Should I Get A Self Cleaning Litter Box
The research
- Why you should trust united states
- 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 (simply we don't recommend it): Litter-Robot III Open Air
- Care and maintenance
- The contest
- Footnotes
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
Why y'all should trust us
I am a lifelong pet owner, and I have worked with brute shelters as a general volunteer, foster parent, and task-forcefulness leader. As the pets staff writer for Wirecutter, I've reviewed everything from canis familiaris boots to pet carriers. For this guide, I spent more than than twoscore hours researching, testing, and interviewing experts almost automatic litter boxes.
Why y'all might desire a self-cleaning litter box—and why you shouldn't become 1
Pet experts recommend scooping a litter box at least daily, possibly more often depending on the individual cat (their grooming behaviors, an illness, or if they live with other furballs). Self-cleaning litter boxes scoop themselves then y'all don't have to, and some allow y'all to plan them to scoop waste product multiple times per twenty-four hours. All you have to exercise is toss out the collected waste matter in one case or twice a week. Our experts said that a good automatic litter box should scoop often 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 any of those criteria.
The principal reason you might want an automatic litter box is the promise that it will scoop itself for you, but these devices oftentimes neglect at that chore. The scoop can become gunky or clogged, leaving the machine backed up. The Litter-Robot III Open Air, for instance, jammed when nosotros loaded too much litter or the wrong type of litter, and in one example it malfunctioned because true cat waste product was blocking its sensor, so it mistakenly perceived the bin every bit beingness full. And with the PetSafe Simply Clean, several times clumped urine got defenseless on the conveyor chugalug, bottlenecking the travel road and spilling dirty litter onto the flooring.
Some litter boxes as well take a long fourth dimension to scoop properly, which means cats that are sticklers for tidy litter beds may get to the bathroom elsewhere rather than look for the litter box to cease doing its chore. The CatGenie takes 30 minutes to affluent away a true cat's urine and poop, and the PetSafe Only Make clean requires a full 60 minutes to scoop out whatever mess.
Self-cleaning litter boxes are non only expensive to purchase simply also expensive to maintain. Between the cost of replacement parts and reusable accessories (such as carbon filters and special cat litter), y'all'll detect 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, can anticipate spending between $160 and $200 in replacement cleaning cartridges and plastic litter granules each yr. People who own the PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra will feel 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'due south Ultra, currently costs $xv for 40 pounds, which lasts nigh ii or three months, totaling just $lx to $ninety per year.)
Not a single automatic litter box we tested, not even those designed for multiple-cat households, had a big enough litter bed. Experts recommend that a litter box should be one and a one-half times as long as your true cat, and every bit wide as your cat is long. Our favorite traditional litter box is 18 inches wide by 24 inches long. In contrast, the CatGenie'south round litter bed is 17 inches across. The Litter-Robot and PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra beds are both 14 by 14 inches. And the PetSafe Simply Clean has a conveyor belt that takes up nearly half of the ring-shaped litter bed, leaving merely 7 by xviii 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 can exist—and if a true cat has a negative clan with a litter box, it might not utilise the box. The CatGenie was the loudest litter box we tried: In our tests it loudly flushed h2o when clearing out the waste matter, an effect that could scare cats that are already skittish. And it got even louder when it scooped, with the arm making a banging noise as it shook off loose litter granules from the clumped waste product. The PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra was one of the quietest machines we tested, measuring virtually 50 decibels (effectually the volume of a household conversation) when scooping away waste matter. While it was quieter than other models, some experts said they believed that the raking motion or whatever mechanical audio could deter some cats. "I usually recommend against automatic litter boxes considering if anything goes wrong with them, information technology can scare the bejesus out of them and they're not going to want to use it ever once more," said Mary Molloy, ASPCA creature behavior advisor and owner of pet-grooming company Nirvana Tails in New York City.
Even if your cocky-cleaning litter box is working perfectly, information technology's still not suited to every sort of cat. Kittens and cats that counterbalance less than five pounds are too modest to set off the movement or weight sensors that tell the litter box when to scoop and when non to; an unexpected scooping action could startle or potentially trap your true cat in the heart of doing its business organisation. And senior cats with joint bug may not be able to arrive and out of cocky-cleaning boxes hands due to their college pan heights. The Litter-Robot 3 Open Air stands xiii½ inches from floor to pan, and has a minor step 7 inches up that's also narrow for some cats to use. Our traditional litter box pick, the Nature'southward Miracle High Sided Litter Box, has a five½-inch-tall entry lip. Fifty-fifty if y'all ain a good for you adult cat, they may still avoid automatic litter boxes altogether: "Cats really don't dear change," Molloy told us. "You've but gotta promise that this new litter box is the affair they'll use, and not the bathtub or sink."
Cat guardians with limited mobility may turn 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 or domicile wellness aids. But in our tests we found that these machines still required regular, intensive cleaning and often malfunctioned, so they may exist too troublesome for certain people with mobility restrictions. Some assistive-technology experts too recommend placing a litter box at table superlative if the cat owner can't bend over to scoop. That arrangement gets complicated for automatic litter box owners because the contraptions are large and heavy, and require a power source. Plus, things can go fifty-fifty messier if their cat needs to jump to extreme heights to use the bath. (Cats don't e'er stick the landing.)
Automatic litter boxes also take short warranties when compared against the average lifespan of a true cat. The CatGenie, for instance, comes with a two-year warranty—the longest coverage among the machines we tested—but information technology has frequent breakdown complaints. That's not very reassuring for a pricey piece of engineering that's responsible for cleaning your litter box without making a mess or harming your cat.
The Litter-Robot 3 Open Air offers an 18-month warranty with an optional 18-month extension for $fifty. Both PetSafe models we tested have ane-twelvemonth warranties.
How we picked and tested
I researched dozens of automatic litter boxes across retailers and read their client reviews for insights into overall performance. Self-cleaning litter boxes run small, and so I considered only models made for multiple-cat households because they're bigger, which gives your cat a bit more infinite. Looking at those with good ratings over an extended menstruum, I narrowed down the list to four, with prices ranging from $80 to $450, for testing: the CatGenie Cocky Washing Self Flushing Cat Box, Litter-Robot Three Open Air, PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra Self-Cleaning Litter Box, and PetSafe Merely Make clean Automatic Litter Box, which has been upgraded to a newer model we will consider testing in the hereafter.
For testing, I looked at several attributes.
- Scooping and processing time: I soiled each litter box with our stand up-ins for true cat pee and poop (¼ cup of water and halfway-melted chocolate, respectively) and assessed how well and how quickly the litter box scooped out the mess.
- Noise level: I saturday a foot away from each litter box and used the smartphone app dB Volume to record how loud each model was when it activated. Those that measured at or below 50 decibels, the same level as a household conversation, are less likely to scare a true cat or badger a pet possessor.
- Waste bin: I measured how much waste each trapper held, calculated how long it would take to make full, and compared that against the elimination recommendations the manufacturer specified.
- Ease of cleaning: I checked the litter box mechanisms to see how gunky they got later on use, and I noted how easy they were to clean.
- Size: I reviewed the dimensions of both the litter boxes and the litter trays to encounter if they were on a par with those of our favorite traditional litter boxes.
- Installation process: I followed the manufacturer's instructions to prepare up each litter box, and I noted whatsoever challenges during the procedure.
Aside from checking out the Litter-Robot in use at a true cat café, we didn't test whatever of our finalists with actual cats, for several reasons. Afterwards our initial testing of the factors that were significant to humans—noise, cleaning, size, and installation—we already knew we wouldn't be recommending these devices. And cats usually don't like change, and so we saw no bespeak in repeatedly traumatizing ours by making them poop in 4 different cramped, noisy, weird boxes that nosotros had already dismissed for other reasons. Fifty-fifty if your cat tolerates or loves an automatic litter box, they'd probably likewise be just every bit happy with a regular one.
The best automatic cat litter box (but nosotros don't recommend it): Litter-Robot III Open Air
The Litter-Robot Iii Open up Air was the best automatic litter box we tested, just nosotros still tin can't recommend information technology for most people. It scooped upwardly the most waste product in a short corporeality of time, but it was a pain to clean, and it withal malfunctioned or got blocked occasionally. Although it has the largest litter-trapper chapters in our examination group, you nonetheless 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 even so far too small on the inside and too bulky on the outside. While it was easy for us to set up upwardly, information technology costs $450, and it requires expensive consumable parts. We also establish a design of malfunction complaints from long-term owners. In short, if you purchase the Litter-Robot, don't be surprised if your true cat leaves smelly gifts around your home instead of in this heap.
Despite its drawbacks, the Litter-Robot was i of the better automatic litter boxes in our exam group at doing what it's meant to exercise: scoop litter. The Litter-Robot's earth rotates outset counterclockwise then clockwise to sift the litter bed and dump dirty litter into the waste matter receptacle. In our tests it removed more litter waste matter than the other models nosotros tried considering the spinning activeness helped remove gunky litter from the sides and base of the litter bed, whereas other models could sometimes miss those spots. The world didn't spill litter outside of the box similar the design of the PetSafe But Make clean did, nor did information technology stir the urine back into the litter bed like the PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra did. In our tests the sifting process took ii.5 minutes, making the Litter-Robot the second-fastest of the automated litter boxes nosotros tested. (The ScoopFree Ultra'south rake system required just 1 minute, 10 seconds, while the Only Clean'due south conveyor belt took a full hour to scoop and sift litter into its waste matter bin.)
When the world spins, it hums at 55 decibels and sounds like a whiny paper scanner. That's slightly louder than an boilerplate indoor conversation, and a bit above the ScoopFree Ultra's 50 decibels. But 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 apply. (Employees there told usa the cats preferred to use the Litter-Robot over the traditional litter boxes in the café, and I frequently saw cats sitting in front of the Litter-Robot so they could watch information technology spin around.) It was likewise far less audibly intrusive than the CatGenie, with its frequent flushes and loud banging as it shook litter gratuitous of the scoop.
The Litter-Robot held more litter waste product than any other self-cleaning litter box we tested. It held 4 cups of urine'southward worth of clumped litter (16 of our ¼-cup water samples), enough that you'll probably demand to empty it only once a week with a unmarried cat, or every 3 or iv days in a two-cat household. The PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra held about a dozen liquid samples before its rake system got gunky and its crystal-litter tray needed replacing. The PetSafe Just Clean held merely about six liquid samples in its waste bin, and the CatGenie'south nonabsorbing granules left a soupy mess in the bowl earlier information technology drained out the waste.
While the Litter-Robot did a good chore of scooping the litter, cleaning it out was a task, and arguably more than of a pain than just scooping a traditional litter box daily. It was difficult for united states of america to empty the Litter-Robot'southward waste matter drawer without spilling dirty litter onto the flooring, 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 least weekly in a unmarried-cat household, or ii to three times per week if they have multiple cats. This machine too won't self-scoop when the drawer is total, so cats may seek out culling bath spots when the litter bed is overflowing. On meridian of that, the waste matter drawer has a design flaw: If likewise much litter waste product builds upwards near the drawer sensor, it'll prematurely tell the Litter-Robot to finish scooping, so cat owners demand to regularly milk shake the waste pan to preclude buildup.
Even though yous save time scooping, you still accept to disassemble and deep-make clean the Litter-Robot itself monthly or quarterly, depending on your cat's bathroom behaviors. That procedure takes twenty to xxx minutes each time.1
To make clean the Litter-Robot, you have to empty the litter bed, unplug the automobile, disassemble the globe from the base, empty the waste material drawer, peel off the carbon filter and step mat, paw-wash all the parts (while being careful not to overflowing the electrical components), and then let them to dry earlier you can add together fresh litter and plough the machine back on.
Both PetSafe models are easier to clean than the Litter-Robot because they are smaller and have fewer components. The CatGenie machine, conversely, gives true cat owners the biggest headache because they have to take it apart and make clean both the bowl and the h2o hookup. CatGenie recommends cleaning the device fully twice a year, but owners may have to do that more often if they have difficult water and don't buy the maintenance cartridges, which are designed to prevent lime buildup and must be replaced quarterly.
The Litter-Robot is the biggest litter box we tested, and information technology'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 30 by 25 by 27 inches and weighs 34 pounds (including the required 10 pounds of kitty litter), so this model isn't a discreet choice for hiding your cat's business organization.
The litter bed itself is far besides modest, merely fourteen by fourteen inches. That'due south well beneath our recommendation of at least 22 inches long (an appropriate size for a 15-inch-long true cat), and it leaves minimal room for your cat to move effectually within the sphere-shaped machine. Don't be surprised if your cat'due south butt sticks out of the Litter-Robot when they go to the bath. (You lot could spend $25 on a plastic bulwark fence in an endeavor to prevent accidents, but that gives your true cat fifty-fifty less bathroom space—and there's no guarantee the fence will contain overshooters.)
This alien-similar litter box is the easiest of the tested automated litter boxes to ready upwards because it comes fully assembled with some accessories, including liners (though you can utilize any 10- to 13-gallon trash bags), a carbon filter, and sealant strips that lock in odors. Maintenance isn't inexpensive: Yous're meant to supervene upon the carbon filter every quarter, and the sealant strips may need replacing yearly if you don't thoroughly clean the waste drawer, co-ordinate to Litter-Robot's customer service. Litter-Robot sells a three-pack of carbon filters and a pack of sealant strips for $xx and charges more than $45 for 100 trash bags (though again, you could just use any 10-gallon trash numberless). There's 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, globe spinning malfunctions, and poorly independent smells were the nigh frequent complaints we read during our research.
Amazon reviewer H Kim writes that the litter box worked for a year earlier it started acting up: "The litter robot keeps flashing a xanthous error light, which the manual describes equally a cat pinch error. It doesn't describe how to solve that error and my cat isn't in it so I have no idea why information technology'south generating that error. I've tried cleaning out the unabridged unit of measurement only it all the same keeps on giving me that error. If you're spending $300+ on this, you wait this to work perfectly. I bought this because of the glowing reviews this thing got only a $xx litter box would have been more effective."
Amazon client Cassandra has too owned a Litter-Robot 3 Open Air for over a twelvemonth and has a few complaints: "The Only trouble I have is that either the weight the sensor needs constant adjusting or I have to unplug/plug in the unit several times a week because information technology isn't cycling. There are too quite a few times it will get stuck in mid dump wheel-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 information technology to reset itself because pushing the reset button doesn't piece of work for fixing that outcome. Overall though I am still pleased with this purchase only considering irresolute the bag is much easier/more pleasant than scooping."
Even though the Litter-Robot saves some owners from the hassle of scooping, we can't recommend the buy for nigh people. Information technology's expensive, it's bulky, the litter bed is too small, and the machine is temperamental. Two Amazon buyers put it best: arnobp "was looking for appliance quality - got some other gimicky half measure out," while DjiSamSoe describes the Litter-Robot as "a Colossal disappointment."
Care and maintenance
You lot should deep-clean an automatic litter box at to the lowest degree monthly or when you supplant the litter bed with completely fresh litter. (Similarly, you should replace clumping litter at least monthly when cleaning a traditional litter box.) You'll demand to remove whatever remaining true cat litter, unplug the automatic litter box, and take it apart. Soap and a mild detergent are plenty to sanitize the components, but if yous prefer to employ a disinfectant spray, we recommend spraying away from the litter box and onto a fabric or paper towel and so you don't mistakenly dampen the command panels. Also, avoid ammonia- or citrus-based cleaners, which cats don't like. Lastly, brand sure all the parts are completely dry before adding fresh litter, and then it doesn't clump upwards due to exposure to wet surfaces.
The competition
Installing the CatGenie Cocky Washing Self Flushing Cat Box is like adding another toilet to your bath. You connect information technology to a cold-water line, such as the one for the bathroom sink, and run a drainage hose to the toilet. During our tests it frequently jammed, and I had to take it apart and fish through the hopper to fix any clogs. I afterward suspended testing entirely when I discovered a tiresome leak. (And I wasn't the only one who ran into a flood of installation issues.)
In our tests we averaged 30 minutes to wash, rinse, and dry the CatGenie's proprietary bogus granules, which isn't ideal in a multiple-cat household (especially if your cats frequently use the litter box dorsum-to-back). To affluent the CatGenie twice a day, it'll cost you $160 to $200 in replacement cleaning cartridges and constructed litter each twelvemonth.
"I've had the bulldoze units fail, and I've had the bleed hose fail. At that place has been no innovation, no new versions in years," said Joshua Warchol, a Wirecutter reader and CatGenie owner we talked with over Twitter DM. Warchol told us he bought a CatGenie in 2008 and returned information technology for personal reasons. He has owned two additional units since 2022, purchasing the third unit when the second one died, and he noted that all three models were exactly alike.
The PetSafe ScoopFree Ultra Self-Cleaning Litter Box looks like an inexpensive, hooded litter box, but of the models in our test group, information technology's the priciest choice to maintain. This box uses dispensable trays filled with nontoxic silica-gel crystal litter that needs replacing every week or two in a multiple-true cat household. At almost $20 a pop, a yr's worth of trays costs up to $720.
PetSafe's But Make clean Automatic Litter Box doesn't demand whatsoever additional accessories to run—but that'due south its but reward. This ring-shaped litter box sifts the true cat litter by making a total rotation every hour, sending the waste upwards a conveyor belt and into a trash bin. In our tests, the waste frequently clogged the conveyor chugalug, which led to more than waste matter piling on top of itself and sent litter scattering across the flooring. The model we tested has now been discontinued and updated to a newer model, PetSafe Only Make clean Self Cleaning Cat Litter Box. We will consider testing in the future.
Nosotros skipped the Pet Zone Smart Scoop Automatic Litter Box because it features a design like to the Littermaid and Nature's Phenomenon automatic litter boxes but notwithstanding requires you to utilize trash bags for the waste bin, like the PetSafe Merely Clean. The SmartScoop Self-Scooping Cat Litter Box is identical to the Pet Zone model, simply at the time of our enquiry it had very poor reviews, with an overall score of 2.8 stars out of v on Amazon.
Footnotes
Frequently asked questions
Exercise automatic litter boxes really work?
Information technology depends what you hateful by "work". Most of the automatic litter boxes nosotros tested don't alive up to the hype. The main job of an automatic cat litter box is to scoop out pet waste matter, and the models nosotros tested routinely failed at the task. The Litter-Robot III Open Air, for case, jammed when we loaded too much litter or the wrong type of litter, and it malfunctioned when cat waste blocked the sensor (it mistakenly perceived the bin as being full). And the PetSafe Simply Clean failed several times when clumped urine got caught on the conveyor chugalug, bottlenecking the travel road and spilling dirty litter onto the floor.
Some automated litter boxes also have a long time to scoop, which can badger cats who like pristine litter boxes and may go elsewhere in the abode while they wait for the litter box to practice its chore. For example, the CatGenie takes 30 minutes to flush away messes, and the PetSafe Simply Make clean needs an hour to scoop out excrement.
Automated true cat litter boxes are also loud, and may startle some cats to the point they avoid the machine birthday. Some make flushing sounds and others blindside when the scoop is operating.
And no automatic litter box works with kittens or cats that weigh less than 5 pounds considering they're as well small to fix off the sensors that tell the litter box when to scoop and when non to scoop. (If the sensor doesn't know to wait until a true cat has left the pan, information technology'll mistakenly outset scooping while the cat is yet in information technology, which could atomic number 82 to injury.)
How often should I scoop a litter box?
Pet experts recommend scooping a litter box at least daily. Y'all may need to scoop more often depending on the individual cat (their training behaviors, an disease, or if they live with other cats). Merely the joy of having an automatic litter box means it'll scoop out the dirty litter and so you don't take to worry well-nigh; just make sure you adjust the settings to scoop as oftentimes as your cat needs it to.
Is the Litter Robot worth information technology?
We don't recommend buying an automatic litter box because, mostly, they're expensive, they're loud, their scoops tin get gunky or chock-full, some models take xxx minutes to 1 hour to scoop, the litter beds are tiny, and the sensors don't piece of work for cats that counterbalance less than 5 pounds.
The Litter-Robot Iii Open Air is the best automatic litter box out there, but we still don't recommend it. It's the size of a small armchair—30 past 25 by 27 inches and weighs 34 pounds—so information technology's difficult to find a place for information technology in your home, and that large size also makes information technology difficult to clean. The 14-by-fourteen-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 piece of equipment. The 18-calendar month warranty requires you lot to mail dorsum the entire robot (at least aircraft is covered), and extending the warranty for some other xviii-months costs an extra $100.
We prefer a large standard litter box, like the $10 Nature's Phenomenon 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 may miss blood in your cat's pee or worms in its stool if yous merely bank check the waste product when it's time to empty the litter trapper on your automated litter box every calendar week or then.
Sources
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Ryan Anderson, category manager, waste product management, PetSafe, email interview , October 11, 2022
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Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, staff doctor, Animal Medical Center, phone interview , Oct 12, 2022
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Mary Molloy, domestic dog trainer (CPDT-KA) at Nirvana Tails and brute behavior counselor for the ASPCA, phone interview , Nov six, 2022
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Staff (and cats), Meow Parlour true cat café, in-person interviews , October twenty, 2022
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Joshua Warchol, CatGenie possessor , Twitter direct message interview , Oct 25, 2022
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-automatic-cat-litter-box-but-we-dont-recommend-it/
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