Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Funny Farm Meets ModKat

In late November, Rich (that's the nice man's name, not an evalutation of his financial status) sent us one of his ModKat Litter Pans to test. Since we've had the product for a few weeks now, we thought we should post an update on it. You can read the post on the ModKat's arrival here.

Jan was ecstatic, hoping this would solve some of her problems. For one thing,one of us likes to stand tall and pee over the top of the box. (Don't worry, we won't tattle on you, Per ... uh, whichever one of us is responsible!)

And even more importantly, the dogs view our litter boxes as an all you can eat buffet. That's why the boxes are on the back porch blocking the door to the kitchen with shelves on each side and a wooden barrier at the other end. Finding the litter boxes requires a map and a compass. Wending through the maze to use the litter box requires a trim body and gymnastics.

If you remember, the ModKat is taller than other litter pans, with a roof -- no tiles or shingles, but one large entrance/exit hole and a number of smaller air holes. The theory is that we would enter one at a time through the entrance/exit hole, do our business, and Jan's job would become easier. Just remove the roof, grab the liner, empty, clean and replace.

Boy, did we frustrate her! We laughed as she took her first look at the roof and realized the hole was not Buddy and Sam-proof. That immediately limited the number of places she could place it. Actually, there was only one.

She moved the wooden barrier and fit the ModKat in with our other pans. After our initial investigation when it arrived, we ignored it. She tried the World's Best Cat Litter sample she got us with the Free coupon offer. She switched to our regular litter when World's Best ran out.

These are photos of our litter box area. One photo is facing the door and the other the barrier. As you can see, there isn't much maneuvering room.

Rich suggested Jan remove the lid (we prefer to call it a roof) and the liner until we started to use the new box. With the lid off we do use the ModKat litter box. And Per ... uh, whichever one of us that's responsible can't pee over the top of the MoKkat. He .. uh, he or she can pee over the top of the liner, though.

Jan replaced the roof tonight, thinking perhaps we're ready to use it covered. But we're cats - perhaps not. We'll update you on the subject at another time.

Jan watched a ModKat video tonight and brought our box into the living room wearing its roof. Percy immediately climbed up an in to check it out. Sam and Buddy took turns sticking their head in but there wasn't anything of interest in there tonight. An 11-year-old.chihuahua might be unable to climb on and in thought the roof, but we have two tall, limber, and very determined dogs whose heads will fit through the entrance/exit hole. Either one is capable of moving the Modkat around the room and/or tipping it over. Merci is smaller, the size of a long cat. Jan fears leaving the box anywhere the dogs can access it. She has seen them do the "impossible" too many times.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

You can meet the designers and find information on the ModKat litter pan here.

15 comments:

  1. Oh, the joys of the litter box wars! I am glad that the kitty who stands tall and pees can't pee over the top of the new box.

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  2. You know, it never occurred to me that there could be uh, buffet issues with dogs and litter boxes. I grew up with dogs, and one indoor/outdoor cat, but I don't ever remember seeing a litter box for the cat (we lived in the country, and this is decades ago, of course).

    I hope this ModKat does the trick...at least for the most part. Good luck!

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  3. Reading what you said, Mom loved this ModKat
    but she was upset because they don't sell here :(

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  4. Thanks for sharing with us. Keep it up.

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  5. That might be a bit too tall for us...hmmmm, have to think on that one.

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  6. Oh those look so cool! I'm a pretty bad litter tracker myself and I kick a whole lot...occasionally out the front door of my litter box. I wonder if the modkat would work well for me?

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  7. Hmm... I don't know about these new fangled litter boxes. I think they are just another excuse to not to clean every day...

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  8. If evFUR I'm lukhky enough to get a khat of my purry own, I will surely keep this produkht in mind!

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra

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  9. Looks ok but we cats have a way of doing things our way no matter what..Hope it works out.. Hugs GJ x

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  10. Well that all looks very cosy but we dogs have to go outside!
    Even when it is below zero and there is snow and ice on the ground!
    Sometimes being a cat seems like a good idea......
    love
    Martha & Bailey xxx

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  11. I have never seen a litter box!
    She looks desperate to get into it!
    Kisses and hugs
    Lorenza

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  12. This is turning out to be quite an elaborate review process!! I hope the Modkat turns out to be doggy-proof... :)

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  13. Yes, we know all about keeping doggies out of litter boxes (sigh). Ours is in the garage nicely tucked away, but the rents had to put one in the entry way by the front door for Artemisia. The Mom can not wait until she can go in the garage with everybody else. (MOL) one of the reasons Artemisia got her own litter box was Scylla screamed bloody murder when she went to use her litter box and realized Artemisia had used it FIRST. Now Scylla is using Artemisia's litter box. Socks is using it too and he slings the litter everywhere (sigh) ~AFSS

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