Do Automatic Litter Boxes Work?

Do Automatic litter boxes work and can we rely on them?

These two questions come to mind when we are thinking of the possibility of getting an electronic device to take care of the scooping of our cat’s litter box. There is not a “Yes” or “Not” answer for these questions without considering 3 simple facts: The brand you pick, your type of cat, and if you are a multi-cat owner. I must mention that there are cases when buying an automatic litter box is not recommended, but this is related to the cat and not to the device.

Automatic Litter Boxes Work When:

1. You consider the size of your cat vs the size of the litter pan.
2. The auto litter box can keep up with your cat’s elimination habits (especially if it’s multi-cat use).
3. You use the right cat litter according to the device requirements.
4. You choose a top automatic litter box, that is well designed.

Automatic Litter Boxes Usually Don’t Work When:

1. You buy a cheap, poor designed device
2. You get a self-cleaning litter box that is too small for your cat
3. You use it for multiple cats when it’s designed for a single cat
4. You use cheap cat litter that interferes with the machine operation.
5. You choose a unit whose mechanism can’t keep up with your cat’s elimination habits.

How To Make The Automatic Litter Box Work For You & Your Cat

Getting the right self-cleaning litter box is not hard if you keep in mind key factors that are crucial when choosing one.

Consider The Litter Pan’s Dimension And Not The General Dimension:

This is very simple. Many cat owners check the general dimension of the litter box and they usually think the unit is large enough to accommodate the cat. But in some cases, the outer structure of the device is much larger than the actual litter area where the cat does its business. The result? A cat without much room to do its business, which leads to litter box accidents. Additionally, if you have a digger that creates big piles of cat litter to cover its business, a small litter box area may cause frustration when trying to dig where there’s not cat litter but plastic edges. However, some cats adapt well and they do a short intent of covering their business by digging the litter and scratching on the sides, leaving the box happily after.

Elimination Habits. Not all scooping mechanisms handle the cat’s waste the same:

You need to consider how much waste your cat or cats produce. This is important to determine which unit will work or not.

With a single cat

If your cat is a professional pooper and you can’t keep up with the litter box most likely an automatic litter box will have a hard time doing it as well. Even if the machine handles the scooping, it won’t be too long before you’ll need to empty the compartment where the clumps are deposited. Auto litter boxes with a scooping rake are not usually suitable for cats that poop and urinate a lot, such as a cat with diabetes. Instead, you must choose an automatic litter box with an effective scooping mechanism and with a large waste compartment so that you don’t have to empty it so frequently. Also, if your cat is too messy when doing its business, e.g. bad aiming, spraying high, or pooping anywhere but in the litter area, getting an automatic litter box could be a bad idea, unless you get a very well-Engineered device that has been designed considering every possible scenario.

In Case Of Multiple Cats

The same applies if you have multiple cats, an automatic litter box with a scooping rake is not very efficient or reliable for multi-cat use. You need a more sophisticated system that is designed to keep up with larger amounts of waste and with a durable motor that is designed to perform a large amount of cleaning cycles before its lifespan expires. When using the wrong automatic litter box for multiple cats, the motor wears out much faster and it starts failing.

Recommended Cat Litter For Optimum Performance:

Each brand recommends a certain type of cat litter that will allow the device to operate smoothly. If you use the wrong cat litter the device won’t work well and won’t be reliable. I have seen many cases where the device got ruined because people put a cat litter that is not suitable for the best operation of the machine or a cat litter that is not meant to be used with that particular system. In the following video, you will see what happens when you use a rake-type auto litter box with the wrong cat litter and with multiple cats. As I mentioned before, the litter boxes with rakes are more suitable for one cat, using the right type of litter. Check the video:

Typical Fails Of Automatic Litter Boxes That Are Not Well Designed

We need to consider that self scooping machines must replace human scooping, which is really hard to accomplish. When you scoop the cat’s litter box you get the corners and also you scrape the bottom of it, making sure you get every clump stuck at the bottom and corners. Obviously, an automatic device won’t be able to do exactly the same thing so you need to choose a system that at least gets the same result, although using a different method. You want to choose an automatic litter box in which design has been applied good engineering.

Frequent Fails Experienced With Bad Designed Self-Cleaning Litter Boxes:

1. The scooping rake features thins that are too short so they don’t get what it’s stuck at the bottom, plus some of the litter clumps stick to the rake’s thins, causing a yucky mess.
2. The rake moves forward vertically, raking the litter bed but when there’s a big litter pile, sometimes it gets stuck.
3. Some brands feature scooping rakes that lift the clumps right before dumping them into a waste receptacle and this lifting action sometimes causes clumps and litter to go onto the floor.

These are examples of poorly designed automatic litter boxes that feature a scooping rake. However, you can find well-designed brands with better reliability (see below).

What Are The Automatic Litter Boxes That Work The Best?

With a Scooping Rake: ScoopFree Automatic Litter Box

The rake has large metallic thins. As the rake moves, it changes pointing forward and backward when raking the litter box, making it much more efficient and less prone to getting stuck. Also, this unit deals with less scooping because the urine gets absorbed by the crystals so the machine only has to collect the feces clumps to deposit them in the waste compartment.

Check a video of how the Scoopfree works:

With a rotating mechanism: Litter-Robot 3

The Litter-Robot features a Globe that rotates and drops the clumps into a waste drawer located at the bottom of the unit. This system doesn’t get stuck at all and it’s the most reliable automatic litter box so far (I own one). The Litter-Robot III has been designed to work with high spraying cats, small to large-sized cats, felines that urinate or defecate a lot, and multi-cat use.

Video of how the Litter-Robot works (this is my cat Sophie :-):

A self-flushing system: CatGenie

This is the self-flushing mechanism that is reliable, though it’s a little less reliable than the first two when it comes to litter tracking control. It also requires deep maintenance. This system collects, pulverizes, and flushes the cat’s waste, sanitizing the litter box each time.

Video how it works (video has been sped up, real-time cleaning cycle is 34 minutes):

Final Conclusion

Automatic litter boxes do work if you choose the right one and according to your cat’s size and elimination habits. In my case, I use the Litter-Robot with my cat and it’s been been a lifesaver. This unit really works and it’s highly reliable, I only empty it once a week but you can wait longer than that, up to 10 days with one cat. I own this machine for almost two years (update: 6 years now) and it keeps working without any problem. You can check my personal Litter Robot Open Air review and find out why in my opinion this is the best system out there.

If you want to know what automatic litter box works for your particular cat, check my best self-cleaning litter boxes comparison that summarizes all the mentioned factors (and more). This will help you to decide what is the best option for you and your cat. This comparison shows you each brand side by side, for what type of cat each brand is suitable for, percentage of reliability, level of contact with the cat waste, type of cat litter, and much more.

I have been studying automatic litter boxes for years and the mentioned comparison is the extract of all my hard work of research which makes me confident that I am guiding you to the best automatic litter box for your kitty. Your feline friend will certainly appreciate it. Mine does :-)