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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 65 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 50 found the following review helpful:
 Awful product Jan 03, 2006
By Pooh Bear
I had a Littermaid for about 3 years before it died. Then I went without for a few months, before my boyfriend bought me this one for Christmas ... leaving me wishing he had read the other online reviews.
* Ventilation holes: There are 'Ventilation' holes on the top of the receptacle that holds the litter. Why would you want to ventilate the cat litter?? They say that this is a 'feature' in that the holes catch litter that is dropped as cats leave or use the litter box. And so, of course, their specially-designed bags take the holes into account so the smell doesn't get out, making it impossible to use regular plastic grocery store bags that I used in my Littermate. They call it a feature - it's really just a way to force you to use their bags. My plan, if I end up being stuck with it and having to try to make it work for me - is to tape up the holes with some thick clear tape and use regular grocery bags. What a gimmic.
* Plastic Box Liner: The directions say that running the litter box without the plastic liner will void the warranty - so you are forced to buy their plastic liners. Regardless, the plastic liner is actually my biggest problem - after the rake gets to the end of the box and dumps the litter into the receptacle, it can't move back to the other side of the box (its resting place) because the plastic liner sticks up a bit and the rake just keeps trying over and over to get past it. I finally taped it down this morning.
* Where the rake rests: Where the rake rests is low down in the cat litter, about 1/4" from the edge - allowing the cats to urinate on the rake itself ... and making it impossible for the rake to actually clean that up because it clumps up behind the rake. You get to clean this up yourself with a scooper while the thing is raking (because you can't reach it otherwise).
This is a piece of junk. I am going to try to return it and get another Littermaid. There are issues with those as well, but this thing was just very poorly designed.
32 of 32 found the following review helpful:
 There are better products out there Sep 26, 2006
By K. Scruggs
"kmichael"
I had a littermaid for four or five years and was more or less happy with it. However, over time, the motor did start to wear out and so I had to replace it. And when I went to the store, the things I didn't like about the littermaid were the recepticles, the mess that stuck to the rake and the effort it took to change out the old litter. And my cats didn't much like that the litter level was low.
So when I went to the store, I looked over the Purrforma Plus and decided that the product really hit the mark on my complaints. And so I purchased it.
When I got it home, I found the setup pretty straight forward. Everything seemed to go where it belonged. However, I found that when I used the Tidycat clumping litter, that the machine stalled out every couple of days and it seemed that it was far more trouble than it was worth.
I would have returned it, but prior to setting it up, it sat at my house for more than a month while I was on a trip away. So returning the item wasn't an option for me. Thus, I decided to see if I could get it to work better.
I decided to see if higher quality litter would resolve the issues and so purchased Ever Clean Extra Strength litter and put that in the litter box after cleaning the machine and changing out both the litter tray and the waste bags.
What a difference. After changing the litter, I have not had a single stall out in the 6 weeks I have been using the box. I find changing the bags to be easy and effortless and appreciate that I don't have to buy specific plastic recepticles for the box. My two cats really like the fact that the I can put much more litter in the machine, allowing them to dig much deeper holes for them to do their business.
In short, I am pretty satisfied with litter box over all. If they had offered better advice on the type of litter to use, I probably would have given it five stars, but because I had to take the time to figure out how to make work as advertised, I give it four.
xxxxxx Addition xxxxxxxx
It has now been a few months of using the cat box. And I have found that over time, small problems have cropped up.
First, as one reviewer noted, if the cat urinates on the rake, the clumps get behind the rake, forcing you to take apart the machine in order to get the clumps that are behind the rake.
Second, it seems to me that the top warped a bit and that has caused the rake to catch in the middle of the box. Due to the design of the box, the top sits slightly above the rake and is used to keep the rake from riding up. But with the slight warp, the rake gets sandwiched between the top and base, causing rake to catch in the middle of the run and not finish the cycle. To resolve this issue, I used the velcro sticker that came with the litter box liner and stuck the sticker to the tabs on the base where the top sits on. This added a slight amount of height to the top over all. After doing that, the rake seemed to stop catching. However, I am concerned that over time, the top will warp further.
However, with my fix for issue two and the fact that issue one doesn't occur all that often for me, the box does seem to work somewhat reliably, and at least as reliably as the littermaid I used in the past.
Would I purchase it again? Probably not. I would probably try the new littermaid.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Final Entry On Product xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After six months of using this product, I have concluded that the Petmate Purrforma is a waste of money. As mentioned previously, it works ok out of the box. But the top soon warps and caused binding with the roller. Raising the top works for a while, but the warping continues and over time the problem returns.
Sometimes it works great for a week. Then it doesn't work for a single day. Not good when you travel and expect the box to keep clean while you are away.
There were two situations that led me to finally give up and buy a different box. First, I went away for Christmas. I completely cleaned to box the morning before I left. I came home and the box was completely full. The area behind the rake had a huge amount of waste (thus the rake must have gotten stuck and after the cat used the box, swept it back to the rear, an occasional occurance).
I sighed and cleaned the box when I returned home. That night, the box, completely clean and fresh, started making loud noises where it was getting stuck trying to again rake the waste toward the back. This time I am sure the cat urinated behind the rake.
Over a short time, this product's performance degrades to the point of it being unusable.
In short, this could be a good product, but the manufacturer decided to not invest in the research to make it good. As of today, I have ordered another Littermaid and will be putting this one out to the trash heap as soon as it arrives.
27 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 Buy a Litter Maid instead! Mar 17, 2006
By K. E. Bush
I gave this thing two stars only because it is easier to clean than the litter maid. The comb removes, the "box" removes, and the ramp/shag carpet does reduce tracking more than the litter maid's ramp. The fact that you can take it apart to clean it is a very nice feature.
HOWEVER, the main function of such a machine is to Scoop Used Litter. This one misses clumps every time. DAILY I am scooping stuff it missed. I NEVER had to do this with the litter maid (seven years) unless the cats all used it one after another and clogged it up. It also seems like half the time this thing forgets to scoop. I go in to empty the bag and end up scooping the entire box by hand because it doesn't appear to have raked all day. NO WAY I can go out of town for a weekend and KNOW my litter is going to be taken care of. (with the litter maid this was never an issue).
The motor is much louder (and slower) than the litter maid.
If you are going to blow big bucks for an automated litter box, get the mega litter maid. Just make sure you spray the comb and bottom of box with non-stick cooking spray before you use it--cuts down on things getting stuck. It is a FAR BETTER machine than this one.
17 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Looks aren't everything Nov 08, 2005
By Danielle Crabtree
I had a different automatic litter box originaly before I bought the Purrforma Plus. I didn't have any problems with the other cat box, it just needed to be replaced. I really liked the looks of the Purrforma and the plastic bags sounded like a better idea than the plastic containers that were adding up in the checking department. I took the plunge & purchased one. All I can say is WOW did I make a poor choice!! The cat box compaired to the Littermaid.... well, there is just no comparison at all. The plastic bags are increadibly thin so they rip quite easily. My cat also likes to play with anything that makes a crinkily sound so she would scratch at the lip of the exposed bag & well, you can guess the rest. The lid design is poor as well because it isn't attached. This might not seem to be a big deal because it does make it a bit easier to remove the bags, but it makes a HUGE difference where odor is concerned. The lid itself is vented so if the bag is torn there is nothing to keep that lovley cat box smell from concentrating into nothing short of an eye watering, throat burning, mind numbing experience. Plus if your cat rips the part of the bag that goes around the edge of the lid, the litter (and what's in that litter) just ends up on top of the bag where it has an unobstructed vent for all of that good old "cat box smell" to come pouring out!
The best advice I could give anyone is to hold off on buying this litter box until they do a complete overhaul on the functionality of the thing. Sure it looks nice but trust me it looks a lot different through watery, stinging eyes!!! As for me, I've learned my lesson. If I'm happy with a product, I won't go looking for the next big, expensive thing. After using the Purrforma for 3 months, I went back to what I consider the best cat box hands down.....the Littermaid. But then again it's your money, right?
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
single worst product ever. Feb 23, 2006
By Michael M. Moul
The Purrforma Self Cleaning XL Litterbox is the least functioning, most poorly designed product I have ever owned. While the name "purrforma" is perhaps remotely clever, it is the only semi-intelligent idea that seems to have occured to the good folks at Petmate.
My top three complaints:
3. The litter rake consistently jams itself up with the unspeakable filth it was intended to sweep away, which means that I have to pick kitty crap out of the little tines with my fingers to clean it.
2. Replacement litter pan liners are no longer availabe anywhere but the internet.
1. Unbelievably, the removable storage container that holds used litter was designed with a round bottom. This means that once you've removed it to change the disposable bag out, you can't set it down anywhere without it falling over. The process of changing the bag (which requires two hands) then becomes a balancing act which, while terribly entertaining for anyone watching, is absolutely infuriating for me.
If you have already purchased this product, my suggestion is that we should simply mail the poorly designed plastic bags full of used kitty litter to the company responsible. I'm not allowed to post their address or URL, but they're in Texas and you can find it by googling "petmate."
If you haven't already purchased, please don't consider it.
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