would make this product “premium.”
4. It requires a lot of space. You have to roll the Omega Paw upside down and back again, and this requires some significant space. I would suggest that Omega Paw make another model (more expensive) which could “roll in place” and could be used in tight spots. The Omega Paw is great if you have the room – but for those with space constraints (e.g. especially apartment dwellers), The Omega Paw may not be a viable option.
5. The scoop slides out. Sometimes when I am rolling the Omega Paw, the scoop will begin sliding out – which results in litter falling on the floor. Yuck! If there was a latch that held the scoop in place, this would be awesome!

All that said, The Omega Paw Self-Cleaning Litter Box is the best litter box I have used thus far. It isn’t as nice as say a CatGenie is theoretically, but at least in my experience with the older CatGenie model, it didn’t work consistently and created lots of messes – The Omega Paw is a little more work, but it just works.