Does anyone have any experience with self-cleaning cat litter boxes? I’m curious if any particular model of self-cleaning litter box is any good. We now have 4 cats and it would be nice to not have to clean litter boxes manually 1-2 times every day.
Do they separate pee/poop from litter well? Are cats afraid to use them? Do they stink more than regular litter boxes because pee/poop are in them for longer periods? Are they a hassle to clean? Do you have to buy propietary supplies (custom litter? special trays?)?
Thanks for your input.
I have a Litter Robot (that’s the actual brand name) and it’s worth the money. Completely eliminates smell other than right when they do the deed. Incredibly easy and clean to empty, but that’s all besides the point. They ha e the BEST customer service ever. I’ve had parts replaced for free, experts on the phone guide me step by step on how to fix it if it malfunctions, and once they even replaced the entire dome for free (plus shipping). I’ve had this for several years and it’s amazing. Truly.
I’ve had other automatic litter boxes too but none of them have been as durable, clean smelling, or easy to use as this. Plus I get phone notifications when it’s full and it won’t cycle anymore so I can change it.
My cats took a week to get used to it but now they love it. They offer their own litter but you can buy your own as well. There are certain restrictions on litter type though, check that out before you buy litter.
It separates the waste well, and there is hardly any wasted clean litter in the waste bag when I take it out.
And it actually stinks LESS than a regular box because of how it stores the waste and the fact that it seals it away a few minutes after cats go, using a weight sensor to tell when a cat has left the box.
Edit: reading this sounds like an advertisement, but I swear I’m just a dude who loves my litter box a whole lot.
I have one arriving today. Fingers crossed that my scaredy cat will be able to make the change.
If you want you can start by not allowing it to auto turn and only turning it manually when you’re nearby and can be sure the cat isn’t near. You can then build up to the auto turn
Our scardy cat was fascinated by ours. Would haul ass from across the house just to watch it cycle.
My friends bought me a litter robot, too. I have mixed feelings. I seem to have to reset and fiddle with the thing too often, but when it works, it’s really good for keeping the smell down. My guys use it more often than the other two old school boxes, so I guess two paws up from them?
Have you broken it down to clean? Issues in mine usually mean there’s dust build up under the bowl, particularly the pinch sensor. If I get that sorted every few months then it goes back to fine.
I have not, and I will check! If that’s all it is… It’s been finicky for years!
Yeah, you have to occasionally do a complete disassembly and clean out the internals. Maybe once a year.
If it’s not it, their customer service is really good so get in touch with them.
Sounds like it needs a cleaning. Also update the firmware just in case. Customer service can help if you need help figuring out how to clean it or if a motor goes bad or something. They’ve replaced motors and stuff for me a few times for free. When one of the sensors broke or was damaged, it was finicky for me too. Sometimes worked sometimes didn’t. Replacing it fixed it instantly. Though the same happens if a sensor needs to be cleaned.
What a future world we live in; firmware updates on a litter box.
Mine was like that, make sure you check for firmware updates.
This sounded fantastic until I looked it up and it’s A THOUSAND DOLLARS???
I love my cat and I hate scooping litter, but definitely not a grand worth of either…
What dollars is that?
Mine was £350 which is under $500 US, just looked at the site and the brand new model is $699.
Ah, that’s $999 Canadian. Right now our exchange against the US$ is brutal.
Ah, yup, the new one is indeed that much. Second hand are widely available but tbf, it’s worth the cost to me. Around the same price as a new washing machine and I’d probably choose the litter robot first if I had to choose.
These don’t require special litter or anything, do they?
I’m always wary of things like smart vacuums that require special bags and this feels like one of those but didn’t see anything on the Amazon page specifically saying that.
It’s special as in you have to use clumping litter. Dr. Elsey’s works the best in my experience.
It does, but you don’t have to buy their litter, as long as the one you get does the same thing.
Thank you!
No, not at all, not sure what EssentialCoffee means. It’s just any clumbing litter with a small grain to go through the sifter. I prefer clay.
There are still some places with some leftover LitterRobot 3s in stock at lower prices ( here ), but they’ve always been expensive. We have a 2, and it cost $700 CAD at the time.
They’re probably looking at one of the bundles.
Hey now, it’s only $700 where I am.
The amount of money people will spend for convenience is indefinable.
Time is money
Second the litter robot. I had a pet safe automatic litterbox for years and this one blows that out of the water.
Can vouch they are good. We have two. They are expensive though.
So freaking expensive. But honestly I love mine. Sometimes I travel for work and I’m gone all week. Come home and there’s still no smell. Worth it.
How’d you get your cat to try it? We’re struggling to get ours to even look at it, any pointers would be appreciated!
I put the old litter box next to the litter robot and let the old litter box get super gross and didn’t scoop it at all for over a week. Once it got gross they opted for the clean litter robot. I then removed the old litter box and now they just use the robot.
This is exactly what we did with our cat and it worked like a charm. We tried leaving a path of treats into it before that, but she just ate the treats and then walked away. We didn’t want to just shove her in there because we were afraid she would associate the trauma with the Litter Robot.
I would pick them up and just put them inside it. After a day or so of that over and over they started using it but it took them a while to not be scared of it when it moves.
My mom has one of these and she loves it.
Only weird bit was when I was staying at her house and didn’t realize it was a thing, only to have it go through a cycle at 4am and not knowing what the cyborg sound was.
Nah my gf just got one and she loves it too.
This is going to sound like hyperbole, but this thing changed my life and I always love it when I get a chance to share it with somebody. It requires no electricity, it has no moving parts and in the 11 years I’ve been using one, it’s never broken. I give you: Omega Paw.
It requires clumping cat litter, so if you use that you’re golden. When it’s time to clean, you roll it - and as you roll, the loose litter flows through a grate, but the clumps and waste stay on top of the grate. As you continue to roll it, the waste falls to the ceiling. When you roll it back, the waste all falls into the drawer, which you pull out and dump. Cleaning the litter box takes literally 10 seconds. It’s awesome.
And what happens with the cat?
It learns after the first time or two
I had one when my cats were kittens, unfortunately one of my cats is freakishly large and can’t turn around in most lidded litter boxes so I had to replace it but it was very convenient. It’s easy to use and the monthly clean out is about the same as any other manual litter box.
Did you have the large one? I have a 17lb long-haired Maine Coon and he has no issues with it, but I do have the large one.
It was the large option at the time but it is not as large as the one in your link. Mine is also all grey. I got 2 cats from my local animal shelter, they were about 2 and 3 months old at the time and the younger one was a little bigger than the older which should have been a warning sign. They are both American shorthairs. My older cat is white with a calico saddle and is only a little bigger than average, she is 14 lbs. My younger cat is almost solid black with 2 little white toes on one of his back feet. He is 22 lbs, over a foot tall, and from his nose to the end of his tail he is 39inches. He can stand on his back feet and get stuff off the kitchen counter.
I thought it was pretty cool.
We stopped using it because one cat was sick and suffered from diarrhea from cancer. And the clump litter couldnt clump enough, leading to diarrhea wetness when we rolled. That lead to diarrhea on the top part. And the other cats were not happy.
Had to switch to open air litter boxes to meet all their fickle demands. But it was great while it lasted.
So, am I missing something? Is my cat just really good at how she uses the litter? Most of the time it takes me 2 seconds to bag my hand to grab a poop, and every other day I’ll also clear out the few clumps of pee she always leaves in the same spot (knock tray back a bit, clumps stay behind, again just grab with bagged hand then spread the litter back). No need for all this extra manual labour and tumbling of poops, it just seems like a lot more work than it has to be? Not having a go, genuinely curious…
Edit: I do realise more cats mean more work and I appreciate it might help then, but still, it seems like making more work for yourself…do you use clumping litter? not everyone does, which can make it messy if you leave it for them to kick up the next time they go. Not to mention the smell… if you’re really leaving your cat’s pee go for days at a time you might be nose blind to the smell it makes.
Honestly I don’t see why anyone would use litter that isn’t clumping, but obviously my habits are different to others, so what do I know… As for the smell, the pee seeps to the bottom and clumps there, where it’s buried under the rest of the litter which keeps the smell trapped. When I shift the litter every other day (so not “days at a time”), yeah, it smells, it’s cat piss, so no smell blindness here, just a system that works for us… ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I hate an open catbox. I also don’t want to directly pick it up, bag or not. So I had to unclip the top and use a scoop, and I had three cats so I did it every day and I just effing hated it.
Fair enough…
You’re definitely missing something. That something is that some people hate dealing with litter every day. This is a solution to that.
Omg thank you for this! I have to go over to my mom’s to clean her litter box all the time. With this she’ll be able to do it herself!
Can vouch for these. I have two of the large size, one per cat. They’re a game-changer.
Bought a litter robot 4, wouldn’t do it again for the price. It’s a pain to clean and the cats are always peeing/pooping on the sides. It constantly stopped it cleaning cycle, and ended up growing a ton of bugs inside because the design had some cat poop inside the machine where I couldn’t get to it. I had to dismantle the entire thing taking out every screw to clean it. It’s currently sitting in my basement. I left a similar review on their website and they decided not to post it, I guess they don’t like unfavorable reviews.
I had a Cat Genie for years and loved it. Like others, they’re a bit of a pain to take apart and clean when you need to.
It also had a draw back of sometimes missing a small piece, washing it, then blowing hot air on it to stink up the whole place.
But overall I was happy with it. The only reason I don’t have one now is my living situation changed and I don’t have room for it (requires water hookup and a drain).
Yes what I mentioned may sound annoying but consider this: we had ours hooked up to a laundry drain and had to do no scooping. Ever. We didn’t even have to flush the toilet. Every once in a while we’d plug in a special cartridge to do a self clean cycle, and once a year we’d take it apart to clean the internal section (but honestly it didn’t need this except once due to hard water buildup).
You don’t have to do anything and it always had washed and clean litter. Every once in a while it got a little stinky but what litterbox doesn’t?!
Seriously, highly recommend.
3 cats, two little robots. They’re a hassle to get calibrated right but once you do get them set up they are great. I would buy them again, can’t imagine going back to scooping every day.
wait, you have robots?
*Litter Robots™ probably
Yes, they’re quite small.
I agree with this.
I also agree, we’ve had one for years and even if it breaks they are easy to repair.
This, plus we’ve gotten a couple replacements from the manufacturer
100%
We have 7 cats and 2x Litter Robot 3, and they’re a life saver. I only have to empty the bags every 2ish days, and litter lasts longer since they’re not digging in clumped waste.
They are a bit of a hassle to clean if you don’t keep up with it, though. A full breakdown of the sphere will take a few hours of work. But, if you wipe it out every time you change litter, you will only need to do it every 3-6 months.
3 cats with a litter robot 3 after 3 years. It’s great, easy to repair and parts are available. Save your money and buy a litter bot 3. The 4 has some improvements (it’s quieter) but has some new flaws and a pretty stiff price increase.
Also check out one man six cats on YouTube who has been doing a litter bot mega test of all kinds of brands/styles with his 7 (yes 7) cats.
I’ll go against the grain here and say that no, I don’t think they’re worth it. The litter that automatic litter boxes have to use doesn’t clump and isn’t as effective. Tried it for about a year and then went back to low-tech.
Those were 1st gen, we’re way past that now.
It seems the newer ones do allow more varieties of litter these days but that’s a good reminder not all do.
The one I use only uses clumping litter.
Your information is fucked up. You’re specifically supposed to use clumping. It’s no wonder you had problems rofl
Some people are saying that the tech has changed, but maybe 4-ish(?) years ago when I got it, they forbade clumping litter because it was hard for the machine to filter.
I had a litter robot 3 for a couple years. The internals corroded and stopped working shortly after the warranty period expired. Bought a popur and it’s been a dream ever since.
I just bought a Litter Robot 4 and in the one week I’ve had it, I just emptied the bag for the first time. No scooping or anything! You can use regular 10-gallon trash bags in the compartment. No proprietary bags required, although they do sell them. The pee/poop get dropped into a compartment below the area where your kitty does its business, so there isn’t any smell.
Cat Genie.
Bit expensive and you need to connect to water and a drain. Either toilet or near washing machine works.
It worked for us for about 4 years. Works very well and washes the litter each use.
I’d like to go on record and state my opinion that the old school manual scoop method is the best and easiest if you do it twice a day. Takes no more than 30 seconds each time and gives you the added benefit of actively monitoring your cat’s waste for any warning signs of digestive or urinary issues.
Having a dedicated garbage pail for litter purposes only right next to the box makes things super easy and dirt cheap.
I used my Litter Robot for about 6 months, and ended up selling it because:
- It still has to be cleaned. Once a month you are supposed to disassemble and clean the various parts. I found this experience to be pretty nasty. Definitely worse than scooping a box.
- I have a Maine Coon, and she ended up with dirty litter in her fur all of the time.
Edit: - The drawer is small and has to be emptied often if you have multiple cats. I get that you’re still supposed to have multiple boxes available, but that thing cost exponentially more than other litter boxes, so it’s hard not to see it as an attempt at an all-in-one solution.
Once a month you are supposed to disassemble and clean the various parts. I found this experience to be pretty nasty. Definitely worse than scooping a box.
This is why after considering them whenever they come up, I’ve always decided against them, the poop isn’t magically gone, it’s just been moved, and still needs cleaning, now potentially after being manipulated by and/or getting stuck in moving parts… No thanks lol
Litter robot is pretty good. I have 3 of them, and while the new ones look nicer, my older ones work better imo. You have to use a good brand of clumping litter, or it won’t work at all.
There is also Cat genie, which requires a waterline, and it uses reusable little balls instead of litter. After your cat goes to the bathroom, it self cleans the balls and flushes out the poo and pee, and then it dries itself with hot air. I would love to get one of these but they are fairly big and I just don’t have the space for it.
I use a pet safe brand autoscooping litter box. It has disposable litter containers and reusable ones. It’s hella expensive, but worth it cause one pack of litter lasts 2-3 weeks for me. I’m also lazy, and it eliminates daily scooping.
I also have the pet safe for about 2 years, it’s been great so far. Definitely recommend the reusable tray if you want to keep costs down, the disposal trays are pretty pricey. I just dump the tray every 40-50 uses and it’s good to go. You have to use crystal litter though and that’s more expensive than clay stuff.
I got the reusable tray recently and it’s been great. I save like $30/month using it. A lot of people think I’m crazy for shelling out so much on a litter box, but it’s totally worth it. It’s so easy.
I’d say it depends, do you have any long-haired cats?
I have had no luck with them in in the past, and have had to avoid them now as we have long-haired cats, which clumping kitty litter with long-hairs is usually a disaster with litter getting stuck on them.I just think its part of the daily ritual, or in my case multiple times daily due to having a herd of cats. I don’t enjoy it, but its better than the house smelling like cat waste.
