I am a big fan of anything that makes cat parents’ life easier. From automatic feeders to washable rugs, there are a lot of great ways to make caring for your cat a breeze.
Not all cat products or pet technology out there are designed with cats in mind, however. Some, such as remote deterrent devices, may end up causing more problems. One of the worst designed products, at least in their current manifestations, are the self cleaning litter boxes. Most make some variation of the claim that you’ll never scoop the litter box again, but they don’t tell you about the other problems you’ll run into with these boxes.
Problems With Self Cleaning Litter Boxes
While there are a few situations where a self-cleaning litter box can be a good idea (more on that later), for most cats they’re actually a terrible choice. The problems with them outweigh the benefits. They really only benefit the humans, not the cat.
Sensitive Hearing
While the boxes may be quiet to us, cats have more sensitive hearing than we do. That’s why having a litter box placed near appliances isn’t a great idea because when the appliance is running, your cat may not want to use the litter box . They may develop an aversion to the box should the appliance turn on suddenly.
Robotic litter boxes make noise to operate and may frighten cats if they go off while the cat is nearby. Even if the cat isn’t inside of the box when it goes off, your cat may become fearful of the box. I’ve seen this exact scenario happen with clients many times!
They Boxes Require Work To Get Into
Similarly, the boxes usually require the cat to go up some stairs or down into a chamber. This may not seem like a huge obstacle, but cats are smaller than we are so it’s more work for them to go in. As they age, they may find it painful to climb in and out of the robotic box even with a ramp. Senior cats specifically do better with easy to access litter boxes and the ramp is often uncomfortable for them.
Even in younger cats, this extra step can encourage them to go someplace that’s easier to access. Your floor is significantly easier for your cat to get to so I often see clients whose cats go right outside the self scooping litter box.
Limited Litter Options
Self-cleaning litter boxes require certain types of litter that function with the self-cleaning mechanism. As cats have preferences for certain types of litter, you may not be able to use a kind your cat likes. That could lead to your cat not using the box.
Health Monitoring Difficulties
While some robotic litter boxes offer health monitoring features, often they are ones that you don’t really need. You can monitor changes to your cat’s litter box habits when you scoop the litter box. You end up missing out on valuable information (that you get for free without an expensive hunk of metal) by not observing your cat’s waste.
Two great example of things you either miss entirely or will be delayed in discovering: you may not notice blood in your cat’s urine which can be a sign of some very bad things. Some diseases may cause your cat’s waste to smell differently. A change in odor could clue you into your cat having a disease like giardia.
Better Ways To Monitor
Despite claims by the manufacturers of these boxes that they can be used to help monitor your cat’s health, there are ways to do so that your cat would probably much prefer and are more effective for serious issues. As unpleasant as it is, directly observing your cat’s litter box habits, urine, and poop is the best way to monitor their health.
If you really want to get some of the features of the robotic litter boxes, you can get a health monitoring platform for a regular litter box (though I advise against getting the included litter box. That’s a topic for another day, however). You can also weigh your cat using a freestanding scale so the self cleaning box isn’t the best way to get this information.
If you’re concerned about how often your cat uses the litter box, placing it in a location that’s not too out of the way (which you should do anyway) or an indoor camera with motion detection solves this for a much lower cost. You can get one from Eufy without a monthly subscription cost. Your cat doesn’t care if they are being watched while they use the litter box so they won’t mind.
Exacerbating Cat Conflict
Many of the robotic litter boxes are designed with humans first so they aim to not take up a lot of space. Cats prefer larger litter boxes (which is why I’m a big fan of making your own litter box so you can get one that gives your cat plenty os space). The entrances to the self cleaning boxes are tiny and, while some of them claim they’re great for multicat households, that’s not the case.
If you have cat conflict, one cat could easily be cornered in the self cleaning litter box by another cat. That is going to lead to your cat not only not wanting to use the box, but also a potential cat fight. Even if the other cat doesn’t intentionally corner the other cat in the box, just walking by the box may cause the perception of being cornered. This leads to defensive behaviors or a cat peeing on your carpet instead of where you want them to pee.
Are There Situations Where Self Cleaning Litter Boxes Are A Good Idea?
Self cleaning litter boxes have a lot of potential to make our lives easier, though (to repeat myself) as they exist right now there aren’t any that are great. You’ll notice that I didn’t name any specific brands of self scooping litter box as they’re all pretty bad. This isn’t even close to a full list of the problems I have with robotic litter boxes.
Some Cats Prefer Them
That said, there are a few situations that I I think a self cleaning litter box is actually a good (or at least acceptable) option.
From the cat’s perspective first, some cats are so finicky about cleanliness that they need the litter to be immaculately clean before they’ll use it. In these situations, a self scooping litter box might be a good idea. A better choice would be getting a Litter Genie to encourage you to scoop the box regularly or setting up a second box right next to it to give you more time to scoop, but if those fail, then a self scooping box might be the best choice.
If your cat isn’t using the litter box, don’t jump right to assuming they would prefer having a self cleaning litter box. This usually isn’t the problem I see in clients and most of the time the cat either has stopped using the litter box entirely since switching boxes or the problem started with the introduction of the self scooping box.
Helping With Disabilities
The other situation that a self cleaning litter box might be a good idea is where a disability limits your ability to clean the litter box. If you can’t clean the litter box regularly or physically unable to do the scooping, then I think a self scooping litter bo is a great choice. Disabled folks should be able to enjoy the love of a cat and if a less than perfect piece of pet tech allows them to do so, I’m all in favor of it.
That said, you still risk your cat not using their litter box. There may be other ways to accomplish the same goal. For example, a long scoop may be helpful for folks that can’t bend to scoop. If someone struggles with gripping a scoop, I’ve had clients use a scoop that has a different shaped handle or modify the scoop in other ways to get around the challenges traditional scoops may pose. There are other solutions besides self cleaning litter boxes that allow your cat’s needs to be met and can still allow disabled people to care for their cats.
(A Lot Of) Room For Improvement
Even in situations where there is some benefit, the technology on the market right now is still not great. It needs to be designed with cats and humans in mind or your cat may end up not using the litter box. I don’t recommend self cleaning litter boxes for most folks, though I’d be happy to discuss ways to improve them with anyone who runs a pet product business. A lot of cat behaviorists would love for something that like this to exist, but in a way that is more appealing to the cats.
For now, if you’re thinking of getting a robotic litter box, skip it. I’m happy to help you figure out a work around to whatever it is you don’t like about the litter box that will balance the needs of your cat and your preferences instead.
