How about a little more Baklava?

We have been slowly running out of cat litter for a couple of weeks now. Okay, we were actually out of cat litter, except for the stuff that was still in the litter box. But we didn’t hear the cats complaining, so we put off buying more. Until this weekend, when we could no longer ignore it. The cats’ pitiful meows of disdain at the dirty box were starting to get annoying.

So we made a trip to our pet store of choice and bought some litter. Then what did we do? We went home and set up our new Cat Genie (that has been sitting in its box for two weeks). Perhaps you have heard of it? The latest litter box craze sweeping the nation? Well. It does not require any actual litter, or at least the variety that we just bought. We’re smart like that. ANYWAY. We pored over the instructions, and set up all the little parts and pieces, and I kept rubbing it, but I never got any wishes (Get it? Like a genie-in-a-bottle kind of genie? And the Aladdin reference in the title? No? Just me, then?).

Let me tell you how the Cat Genie works. It hooks up to your water supply and requires a drain, and then it basically scoops up the waste and blasts it into liquid that goes down your drain. Like magic. And it uses these plastic-y washable granules that get rinsed and dried when you run the cycle. Once we got it all set up, we ran a test cycle to be sure it was hooked up properly. We wouldn’t want cat poo to go flying all over the basement or anything.

So we pressed the button, and watched the scooper hand scoop while the bowl turned around. Then we watched it fill with water and cleaning product, and then we watched it drain and start to dry. The whole thing took over thirty minutes. And let me tell you, it was the most boring thing I have ever watched. By my estimation, I lost about three years of my life, hanging out in the chilly basement, hovering over the litter box, staring into the slowly turning bowl while the drool slowly dribbled down my chin.

Now, two days later, I’m not sure if the cats have even used it. It might be a little too clean for them. They’re used to us turning their beds down at night and getting little chocolates on their pillows, but we rarely clean their bathroom. Wouldn’t them to get all uppity on us.