For all their weird habits, cats remain a joy to those of us who own them. But if you knew how the experience of owning a cat could be transformed by the purchase of an automatic litter box, you’d wonder why you spent so many years digging around in their poop.
“But an automatic litter box is expensive!” you cry. And you’d be right–you will spend more on one than you will on a plain plastic box. But here’s what else you’ll spend on the latter: precious bits of your sanity, dribbling away every time you inhale the pungent aromas of litter dust, urine, and crap. Not to mention you’re going to have to replace that plastic litter box eventually because let’s face it, there are some smells so wretched even bleach can’t fix them.
Why you should bid poop goodbye with an automatic litter box
1)You never have to scoop it
An automatic litter box does the job of scooping for you, so you’re about to get a lot less intimate with your cat’s bowel movements. The PetSafe ScoopFree self-cleaning litter box is an ideal example of what we mean. It uses trays of refillable crystals instead of the litter you’re used to, which absorb urine and dehydrate solid waste to remove odors. Not only does it periodically rake solid waste to the bottom of the tray, but it only needs to be changed once a month (per each cat). And when the month is up, you just pull the tray out and replace it with a new one.
Price on Amazon: $144.95 with hood, $139.95 without
2) Scrubbing it down is a thing of the past
No matter how fastidious you are about cleaning, every cat’s box will get smelly over time because it houses urine and poop. If you’d like to avoid having to dump it all and deep-clean it periodically, the CatGenie will do it all for you. Not only does it do the job you expect from an automatic cat box, but it also washes itself clean with water. It does require a water hookup to do so, however, so keep that in mind. That said, it’s as close to a human toilet as a cat’s going to get.
Price on Amazon: $259.99
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3) Never touch poop by accident again
Unless you’re fastidious enough to wear rubber gloves when you clean the cart box, it’s inevitable that you’ll eventually touch something that you really don’t want to be touching. I won’t elaborate because I know you’re all nodding right now. While the Omega Paw Roll N’ Clean doesn’t have an electrical self-cleaning system, it does have a really neat way of cleaning up your cat’s bathroom breaks. By holding the handle and turning the box upside down, everything filters through a sifting grate and into a removable tray you can toss immediately.
Price on Amazon: $46.74
4) Forget that manual scooping was ever a part of your to-do list
Never want to have to scoop a zillion pellets of poop again? We get it. Pet Zone’s Smart Scoop Automatic Litter Box makes sure you won’t have to. It uses any clumping litter and rakes automatically 15 minutes after your cat has left the box. Once the waste collection bag is full, you simply take it out and toss it. The box comes with one month’s supply of six no-touch plastic bags too. But best of all, the box is always clean when a cat comes to it, which means no more poopy paws walking all over your furniture.
Price on Amazon: $97.99
5) Your house will stop smelling funky
It’s easy to think cat people are gross when you smell that unmistakable funk of dirty litter boxes in their houses. Make sure that stink never comes close to your pad with the LitterMaid Automatic Multi-Cat Litter Box. Designed to be used with multiple cats over 15 pounds, it’s the perfect box to buy if your cats are, ahem, “big-boned.” It scoops rake-style like some of the others on this list and uses waste receptacles with carbon filters to keep odor to a minimum. It also offers automatic and manual options, so if your cat is terrified of the sounds it makes cleaning, you can always wait to get that done when they’ve gone away to nap (again).
Price on Amazon: $106.35
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