Tips To Determine if the LitterMaid Automatic Litter Box Is Right for You

Whether you have one cat or five, odds are you are finding yourself quite frustrated with the constant cleaning that you need to do with a regular litter box. I myself have been there many times before. Whether it is the odor that drives you crazy, or the fact that you can never get it perfectly clean, odds are you are on a quest for the perfect “hands off” litter box solution. Whether you have seen them in the store, or even online, you probably have found yourself considering purchasing one of these automatic wonders, only to be scared off by the cost. This may have lead you to try one of cheaper models only to be more frustrated than you were before. Here are some tips that can help you determine if a LitterMaid will meet your litter box needs.

First, you have more cats than you can count on one hand. While it’s easy to keep one box clean when you only have one cat, it can be quite difficult to keep the box clean when you have multiple cats under one roof. While most pet sites recommend that you need to have more than one litter box if you have multiple cats, most pet owners don’t have the room or even the time to take care of one box, not to mention two or three. The LitterMaid makes a great alternative to the manual box, since it does most of the cleaning for you.

Second, you have an oversized cat that just won’t fit in a standard box. While most cats love to dig, having an uncovered litter box tends to cause a large sandbox mess around an uncovered box. The solution to this is to purchase a litter box with a cover, but even the largest of boxes can at times be quite difficult for the larger cat breeds or overweight cats to fit in. While earlier LitterMaid models were no larger than a standard litter box, newer models such as the LitterMaid Ultra Mega are geared specifically to multi cat households making it perfect for one or many cats that require a lot of room in the box.

Lastly, remember that automatic does not mean hands free. While the LitterMaid may cut down on the number of trips you need to make to clean the litter box, it does not mean that it will not require any maintenance at all. It will do a great job of keeping the box clean but eventually you will run out of room in the waste receptacle and that will need to be emptied. Just make sure to do a daily check and use the right litter and your LitterMaid will work as it was designed.

These are just a few of the tips that can help you determine if a LitterMaid Automatic litter box will meet your pet care needs. While it, like any other automatic litter box model, may not be perfect, it can help you gain back a few hours each day while keeping your cats happy with a clean box for years to come.

Interested in giving it a try? Consider checking out the product below. I actually own this model and find that it works great for the four cats in my house, especially my 13lb Maine Coon. I recommend you use the manufacturer recommended litter as extra strength clumping clay litters tend to form cement in the bottom of the box which is the number one cause for machine breakage because the motor is not strong enough to loosen it from the pan.

LitterMaid Elite Mega Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box

Can You Succeed With A Home Based Business? – Three Simple Tips to Show You How

If you have ever found yourself longing to cut the ties with your 9 to 5 job with the thought in mind that you wanted to start your own home based business, you may need to take a good, hard look at yourself before you take the plunge into being your own boss.

While most home based businesses are created out of a desire to be ones own boss, many others are created on a pipe dream of becoming a millionaire nearly overnight while eliminating the requirement of having to report to, and answer to a member of management. Now, before you take the plunge into home business ownership, take a look at the following keys that make a home based business owner successful and determine if you have what it takes to be a successful business owner.

First, and most important, do you have the drive needed to get the job done? When it comes to running your own business you have no one to answer to but yourself when it comes to getting the job done. There will be no one standing over your shoulder, or reminding you of projects or tasks that need to be done, or deadlines that need to be met. You are on your own in getting the work done which means you need to make sure you have the drive to do what needs to be done to make your business a success. Copping out and pushing work off to the next day because you “just don’t feel like doing it” will not make your business a success. If you can’t commit to doing what needs to be done for the good of your business, then you may be better cut out for a job where someone tells you what needs to be done as opposed to the other way around.

Second, will you be ok with having to handle every task that is involved in running your business? Unlike in the corporate world, home based business owners don’t have the option to pass along any of the tasks and responsibilities that they dislike doing. Depending on your chosen field of expertise, this may require doing the menial paperwork that is required to make sure all your clients pay you on time, or may be something as simple as taking out the trash. Whatever tasks are required in your business, it is your responsibility to get them done. Similar to having the drive to get where you want to go, you need to have the drive to complete any task that is thrown at you. You can’t just push it off to the side in hopes that the magic “work genie” will make it go away. All tasks and responsibilities are on your head to complete. No one will be there to hold your hand and tell you what needs to be done next. You need to be sure you can handle any possible task that is thrown at you because that’s what being a business owner is all about.

Lastly, make sure you have the ability to not take yourself too seriously. While running your own home based business offers many benefits, there may be days that the task at hand stresses you out to no end, leaving you seriously reconsidering your new line of work. Whether it is negative feedback from a client, or a task that didn’t go as well as you had hoped, you need to learn from the situation and move on. No one is perfect, and those who don’t take the negatives personally and can learn from them, move on to be successful business owners solely because they know that they cannot please everyone. Just make sure you have the ability to not take yourself too seriously and even the most negative feedback will not have a disastrous affect on your business.

Those are the three key features to being a successful home based business owner. If you are not 100% sure that you could succeed with your own home based business because you may be lacking in one of the key areas we discussed, there are other options. You could try starting your own business part time as a true test to yourself to see if you have what it takes to be your own boss. You may just end up surprising yourself by finding traits that you never thought existed, allowing you to enjoy the freedom and success that you had always dreamed that a home based business could provide.

The Truth Behind Non-Shedding Dogs

Whether you have had dogs in the past, or this is the first time you are considering adding one of these furry creatures to your family, odds are you have heard a least some mention of a non-shedding dog. While this may seem like the answer to your cleaning and pet loving prayers, a non-shedding dog is not quite as maintenance free as it may seem.

When my now husband and I first considered getting a dog, we never knew that non-shedding breeds existed. I grew up only with German Shepherd’s him with Dachshund’s. While the place we were living at the time proved to be too small for such a large breed dog as a German Shepherd and the only Dachshund’s we could find were Minis, we found a friendly Miniature Schnauzer. Not knowing all that much about the breed, I read up about it and found that they have a great temperament and also do not shed.  We both thought that was the answer to our prayers, since we already had a short hair cat and we had enough of the excess fur he created around the house.

A non-shedding dogs fur is similar to that of a humans in the fact that it keeps growing and growing and growing, making it more of a high maintenance dog than you would ever expect. Non-shedding dogs need constant grooming at least every few months so their hair does not get out of control. If you let it go too far, mats tend to form and the longer you wait the worse it can get. Making it much more costly and time consuming once you finally bring your favorite furball in for a haircut.

While this is not to say that you should not consider a non-shedding dog, its more of a warning of what to expect if you decide to bring a non-shedding dog into your home. Since they require a higher level of maitenance, they may not be best for owners that are always on the go. Just make sure you have the time in your schedule to keep your dogs fur well groomed and you will be able to enjoy companionship of a non-shedding dog for years to come.

Best Cat Litter For Automatic Litter Boxes

If you have ever found yourself scouring the Internet looking for the best litter for your automatic box, odds are you have found a wide range of forums and other articles each with their own opinion on what is the best litter on the market.

About a year ago I purchased a Littermaid partially due to the fact that I got tried of trying to scoop the lumps out of the corners of  a regular litter box. Around this time, we had also adopted in three feral cats so there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with the quantity that four cats can deliver. Hence the need for for an electronic cat box.

When my new “toy” showed up, the manufacturer suggested using Worlds Best Cat Litter. Needless to say I swore to myself that I would not purchase some high priced litter that the manufacturer suggested. Instead I chose to do  an Internet search to find the best litter for an automatic litter box. The results were so varied I had no clue which was the best litter on the market. Most suggested using an extra strength cat litter which works great in a regular box, but tends to cause cement shaped pee lumps that the machines rake has no chance of moving.

I’ve tried Scoop Away, Ever Clean Extra Strength and probably a few other clay type cat litters, and finally had enough of being woken up at 2am in the morning to hear the machine grinding to a halt because it couldn’t scoop the cement pee. Not to mention the constant visits I needed to make to the machine because everything tended to stick to the bottom. We even tried the trick of using cooking spray and went to the point of using car wax on the bottom and nothing resolved the “cement” problems we were facing.

After at least  three to four months of this I finally broke down and tried Worlds Best Cat Litter. Like any of the other products I tried, I of course had my doubts. Since the Worlds Best litter is made from corn and the others are made from clay and other substances, its actually supposed to be healthier for your cat since they don’t breathe in all the dust.

I would have to say I was quite surprised with the results. After switching, the machine no longer gets stuck, although I do still have to scrape some stuff off the bottom, but no where near as bad as before. The only suggestion I have is I would recommend using the Extra Strength version, as it clumps better than the regular. I actually had to settle for the regular one time when my local pet store had ran out of the other version, and I was not impressed. It was a complete mess, and a lot of wasted litter because the litter was not able to form tight clumps.

If you too have grown tired of scooping or don’t want to have to pay extra money on a second machine becausethe first one died under the strain, I would definitely suggest giveing Worlds Best Cat Litter Extra Strength a try. It works quite well with automatic litter boxes which allows the machine to work as designed so you spend less time scooping while having more time to do the things you enjoy.