Magic Turn Box Around to New Side Over Again
The research
- Why you should trust united states of america
- Why you might want a self-cleaning litter box—and why yous shouldn't get one
- How we picked and tested
- The best automatic cat litter box (but we don't recommend it): Litter-Robot III Open Air
- Care and maintenance
- The competition
- Footnotes
- Oftentimes asked questions
- Sources
Why you lot should trust united states
I am a lifelong pet owner, and I have worked with brute shelters as a full general volunteer, foster parent, and chore-force leader. Every bit the pets staff writer for Wirecutter, I've reviewed everything from domestic dog boots to pet carriers. For this guide, I spent more than 40 hours researching, testing, and interviewing experts about automatic litter boxes.
Why you might desire a self-cleaning litter box—and why you lot shouldn't go i
Pet experts recommend scooping a litter box at least daily, maybe more often depending on the private true cat (their training behaviors, an affliction, or if they alive with other furballs). Self-cleaning litter boxes scoop themselves and then you don't take to, and some allow you lot to program them to scoop waste multiple times per day. All you have to do is toss out the nerveless waste product once or twice a week. Our experts said that a adept automatic litter box should scoop frequently without backing up or spilling, operate quietly, and offer a large enough space for most cats. However, none of the litter boxes we tested met whatever of those criteria.
The main reason yous might want an automatic litter box is the promise that information technology will scoop itself for you, only these devices often fail at that job. The scoop can get gunky or clogged, leaving the machine backed up. The Litter-Robot III Open Air, for example, jammed when we loaded too much litter or the wrong type of litter, and one time information technology malfunctioned considering true cat waste was blocking its sensor, then it mistakenly perceived the bin every bit being full. And with the PetSafe Merely Make clean, several times clumped urine got caught on the conveyor belt, bottlenecking the travel route and spilling muddy litter onto the floor.
Some litter boxes likewise accept a long time to scoop properly, which means cats that are sticklers for tidy litter beds may become to the bathroom elsewhere rather than wait for the litter box to finish doing its task. The CatGenie takes 30 minutes to affluent away a cat's urine and poop, and the PetSafe Simply Clean requires a full hour to scoop out whatsoever mess.
Self-cleaning litter boxes are not just expensive to buy simply likewise expensive to maintain. Between the cost of replacement parts and reusable accessories (such as carbon filters and special cat litter), you'll find yourself spending essentially more in lifetime operating costs than with a traditional litter box. Multiple-cat owners who want the CatGenie to scoop twice a day, for case, tin conceptualize spending between $160 and $200 in replacement cleaning cartridges and plastic litter granules each year. People who own the PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra will experience even greater sticker shock: That litter box requires special, crystal-filled litter trays that cost $540 to $720 each year in a multiple-cat household. (Our true cat litter pick, Dr. Elsey's Ultra, currently costs $15 for 40 pounds, which lasts about two or three months, totaling merely $60 to $90 per year.)
Non a single automated litter box we tested, not even those designed for multiple-cat households, had a large enough litter bed. Experts recommend that a litter box should exist one and a half times as long as your true cat, and as wide as your cat is long. Our favorite traditional litter box is xviii inches wide by 24 inches long. In contrast, the CatGenie's circular litter bed is 17 inches beyond. The Litter-Robot and PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra beds are both 14 past 14 inches. And the PetSafe Simply Clean has a conveyor belt that takes up most half of the ring-shaped litter bed, leaving merely seven by 18 inches of usable infinite.
The CatGenie is extremely loud when scooping. Video: Kaitlyn Wells
Some cats (and people) may be put off by how loud automatic litter boxes tin can be—and if a cat has a negative association with a litter box, information technology might not use the box. The CatGenie was the loudest litter box we tried: In our tests it loudly flushed water when immigration out the waste, an effect that could scare cats that are already skittish. And it got fifty-fifty louder when it scooped, with the arm making a banging noise as it shook off loose litter granules from the clumped waste. The PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra was i of the quietest machines we tested, measuring well-nigh l decibels (around the book of a household conversation) when scooping away waste product. While it was quieter than other models, some experts said they believed that the raking movement or whatever mechanical sound could deter some cats. "I ordinarily recommend against automated litter boxes because if annihilation goes wrong with them, it can scare the bejesus out of them and they're non going to want to employ information technology ever once more," said Mary Molloy, ASPCA animal behavior advisor and owner of pet-preparation company Nirvana Tails in New York City.
Fifty-fifty if your self-cleaning litter box is working perfectly, it's even so non suited to every sort of cat. Kittens and cats that weigh less than 5 pounds are too small to prepare off the motion or weight sensors that tell the litter box when to scoop and when not to; an unexpected scooping action could startle or potentially trap your cat in the heart of doing its business. And senior cats with joint issues may not be able to make it and out of self-cleaning boxes easily due to their college pan heights. The Litter-Robot 3 Open up Air stands 13½ inches from flooring to pan, and has a small pace 7 inches up that'south too narrow for some cats to utilise. Our traditional litter box option, the Nature's Miracle High Sided Litter Box, has a v½-inch-alpine entry lip. Fifty-fifty if yous own a salubrious developed cat, they may still avoid automatic litter boxes altogether: "Cats actually don't love change," Molloy told us. "You've just gotta hope that this new litter box is the thing they'll use, and not the bathtub or sink."
True cat guardians with limited mobility may plough to self-cleaning litter boxes because they think such models are easier to clean than a traditional litter box, or if they don't want to rely on family unit or dwelling house health aids. Just in our tests we found that these machines still required regular, intensive cleaning and oftentimes malfunctioned, so they may be too troublesome for sure people with mobility restrictions. Some assistive-engineering experts also recommend placing a litter box at tabular array height if the cat possessor can't bend over to scoop. That arrangement gets complicated for automated litter box owners considering the contraptions are large and heavy, and require a power source. Plus, things tin get even messier if their cat needs to spring to extreme heights to use the bathroom. (Cats don't always stick the landing.)
Automated litter boxes also have short warranties when compared against the boilerplate lifespan of a cat. The CatGenie, for instance, comes with a two-yr warranty—the longest coverage amid the machines we tested—merely it has frequent breakdown complaints. That's not very reassuring for a pricey piece of applied science that's responsible for cleaning your litter box without making a mess or harming your cat.
The Litter-Robot III Open Air offers an 18-month warranty with an optional xviii-calendar month extension for $l. Both PetSafe models we tested take i-year warranties.
How we picked and tested
I researched dozens of automatic litter boxes across retailers and read their customer reviews for insights into overall operation. Self-cleaning litter boxes run pocket-size, so I considered only models made for multiple-cat households because they're bigger, which gives your true cat a chip more than space. Looking at those with good ratings over an extended menses, I narrowed down the list to four, with prices ranging from $eighty to $450, for testing: the CatGenie Self Washing Self Flushing Cat Box, Litter-Robot III Open Air, PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra Self-Cleaning Litter Box, and PetSafe Simply Clean Automatic Litter Box, which has been upgraded to a newer model we will consider testing in the future.
For testing, I looked at several attributes.
- Scooping and processing fourth dimension: I soiled each litter box with our stand-ins for cat pee and poop (¼ cup of water and halfway-melted chocolate, respectively) and assessed how well and how chop-chop the litter box scooped out the mess.
- Noise level: I sat a human foot away from each litter box and used the smartphone app dB Volume to tape how loud each model was when information technology activated. Those that measured at or below 50 decibels, the same level as a household conversation, are less probable to scare a true cat or annoy a pet owner.
- Waste bin: I measured how much waste material each trapper held, calculated how long information technology would have to make full, and compared that confronting the elimination recommendations the manufacturer specified.
- Ease of cleaning: I checked the litter box mechanisms to see how gunky they got after utilise, and I noted how easy they were to clean.
- Size: I reviewed the dimensions of both the litter boxes and the litter trays to run across if they were on a par with those of our favorite traditional litter boxes.
- Installation process: I followed the manufacturer'due south instructions to prepare up each litter box, and I noted whatever challenges during the process.
Bated from checking out the Litter-Robot in use at a cat café, we didn't examination any of our finalists with actual cats, for several reasons. After our initial testing of the factors that were significant to humans—dissonance, cleaning, size, and installation—we already knew we wouldn't be recommending these devices. And cats unremarkably don't like change, and so we saw no point in repeatedly traumatizing ours past making them poop in iv different cramped, noisy, weird boxes that we had already dismissed for other reasons. Fifty-fifty if your cat tolerates or loves an automatic litter box, they'd probably also be but equally happy with a regular 1.
The best automatic cat litter box (only we don't recommend it): Litter-Robot Iii Open Air
The Litter-Robot III Open up Air was the all-time automatic litter box nosotros tested, but we still tin't recommend information technology for nearly people. It scooped upward the most waste product in a short amount of time, but it was a pain to make clean, and information technology however malfunctioned or got blocked occasionally. Although it has the largest litter-trapper capacity in our exam grouping, you lot still need to empty it out a couple of times a week. Its litter bed is one of the largest we tested, but the box is nonetheless far besides small on the inside and too bulky on the exterior. While it was easy for united states to fix up, it costs $450, and it requires expensive consumable parts. We also constitute a pattern of malfunction complaints from long-term owners. In short, if you buy the Litter-Robot, don't be surprised if your true cat leaves smelly gifts around your abode instead of in this heap.
Despite its drawbacks, the Litter-Robot was one of the better automated litter boxes in our test group at doing what it'southward meant to practise: scoop litter. The Litter-Robot's world rotates starting time counterclockwise and then clockwise to sift the litter bed and dump dirty litter into the waste receptacle. In our tests it removed more litter waste than the other models nosotros tried because the spinning activity helped remove gunky litter from the sides and base of operations of the litter bed, whereas other models could sometimes miss those spots. The globe didn't spill litter exterior of the box like the design of the PetSafe Only Make clean did, nor did it stir the urine back into the litter bed like the PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra did. In our tests the sifting procedure took 2.5 minutes, making the Litter-Robot the second-fastest of the automated litter boxes we tested. (The ScoopFree Ultra's rake system required just 1 minute, 10 seconds, while the Simply Make clean'due south conveyor belt took a total hr to scoop and sift litter into its waste matter bin.)
When the earth spins, it hums at 55 decibels and sounds like a whiny newspaper scanner. That'southward slightly louder than an boilerplate indoor conversation, and a fleck above the ScoopFree Ultra's 50 decibels. Simply the sound didn't seem to bother the 13 resident cats at the Meow Parlour cat café in New York City, which has a Litter-Robot that the cats happily use. (Employees there told us the cats preferred to utilize the Litter-Robot over the traditional litter boxes in the café, and I ofttimes saw cats sitting in front end of the Litter-Robot and then they could lookout man it spin effectually.) It was also far less audibly intrusive than the CatGenie, with its frequent flushes and loud banging as it shook litter free of the scoop.
The Litter-Robot held more litter waste material than any other self-cleaning litter box we tested. It held 4 cups of urine's worth of clumped litter (16 of our ¼-cup h2o samples), enough that you'll probably demand to empty it just once a calendar week with a single true cat, or every three or iv days in a two-cat household. The PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra held nigh a dozen liquid samples earlier its rake organization got gunky and its crystal-litter tray needed replacing. The PetSafe Simply Clean held but about 6 liquid samples in its waste bin, and the CatGenie'due south nonabsorbing granules left a soupy mess in the basin earlier it tuckered out the waste material.
While the Litter-Robot did a good job of scooping the litter, cleaning it out was a chore, and arguably more of a pain than just scooping a traditional litter box daily. Information technology was difficult for us to empty the Litter-Robot's waste drawer without spilling muddied litter onto the floor, because if it was overfilled, we couldn't easily tie the little garbage-bag-like liner shut without some litter falling out. Owners should change the liner at to the lowest degree weekly in a single-cat household, or two to three times per week if they accept multiple cats. This machine also won't self-scoop when the drawer is full, so cats may seek out alternative bathroom spots when the litter bed is overflowing. On peak of that, the waste drawer has a pattern flaw: If as well much litter waste builds upwards nigh the drawer sensor, information technology'll prematurely tell the Litter-Robot to stop scooping, and then cat owners demand to regularly shake the waste pan to prevent buildup.
Even though you save time scooping, yous still have to disassemble and deep-make clean the Litter-Robot itself monthly or quarterly, depending on your true cat'southward bath behaviors. That process takes 20 to 30 minutes each time.1
To clean the Litter-Robot, you have to empty the litter bed, unplug the machine, detach the world from the base, empty the waste drawer, skin off the carbon filter and step mat, mitt-launder all the parts (while being conscientious non to overflowing the electrical components), and then let them to dry before you can add together fresh litter and turn the motorcar back on.
Both PetSafe models are easier to clean than the Litter-Robot because they are smaller and accept fewer components. The CatGenie automobile, conversely, gives true cat owners the biggest headache because they have to take it autonomously and clean both the bowl and the water hookup. CatGenie recommends cleaning the device fully twice a twelvemonth, but owners may have to practise that more often if they accept hard water and don't buy the maintenance cartridges, which are designed to preclude lime buildup and must exist replaced quarterly.
The Litter-Robot is the biggest litter box we tested, and it's an eyesore. It looks like a less stylish, cat-sized version of the Men in Blackness egg-shaped lounge chairs. The litter box measures thirty by 25 by 27 inches and weighs 34 pounds (including the required 10 pounds of kitty litter), so this model isn't a discreet selection for hiding your cat's business.
The litter bed itself is far too pocket-size, just 14 by 14 inches. That'south well beneath our recommendation of at least 22 inches long (an appropriate size for a 15-inch-long true cat), and information technology leaves minimal room for your cat to move around within the sphere-shaped motorcar. Don't be surprised if your true cat'south butt sticks out of the Litter-Robot when they go to the bathroom. (You could spend $25 on a plastic barrier debate in an endeavor to prevent accidents, simply that gives your true cat fifty-fifty less bathroom space—and in that location'south no guarantee the contend will contain overshooters.)
This conflicting-similar litter box is the easiest of the tested automated litter boxes to prepare because information technology comes fully assembled with some accessories, including liners (though you can utilise whatever x- to 13-gallon trash numberless), a carbon filter, and sealant strips that lock in odors. Maintenance isn't cheap: You're meant to supercede the carbon filter every quarter, and the sealant strips may demand replacing yearly if you don't thoroughly make clean the waste matter drawer, according to Litter-Robot'south customer service. Litter-Robot sells a iii-pack of carbon filters and a pack of sealant strips for $20 and charges more than $45 for 100 trash numberless (though again, you could simply use any ten-gallon trash bags). At that place'south no reason a $450 cat box needs another $65 in annual upkeep expenses, not counting the cost of the litter.
According to owner reviews online, the Litter-Robot Three Open Air leaves many buyers unimpressed. Sensor issues, earth spinning malfunctions, and poorly contained smells were the most frequent complaints we read during our research.
Amazon reviewer H Kim writes that the litter box worked for a twelvemonth before information technology started interim up: "The litter robot keeps flashing a yellow error light, which the manual describes as a cat pinch error. It doesn't depict how to solve that mistake and my cat isn't in information technology and so I have no idea why it's generating that error. I've tried cleaning out the entire unit simply information technology still keeps on giving me that error. If yous're spending $300+ on this, you wait this to work perfectly. I bought this considering of the glowing reviews this thing got but a $xx litter box would have been more effective."
Amazon customer Cassandra has as well owned a Litter-Robot Iii Open Air for over a year and has a few complaints: "The ONLY problem I accept is that either the weight the sensor needs abiding adjusting or I have to unplug/plug in the unit several times a calendar week considering it isn't cycling. There are too quite a few times information technology will get stuck in mid dump cycle-which is worrisome in case it happens while we are away for an extended amount of time- and nosotros have to unplug/plug in the unit of measurement for it to reset itself because pushing the reset button doesn't work for fixing that outcome. Overall though I am all the same pleased with this buy just considering changing the handbag is much easier/more pleasant than scooping."
Even though the Litter-Robot saves some owners from the hassle of scooping, nosotros can't recommend the buy for most people. Information technology's expensive, information technology'due south beefy, the litter bed is also small, and the machine is temperamental. Two Amazon buyers put it best: arnobp "was looking for appliance quality - got another gimicky one-half measure out," while DjiSamSoe describes the Litter-Robot as "a Colossal disappointment."
Intendance and maintenance
You should deep-clean an automatic litter box at to the lowest degree monthly or when you replace the litter bed with completely fresh litter. (Similarly, you should replace clumping litter at least monthly when cleaning a traditional litter box.) Yous'll need to remove any remaining cat litter, unplug the automatic litter box, and have information technology apart. Lather and a balmy detergent are enough to sanitize the components, only if you prefer to utilize a disinfectant spray, we recommend spraying abroad from the litter box and onto a cloth or paper towel so you don't mistakenly dampen the control panels. Also, avoid ammonia- or citrus-based cleaners, which cats don't similar. Lastly, brand sure all the parts are completely dry out before adding fresh litter, so it doesn't clump upwards due to exposure to wet surfaces.
The competition
Installing the CatGenie Self Washing Self Flushing Cat Box is like adding another toilet to your bath. You connect it to a common cold-water line, such as the ane for the bathroom sink, and run a drainage hose to the toilet. During our tests it oftentimes jammed, and I had to accept it autonomously and fish through the hopper to prepare whatsoever clogs. I later suspended testing entirely when I discovered a slow leak. (And I wasn't the just one who ran into a flood of installation issues.)
In our tests nosotros averaged 30 minutes to launder, rinse, and dry the CatGenie's proprietary artificial granules, which isn't ideal in a multiple-cat household (especially if your cats frequently employ the litter box back-to-back). To flush the CatGenie twice a day, it'll cost you $160 to $200 in replacement cleaning cartridges and constructed litter each year.
"I've had the drive units fail, and I've had the drain hose fail. There has been no innovation, no new versions in years," said Joshua Warchol, a Wirecutter reader and CatGenie owner nosotros talked with over Twitter DM. Warchol told us he bought a CatGenie in 2008 and returned it for personal reasons. He has owned 2 additional units since 2013, purchasing the third unit when the second i died, and he noted that all iii models were exactly akin.
The PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra Self-Cleaning Litter Box looks like an inexpensive, hooded litter box, but of the models in our test grouping, information technology's the priciest option to maintain. This box uses disposable trays filled with nontoxic silica-gel crystal litter that needs replacing every calendar week or two in a multiple-true cat household. At virtually $20 a popular, a year'due south worth of trays costs up to $720.
PetSafe'due south But Make clean Automatic Litter Box doesn't need any additional accessories to run—but that'south its but advantage. This ring-shaped litter box sifts the cat litter by making a full rotation every hour, sending the waste upward a conveyor belt and into a trash bin. In our tests, the waste matter frequently chock-full the conveyor chugalug, which led to more waste matter piling on top of itself and sent litter scattering across the floor. The model we tested has at present been discontinued and updated to a newer model, PetSafe Only Clean Cocky Cleaning Cat Litter Box. Nosotros will consider testing in the future.
We skipped the Pet Zone Smart Scoop Automatic Litter Box considering it features a pattern similar to the Littermaid and Nature's Phenomenon automatic litter boxes but nonetheless requires you to apply trash bags for the waste material bin, like the PetSafe Only Clean. The SmartScoop Cocky-Scooping Cat Litter Box is identical to the Pet Zone model, but at the fourth dimension of our research it had very poor reviews, with an overall score of 2.viii stars out of five on Amazon.
This article was edited by Jennifer Hunter.
Footnotes
Frequently asked questions
Practise automated litter boxes really work?
It depends what you mean by "work". Most of the automatic litter boxes we tested don't live upwards to the hype. The main task of an automated cat litter box is to scoop out pet waste, and the models nosotros tested routinely failed at the task. The Litter-Robot III Open Air, for example, jammed when we loaded likewise much litter or the wrong type of litter, and it malfunctioned when cat waste material blocked the sensor (it mistakenly perceived the bin as beingness full). And the PetSafe Simply Clean failed several times when clumped urine got caught on the conveyor belt, bottlenecking the travel route and spilling muddy litter onto the floor.
Some automatic litter boxes besides take a long fourth dimension to scoop, which can annoy cats who like pristine litter boxes and may go elsewhere in the dwelling house while they expect for the litter box to exercise its chore. For example, the CatGenie takes 30 minutes to flush abroad messes, and the PetSafe Simply Make clean needs an hour to scoop out excrement.
Automatic cat litter boxes are also loud, and may startle some cats to the bespeak they avoid the machine altogether. Some make flushing sounds and others bang when the scoop is operating.
And no automated litter box works with kittens or cats that weigh less than v pounds because they're too minor to set off the sensors that tell the litter box when to scoop and when not to scoop. (If the sensor doesn't know to wait until a true cat has left the pan, information technology'll mistakenly offset scooping while the cat is still in it, which could lead to injury.)
How often should I scoop a litter box?
Pet experts recommend scooping a litter box at least daily. You may need to scoop more than often depending on the individual cat (their grooming behaviors, an illness, or if they live with other cats). Merely the joy of having an automatic litter box means it'll scoop out the dirty litter then you don't have to worry almost; just make certain y'all suit the settings to scoop as frequently every bit your cat needs it to.
Is the Litter Robot worth it?
Nosotros don't recommend buying an automated litter box because, generally, they're expensive, they're loud, their scoops can get gunky or clogged, some models take xxx minutes to i hour to scoop, the litter beds are tiny, and the sensors don't work for cats that weigh less than five pounds.
The Litter-Robot III Open Air is the best automatic litter box out there, simply we still don't recommend information technology. It'south the size of a small armchair—30 by 25 by 27 inches and weighs 34 pounds—so information technology'due south hard to find a place for information technology in your home, and that large size also makes it difficult to clean. The 14-by-14-inch litter bin is smaller than the size experts recommend, which should be at least 22 inches long. At $450, this machine jammed or malfunctioned more than we expected from a pricey slice of equipment. The eighteen-month warranty requires yous to post dorsum the entire robot (at least shipping is covered), and extending the warranty for another 18-months costs an actress $100.
We prefer a large standard litter box, similar the $10 Nature's Miracle High Sided Litter Box because it never malfunctions and requires no gadgetry maintenance. Plus, it's important to regularly scoop the litter box yourself to track the health of your pet. You lot may miss blood in your cat's pee or worms in its stool if you only bank check the waste when it'south time to empty the litter trapper on your automatic litter box every week or then.
Sources
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Ryan Anderson, category manager, waste direction, PetSafe, email interview , October eleven, 2017
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Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, staff doctor, Animal Medical Center, phone interview , Oct 12, 2017
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Mary Molloy, dog trainer (CPDT-KA) at Nirvana Tails and animal behavior counselor for the ASPCA, phone interview , November half-dozen, 2017
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Staff (and cats), Meow Parlour true cat café, in-person interviews , October xx, 2017
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Joshua Warchol, CatGenie owner , Twitter direct message interview , October 25, 2017
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-automatic-cat-litter-box-but-we-dont-recommend-it/
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