The Truth About Automatic Litter Boxes

Automatic litter boxes: are they really worth the hype? In my decades of experience working with cats - many of whom have litter box issues - I’ve found them to create more problems than they solve. From the risk of potential malfunctions to the dangerous stripping away of your ability to monitor your cat’s health, in my opinion it’s just not worth the risk! As cat guardians, we should avoid making decisions that take the power out of our hands when it comes to our cat’s well-being for the sake of convenience. Have you ever used a self-cleaning litter box? I’d love to hear your thoughts so comment below!

0:00 Intro
1:28 Overview of Litterboxes
1:47 Litter Robot
2:04 Littermaid
2:52 Omega Paw
3:16 Purina Breeze
4:16 Territorial Signposts
6:07 Report Card
7:23 Malfunctions
8:51 Enclosures
10:14 Still Gross
10:44 Embrace the Box

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[AngelusGaston]

A heads up AMZTOY cat litter boxes have killed countless cats and are just rebranding, shutting people down who try and speak up and turning of comments on there channel. We need your help to get this out there so more cats dont die.

[nephxio]

I love this video and respect everything you say, but I want to present an (arguably unique to me) scenario: Accessibility. I have a physical disability. Scooping a litter box is, while not impossible, is difficult for me. I definitely agree with the report card thing. I keep my litter robot on "manual" operation, i.e. I keep it turned off and turn it on once a day to cycle it after I check it. Pushing a button with my crutch is quite easy, so I can turn on the box, let it cycle, and then turn it off again. I can get fecal samples if I need to, and being a tech enthusiast, I recognize and acknowledge the risk of a malfunction while they're in it which is why I only cycle it when I am watching it. But I think a lot of the issue here is pet owners using it as a "out of sight, out of mind" solution rather than an augment to their solution to being able to take care of their cats. They just want to forget about the task, which is where the problem arises. For me, it's made having my cats more accessible to me, and enabled me to have my boys for 12 years with no issues which, combined with what I see as responsible use, makes their lives better by me being able to care for them, and my life better by having them in it.

[awetastic]

You possess a larger platform than we do; it's crucial to inform the public that the Amztoy automatic litterbox is harmful to cats. They have even gone to the extent of disabling comments on their YouTube page.

[friendshipful]

I work in a vet hospital and one of the clients we see had a litter robot. They brought in their cat because it told him his cat was urinating more often and losing weight. We were able to diagnose this cat with diabetes early based off the litter robots output to the owner!

[ziggystardust]

what i love the most about your videos is the comment section! i recently adopted 2 cats so not only i can learn from you but the people sharing their experiences. what a beautiful community ❤️

[Jojo]

I finally caved and got a litter robot during COVID. At the time I had no idea my lack of ability to keep my house clean let alone the litterbox clean was due to having ADHD. Scooping has ALWAYS been my biggest struggle as a pet owner. It made a huge difference in both my mental health and my cats'. They were happy to finally have something that stayed constantly clean. The website advised it may take a week or two for cat's to adjust but all three of mine were using it exclusively by the end of day two even with their original boxes available. My biggest indicator of their approval was when we moved cross-country and I had to go back to a traditional litterbox for a few weeks while we waited for our stuff to be delivered. They had been locked in a room all day while the movers did their thing with a traditional box. The first thing I unpacked and set up was the litter robot. All 3 of them used it twice before it had a chance cycle once.

Outside of that, I saved the cost of the box in the first year in litter alone. I'm not having to do full changes of three boxes twice a week any more. I don't feel the need to get light weight litter which is more expensive because I have to cart so much of it in at a time. While I do understand the risks of not catching urinary/digestive issues ahead of time, it's a trade of for the sanity of everyone in the house.

[a.r.rogers]

I appreciate the perspective of folks here with disabilities and various forms of neurodivergence. I also had not previously considered how robot boxes could be a better alternative for some, depending on your needs and lifestyle. I just wanted to say thank you for asking me to see a different viewpoint. ❤

[Shakicast]

As a cat and fish owner, a gold fish is not a good solution for a lazy owner. Tanks take a lot of maintenance and goldfish in particular are known to get big and produce a lot of poop in the correct conditions. It’s a common mistake for people to put goldfish and bettas into way too small of tanks. Generally, a bigger tank is actually easier to take care of

[betterlatethannever]

Hey Jackson, long-time fan of your work here. As a lot of other people have mentioned, there's a particular model of automatic litterbox on the market at the moment that's incredibly dangerous to cats if left to run automatically.

The company is aware of the danger and hasn't pulled the model, but is trying to dodge the issue by changing the branding and name of their product, even ripping off the name of better, safer automatic litterboxes.

A channel called One Man Five Cats did a review of this model with demos of the fault, if you'd like more information.

It'd be amazing if you could do a follow-up video or a community post to let fans of your channel know to avoid this deadly product. Thanks.

[katherinewaddell]

I actually feel much more in touch with my cats' health since we got a Litter Robot 4. It weighs them every single time, so I've been able to work on my big guy's weight issues. The app gives me a chart of how often each cat uses it and a chart of their weight over time. It can also be set up to text you when a specific cat uses it if you need to keep an eye on them and there is a clean cycle delay that can be set at 7, 10, or 15 minutes (needs time for clumping) so if I need to check on what a specific cat is doing I can still go look before it's cleaned up. It never starts cycling as soon as a cat gets out. Getting a sample for the vet is super easy, you just open the waste drawer and take some out. The sensors are amazing and it stops cycling as soon as it detects the presence of a cat. It's actually become a bit of an issue, because they like watching the cycle so much it will get interrupted 5 times before it finishes cleaning because they keep sticking their heads in to watch. Like a lot of other commentors have said, I have ADHD and keeping a regular box cleaned daily is a challenge. The Litter Robot has made my cats a lot happier and healthier. It's only ridiculous feature is the light it turns on at night, as if the cats can't see just fine in the dark. Based on the concerns Jackson lists with this type of litter box I actually don't think he's ever seen one in action.

[lorriesmith]

I had a lung transplant a little over a year ago. One of the things I was told was that I would NEVER be able to scoop a cat litter box again in my life because of the risk of toxoplasmosis, the same reason a pregnant woman can't scoop a litter box. I live alone, so there is no one else in the house to scoop the litter box. Because of this, I've been paying someone to come and scoop the litter boxes (4 of them for 3 cats). This is expensive and I can't afford to have it done more than once a week (fixed income), which I absolutely hate because it needs to be scooped at least once a day. I finally was able to convince my doctor to allow me to open the drawer and close up the bag on an automatic box, as long as I wear an N95 mask, don't take it off until I come upstairs, wear gloves, and wash my hands thoroughly after. He thought that sounded better than only having the litter scooped once a week, for me as well as the cats. I have purchased the litter robot 4 and I must say that all of Jackson's objections are irrelevant to this box. If you really need a sample from a specific cat, the cat can be identified by weight, you'll be notified by the app and can get to it before it starts its cleaning cycle. The waste is always accessible in a drawer. The box is so quiet that I can barely hear it. The cleaning cycle is slow enough that, even if it malfunctioned and didn't stop if the cat got back in, it certainly wouldn't hurt them. And the scent. The waste is in a drawer directly below, so the cats can still smell the scent. For me, assuming my cats will use it, this will be a godsend. Even at its ridiculous price, it will pay for itself in a few months. I've spent about 1, 300 this year having someone else scoop once a week and this will be a much better solution for my cats. They deserve clean litter.

[Foebik]

So I live in a multi-cat house (4). Some of the things listed on this video don't really seem to ring true (at least not fully). They do at first because it makes sense what he is saying. But then he neglects to look at the flip side of the coin, let's further dissect this then. A little more background first for me, I have 2 Litter Robots 4s' and one old fashion pan litter box. This set up helps me with not having to have 5 total litter boxes as would be suggested for 4 cats (and me having no more room for an additional 2 boxes). I have the pan because one of my cats prefers it and that is fine, but the others actually prefer the Litter Robots.

So with that out of the way, the things I think are close to right but miss the mark...

1) It's a scent soaker.
OK.... how are the automated litter boxes not? I have to manually scoop the pan and the automated ones have to scoop theirs as well. Both of them get scooped. My pan litter boxes does not somehow become magical and hold more scent after a manual scoop.

2) Its a report card.
OK. How is the automated one different? If you have one cat, you can look at the litter box pan as you are cleaning it, but, unless you are running behind the cat cleaning after them (like an automated litter box) you will not know when it happened. Hopefully sometime that day, but only one cat and a big litter box, it might be longer. You can do the same exact thing with a Litter Robot, pull out the pan and look, BUT it does have a record on when it happened (more on that later). Its not like it blends it into a slushy and pumps it away (I'm looking at you CatGenie).
But what if you have more than one cat? Then it doesn't matter if it is a pan or a Litter Robot, you wont know who's poop is who's? But I do have an advantage with a Litter Robot. That advantage is that I get notifications! I can get them on my phone as it is happening and I can get them through my smart home. If I needed to I could have my lights in my home flash Red when it first detects the cat entering. At which point I know when to go look. And the best part, the poo or pee is only going to be from that one cat because the automated boxes is always clean!
A second thing a regular pan cannot do besides give me notifications is let me know the cats weight. This is another key health indicator.
A third thing a regular pan cannot do is tell me how often (or little) they go in given time period (especially true in a multi-cat house hold). AGAIN, another major health indicator.
And finally a forth thing. If you really want to see all the poo and pee still sitting in the pan, just have it set to manually. And you can go look every time, just like in a normal pan. Advantage here is I STILL don't have to manually do if I don't want to.

3) Automated Litter Boxes are Dangerous!
Yes, they can be. But lets call a spade a spade here. Someone that advocates not to use them would not be using them themselves and has no real long term experience and is most like basing their opinions on antidotal evidence or on another trusted but also biased opinion that probably has the same issues with first hand knowledge as Jackson does. To me this is just being in a opinion bubble that is not solely based on the facts at hand, so has to use a car analogy. Clearly Jackson has been burned by tech in the past and just like his example in the video, he is like a cat and pissing all in front of the boxes in protest of them. And so I see this as bit of fear mongering here (sorry spade). Can they be dangerous? ABSOLUTLY! DONT BUT CHEAP KNOCKOFFS!!! I love my babies, keep them insured and would never put something in their lives that could hurt them that didn't have multiple redundant safeties (research is king here). So many in fact, when they do start to have problems, they just end up becoming a normal litter boxes that don't run anymore on their own until fixed and that you will have to manually scoop yourself because they refuse to run (for the safety of the cat).

4) Still Gross!
Again, like answer 3, yes, some of them are extremely gross and end up making you way more up and close to that refuse that you were trying to get away from in the first place. Any Rack type system does not handle clumps well, period. They can handle poo, but that is about it. And as he mention you have to clean the racks. And not just every once in a while, but like daily. YUCK! I have been trying NOT to sound like advertising here and mentioning the Litter Robots in a way that compares them, but its hard. Safety we already touch on. But just like how knock off can be unsafe, they can also be very messy, even if the principle for cleaning the litter itself is the same as the Litter Robots. They have been making these things for multiple decades now. And I have personally owned the last 2 versions. Cleaning them is no harder than cleaning the pan litter box. Which is to say I take them outside and hose them out.

5) Enclosures Suck
I actually agree with this one. I have never owned a cat that enjoyed going into a tight space while they do their business. I don't hide the litter boxes in some faux-cabinet or some other way to hide it. The latest Litter Robot 4 continues with their efforts to combat this with the most open version they have had to date. But even so, will all cats take to these? MAYBE? You know your fur babies more then others and would know if they would or not. I had some elderly cats that I knew were set in their ways and would not take to it. So I didn't even try until after they past away (2 brother after 18 years) and I adopted my 4 sibling fur babies and I got them use to it right up front as kittens. I didn't actually have it automated for a long time and just did it manually. But after they were big enough I did turn it on.

SUMMARY:
Lots of great points where made in this video. And none of them completely wrong. But none of them were completely right either. I hope this long form comment can help balance the video's admittedly great points it brings up.

[Pythonaria]

Automatic litter boxes are a godsend to people with disabilities. I suffered a serious back injury just over 3 years ago with the result I can't bend down for long or lift. I'm also 67 years old. My adult son suffers from arthritis. We have 2 automated litter boxes - a Litter Robot 3 and a Puramax. Both are excellent. We did have 11 cats but now we're down to 9 as we lost 2 to old age. One was 22, the other who we lost 2 months ago was 18. We still have his brother. All our cats took to the automated boxes like ducks to water. Even though the boxes clean themselves, the scent of the cats is still there. We can't smell it but they can. The globe comes off for easy deep cleaning.

When we had normal litter boxes, 8 plus an Omega Paws, no matter how often the litter was changed and the boxes washed, you could smell cats. By the way, all our cats are neutered, spayed, chipped and are indoor cats. My friend came to visit after we got the automated boxes. She lives a distance away and due to work commitments doesn't get the chance to visit often. First thing she said was "Oh! I can't smell your cats".

Our cats really like the boxes BUT we found they do not like scented litter. For a while, that's all we could get but there is now an unscented version of the usual brand we buy which works extremely well with the robots. They like that. I didn't like the scented type either. Our LR3 is in our livingroom and it's set to go off 15 minutes after the cat has used it, giving us time for a look at their business so you can see if there's a problem. The Puramax is in my son's room as he had 2 very elderly half-Bengals, it was one of those we lost a couple of months ago. The Puramax records the cat's weight (you can set it to monitor more than one cat) and records how many times the cat uses the box - useful in older cats as excessive/less peeing can be a sign of kidney failure or some other illness such as diabetes.

We did have a malfunction with the LR3 earlier in the year. No cat was injured or spooked - the box just refused to work and for a few days became a "normal" litter box. Whisker, who make them were excellent - their customer service is first class and the necessary replacement part (sensor) was with us within 3 days.

As for ambushing. Two of our cats don't like each other. They'll tolerate each other for a few days then one will look at the other the wrong way and we get a hissing match. Shady took a delight in ambushing Lucky when we had the open litter trays and we did have a problem with inappropriate elimination. The LR3 solved that. Even if Shady tries to ambush, all he can do is jump on top of it which doesn't bother Lucky.

We did wonder how our ex stray/semi-feral would get on with it but we needn't have worried. He took to it no problem at all but he is funny. The other cats use it and Oscar has to inspect it to see if they've covered their poop properly. If not, he does it for them. He is such a clean boy, if he were human he would definitely be houseproud. He adapted really well to being an indoor cat only and is my son's shadow - follows him everywhere.

One thing to add about the Omega Paws is, athough it is OK, you do need quite a bit of space to roll it and wet litter tends to clump in the corners. It's probably OK for someone with only one or two cats but more than that, no. We don't have it now.

Because we have a lot of cats using the LR3, we have to empty the drawer at least once a day but that is easy. Just tie up the bag and replace with a clean one. The Puramax needs the drawer emptying less often as there is only one, sometimes two cats that use it. In both of these boxes, the used litter is contained so no smells escape. I personally love these boxes (wouldn't buy the knock-offs though) and so do our cats which is the most important thing.

[laurapowers]

The comments are very enlightening and show why some folks might choose to get an automatic littler box. I was especially interested that auto litter boxes can be placed in manual mode. Cat lovers are a diverse group with different needs, just like our kitty companions--all good food for thought. Thanks Jackson for the information! Your videos have helped so many people be better cat parents--you're my go-to source for kitty information.

[Life_w_Lora]

I’m actually glad I read the comments and see so many ADHD and other people with genuine needs that have found robo boxes beneficial. I just lost my fur baby of 14 years and had felt like a failure as his mom for how ADHD and depression had made me a poor litter keeper for the last several years. Your comments give me hope that I can adopts again when I’m ready and have a way to help me manage.

[Ghostykitten]

My husband told me he was getting a robot litter box fof Christmas. Im personally grateful as itll provide accessiblity to me. I had open heary surgery and a stroke this year and its made it harder for us to stay on top of cleaning the litterbox between not being able to bend down without dizzy spells or just busy with doctors appointments. Thus is something that will be immensely helpful and i wish that had been considered more for those with health issues or in old age

[Jamie-]

I personally really like the Breeze cat box system, because it's actually 100% dust free. I have an old cat with a sensitive respiratory system and I've found she does really good with this system. The litter and pads don't cost much more than your typical high end grass litters and it's easier. You can also see more clearly if there's blood in the urine or actually get a urine sample if needed.

I also work as a cat sitter and this is my favorite system outside home as well. Typical litter almost always has dust that puffs up when you touch it. It's so it's nice when I don't have to deal with that. Automatic litter boxes are great for this as well. I have no issues scooping 10 boxes a day, but it is nice when I come across boxes that don't have that offensive cloud of urine flavored dust. Or worse, perfume scented, with an underlayer of urine.

[TheAnruisoul]

Quick two-cents, I am a Robo-Litter owner (3 to be exact) and it's been game changing for me. I previously had a bad habit of forgetting to clean daily (ADHD and depression) and since buying them I keep that habit in check. A lot of other Robo owners point out other perks, but I do love the Robo-Litter. Though the report card thing is concerning, I try and watch for behavior changes if I can and I watch them use the little quiet often.

[willturnerfanAWE]

As a litter robot owner myself, I LOVE it and so do my cats. I respect your opinion completely but I love mine. I will admit the price is steep and not for everyone for sure

[ontheotherhand]

Last month, I noticed one of my cats using a litter box downstairs, and she seemed to be hanging out in there a little longer than I would expect. I didn’t think much about that, but it registered. A little while later I was upstairs, and again, same cat got in a litter box, where I could see her and was there for quite a while. I noticed that she did not bury when she left. I went over and took a look, and there was nothing there. I decided I would call the vet in the morning.

When I spoke to our vets, office manager the next morning, I explained what I’d seen. And she said, “they will do that! They’ll do that in front of you where you can see them when they’ve got a problem. That’s how they let you know they need help“ and we made plans for her to get seen that day. Less than five minutes later, she did the same thing (the cat, not the office manager). In the litter box, crouched there for about five minutes with no output. After she got out, I went and scooped her up, and told her that I got it, and she was going to go see the vet and we were going to fix what was wrong. And she looked so relieved.

Sure enough, she had an angry little UTI that took some strong meds to knock out. Office manager reiterated what she had said before, that cats will make a point of using the litter box to communicate with you. I’m willing to take her word on that, because she’s seen a lot more sick kitties than i have or will. I am so impressed that my cat was able to figure out a way to let me know that she was having trouble peeing.

It probably helped that I scooped my boxes multiple times a day. Because I do it frequently, I have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. I hit the boxes when I wake up, check them again before I leave for work, clean them when I get home, and then again before I go to bed. The whole routine probably takes about 10 minutes a day. I keep a quart yogurt container with a lid next to the boxes, and a scoop. If I’m walking past and see a box has been used, I scoop and pop the clump into the yogurt container and put the lid on. If there’s not much there and I’m busy, I can just leave the container right there. Otherwise, I take the container outside and dump it into a covered trashcan, and that gets taken out with the household trash a couple of times a week.

They definitely know my role as tender of the litter boxes, and frequently wait until I’ve scooped to hop in and use it. It would appear that they prefer a clean litter box. I am happy to oblige them, because I never forget that they’re doing me a favor by using the litter box. And whenever I see them in action, I make a point of saying thank you.

Honestly, although non-cat people might find this weird, our litter box rituals are part of our relationship and communication. And without them, my cat could have been dangerously ill before I knew about it.