Automatic Litter Boxes: Do They Freak Cats Out? An Unscientific Test. [View all]

CAT OWNERS love to crow over Shadow’s self-sufficiency and can’t wait to tell you how Tuna came pre-trained to use the litter box. Maybe true, but their poop won’t scoop itself. A new breed of robotic litter boxes promises to change that, saving owners from hours of sifting, sorting and Febreze-spraying. The machines often include apps that track your cat’s litter box habits, and some even automatically flush waste out of sight (and smell) a few minutes after a cat hops out.

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And anyway, whose cat would do their business in such an appliance? Maybe mine. I recently decided to put two of these devices—the CatGenie A.I. ($479) and the Litter-Robot 4 ($699)—to an unscientific head-to-head test in my home, with the help of 1-year-old cat siblings Pippi and King. The CatGenie made a good first impression. It fit neatly into the hall closet next to my washer-dryer and was easier to install than expected. I quickly used a pair of pliers to attach its bowl to my washer’s waste disposal line, allowing it to self-clean. (It can also be hooked up to a toilet.) The device arrived with its own reusable, biodegradable litter and cleaning solution.

Pip and King were less enthused. Perhaps they were intimidated by the relatively noisy rumble of its cleaning process, but I don’t think they used the CatGenie once.

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I was worried the Litter-Robot would suffer a similar fate. I did not appreciate its sterile appearance, or that its 22-inch wide, 30-inch tall, 27-inch deep machine barely fit through my front door, let alone in the small space my dumb litter box had taken up in the bathroom. I managed to find a spot for it in a less-than-sanitary bedroom closet. Worse, the Litter-Robot can’t be flushed. Point: CatGenie. And yet, Pippi and King took to the Litter-Robot like pros. They immediately hopped in the first day of business, and seemed to appreciate the spacious internal cavity and nearly silent operation.

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I have come to appreciate it too. It seals in smells well and I have only needed to empty it once a week. You do have to wipe down its insides every so often. But that’s a small price to pay for something my cats will actually poop in.

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FLUSH FEST The Cat Genie A.I. can be hooked up to the waste-drainage line near your toilet or washer-dryer, which allows it to flush itself completely. Some cats might be wary of the noise this process creates.



DOMO ARIGATO After your cat has done its business inside the Litter-Robot 4, the chamber spins in a way that sends clumped litter into a sealed underside drawer. Our tester only had to clean it out about once a week.