Best automatic litterbox?
Any recommendations on an automatic cleaning litter box?
Thank you all for your input an recommendations. I really appreciate it!
I have two of the petkit puramax 2 for 4 cats. I am away from home for up to 4 days during the week for work at times and I never come home to messes, clogs, or errors caused by the devices, just the occasional bad shot from a cat that has been pooping over the front ledge of litterbox entrances since she was first litter trained. the only thing I don't love is that the waste bin stays in place while the bin rotates above it causing the clumps to come to a peak prematurely setting off the full box alert. a quick shake levels things out and allows the bag to be used to capacity. otherwise they have some nice settings in the app such as sloshing around the litter a little before collecting to make sure it has clumped well. they go on sale quite often from what I've seen, I believe I paid around $350 each when they were on sale.
No specific recommendations, but be wary of cheaply made products or anything from less reliable sources. Some people's cats have been killed by moving parts with uncalibrated motor strength.
The under $500 is harder.
But check out One Man 5 Cats. He's the GOAT of automated litter box reviews, you'll get honest, critical review of them.
Here's a video from last year: https://youtu.be/fqQQtW1HJQQ
Some automated litter boxes kill cats by way of entrapment or pinch hazards. It's tragic.
Personally, I have a couple little robot threes and a couple little robot fours. I've had the threes for almost 4 years now and they definitely run into problems and have effectively stopped working in an automated fashion by this point.
The fours are going strong.
Of course, these are out of budget for you. Good luck!
I have a Litter Robot 4 and love the thing. Been running solid for about a year now. It’s certainly not under $500, but has been well worth the money.
Seconding. Reading the other less-effusive comments has been interesting because I feel quite strongly about it. It was I think $600 when we got it and it was so difficult to stomach spending that kind of dough on a fucking litter box but now I’d drop it again in a heartbeat if anything ever happened to this one. That said, I also have three cats and now one of them has hyperthyroidism so we have to dump it every day and a half or so. It’s so often but I cannot imagine doing it with a regular litter box.
We have the LR3, LR4, and FurryTail. The LR3 bonnet sensor used to be funny, so I soldered it, which shouldn’t have happened with such an expensive box. Anyways, the FurryTail is $300 and punches well above it’s weight. It also weighs the cats. I’ve never used the app, but I know there is one. For the price, I’m very happy with it.
I have a litter robot 3 (the version without the wifi connectivity), and it does work, but honestly, I'm not sure I'll get another (I have multiple litter boxes and just the one automatic one, as I initially planned to replace one at a time as I had the spare money). It saves some amount of effort, but not a whole ton, it seems to let more smells out into the room than a regular covered litterbox, one of my cats doesn't like it as much as the other boxes, and once or twice it's randomly gotten stuck upside down until I reset it.
Ive not tried any others, but from what I hear, they're probably about as good as you get with these. (Ive also heard that one should definitely not get one of the cheaper devices that can be found on Amazon under a lot of different throwaway brands, that has a vertically spinning drum instead of an angled one like the litter robot, because they apparently have a design flaw that can kill cats).
Keep in mind that as cool as it may be and as good as it may work for others, its entirely possible one of your cats will freak the fuck out about it and go piss on your belongings instead.
Another owner of a Litter Robot 3 here. I managed to snag one of their refurbished units when they offered them so I have the WiFi version, but I don't bother to try to connect it anymore as it wasn't offering any benefit and frequently reset itself. I just place the litter box where I can see the light as it'll flash when it's full. It's used by one cat and lasts about a week before needing the bag replaced. You can use large trash bags but third party bags are available if you wanted a more fitting bag. The smells will permeate into the room after 3-4 days, but this is mitigated by fully emptying and deep cleaning the unit periodically (I usually do this when I've used a full pail of litter, which is about 4 months). I keep it in the guest room while I don't have anyone over and the smells don't exit that room somehow; but you can definitely smell it if it's in the same room. Still runs well after 8ish years so I think it's a good value! I had a few $100 units before and they all needed repairs after a year.
The Litter Robot 3 is a well built and well designed workhorse. I think they cost a little more new than your budget, but they may have a model right around 500.
Depending on your comfort level with the idea and where you live, you can sometimes find them on the used market for a couple hundred dollars, or even occasionally a free non-working unit. Replacement parts are easy to get and install.
They have a WiFi model that can use an app to alert you when the tray is full or something unexpected happens, but it works just fine without the app or internet.
I will second this. We have one and it's awesome. I pull it apart every 3-4 months or so to give it a good clean, but other than that it's set and forget essentially
You want the meowant automatic litterbox that rotates on the x-axis. I paid $300 for mine and my mom's 2 years ago and it's been awesome. It's simple, easy to clean, big enough for my cat, and fits normal grocery store sized plastic bags for collection. It has an app and I didn't start using it until about a month ago to track my cat's weight. Before buying any automatic litterbox I would read about the dangers and never buy one that rotates on the y axis or has any possibly of trapping your cat.
This channel will either help you or confuse you more on what to get, but either way the channel is awesome on information and super cute https://m.youtube.com/@OneManFiveCats/videos
Two problems, one I've personally had and one I could see happening:
The strainer would get fouled with the wet mess which would then clump after the fact rendering it non-functional.
It was more work than just cleaning a standard litter box.
Best advice?
Standard litter box + baking soda.
Small layer of litter, coat with baking soda, rest of the litter, top with baking soda, mix to combine.
I personally never found one that worked well. I never sprang for the LR3, but I went through several others, and they all sucked.