I was raised by cats: A wild calico and a pack of Fancy Feast furballs were my big siblings. I’ve raised cats my entire adult life, including a scrappy kid from the streets, a shy girl in the horse stable, and a magical shelter cat who lived to be 22 years old. They all had one thing in common: smelly garbage cans.
Experts say cats clean themselves. Now finally — Finally! – There is also a trash can. Here is my full review of the self-cleaning Litter-Robot 4.
cat whisker
Keep up with the Jetsons: This stylish, smart, self-cleaning litter box detects cats and automatically runs a quiet cleaning cycle after they leave. It serves households with up to four cats.
- No scooping
- Greatly reduces odor
- Serves up to four cats
- Simple installation
- Useful application
- Tracks weight and waste
- Silence
- Expensive
- Exclusive to a single retailer
$699 at Whisker
Publication after publication (Forbes, People, Spruce Pets) has become king of this bin. Even Jenna Fischer Office He swore in a hilarious video that it “changed his life.” Now I understand why! Since I plugged in the Litter-Robot 4 a few weeks ago, our two senior cats have been enjoying a pristine litter box, our house smells fresher than ever, and we’re not cleaning out any imperfections. Bonus: Our giant puppy pup has zero litter box treats to put in his mouth (more on him later), and a handy app keeps track of everything. Really amazing.
This is our first step into the world of high-tech litter boxes. I never gave it much thought outside of the plastic bin until 2011, when my husband ordered the then-improved Omega Paw Roll n’ Clean Self-Cleaning Litter Box. (Spoiler alert: This Negative self-cleaning – you need to sift by turning the can upside down and tapping on it, but this served us very well. Since multi-cat households require more than one potty, we’re keeping it upstairs until we can afford a second Litter Robot.) We also tried the hiding-in-a-snazzy-looking-closet-box trick, which is literally a miss for the cats as one keeps pointing its rear end out the hole. No.
Simple installation
Litter-Robot 4 arrived fully assembled! We read the breezy instructions, plugged it in, and added litter up to the designated line (requiring 8 to 10 pounds of clumping litter or very small litter beads or crystals). Then we downloaded the lovely Whisker app. Here, you can upload pet pictures and stats like age and weight so the smart box can keep track of your cat’s bathroom habits. But the app’s best feature: It lets you know when the hidden bottom tray is full and needs to be thrown away (for us, that’s maybe once a week). And you’ll need this reminder because you’ll forget you even have a litter box.
To get used to our senior tuxedo cats, we placed the new box next to the old box as instructed, just a touch of the used litter from the old box. For our tough 13-year-old son, Willie, from Brooklyn, the transition was immediate (he used it that day). For our timid 11-year-old, Lupe, things have been slower because of the wagging dog (again, more on that later). he later), but it happens!
smell test
A kind of “nose blindness” occurs when you live with a smell, so the real test of whether your house smells is to take a tour. When you return, the truth will hit you in the face, just as all the smells hit you at once. After charging the Garbage Robot, we set off on a five-day journey in the morning. Regular “Cat Detected” and “Cleaning Cycle Completed” notifications let me know they were using it while we were away. (You can disable these, too.) Still, we were worried we might come home and have an accident. Instead we returned to happy cats and, for the first time, a sweet-smelling home!
dog test
Suki, our giant puppet dog, loves our cats a little too much – so much so that she started coprophagia (poop eating) when we adopted her. We unintentionally set up obstacle courses to keep the cat’s mouth out of the litter boxes. It was complicated and strange. This smart box put an end to this madness. A few minutes after the kitties leave, a clean cycle begins.
There’s still a little problem. Our shy cat, Lupe, prefers to use the upstairs box where the puppy won’t pounce, but once Suki is safely out of the house, Lupe makes a break for the Litter Robot. We may need a second one in our lives.
I’ve also heard a lot of good things about the previous Litter-Box 3 Connect from everyone from my trusty Realtor to my trusted Realtor. Strange EyeJonathan Van Ness. I might take one upstairs as a spare to save a few bucks. (I’ll report back if I do.) But the Litter-Robot 4 has improved our lives so much that I’m tempted to splurge or buy a refurbished model.
a few extras
The folks at Whisker seem to have thought of everything. They won’t even let a power outage send you packing again: Just grab a Litter-Robot 4 spare battery. And for the ultimate clean, you can upgrade to the Litter-Robot 4 Clean Bundle, which includes a custom mop, improved ramp, extra liners, wipes and more.
cat whisker
You’ll feel like you’re watching Stanley Kubrick’s films 2001: A Space Odyssey When this silent robot smoothly rotates and destroys your cat’s feces. The clean, mod design comes in eight colors and patterns.
- No scooping
- Greatly reduces odor
- Serves up to four cats
- Simple installation
- Useful application
- Tracks weight and waste
- Silence
- Expensive
- Exclusive to a single retailer
$699 at Whisker