Pamper Your Pets

Ten editor-tested, pet-approved upgrades for feeding, grooming, playtime and more

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Always-Clean Litter Box

Common kitty wisdom states that you should own one litter box for every cat in your family, plus one extra. As a mom of four fur babies, I simply didn't have the space for multiple boxes and couldn't stand by to scoop their poop the moment it happened. I was hoping Whisker's Litter-Robot 4 would be the answer to my prayers.

This podlike self-cleaning litter box is the Rolls-Royce of automated cat toilets, if you will. Once kitty finishes their business, the rubber-lined drum quietly spins to sift away the clean litter, dumps the clumps into a sealed compartment and returns the clean litter to the main chamber. With builtin WiFi, the Litter-Robot 4 has a companion app that notifies you when your cat has used the box, how full the waste bin is and if you need to add more litter. It even logs the weight of the cat inside, helping you track bathroom habits and spot changes that could signal health issues.

My main goal in getting a self-cleaning litter box was to eliminate the hassle of daily scooping, and boy, did it deliver. With four cats, I need to empty the waste tray about every three days. Whisker sells special odor-proof bags you can use to line the drawer, but I just use standard 13-gallon kitchen trash bags, which fit perfectly. To clean, I pull out the drawer, cinch up the bag and toss it in the trash. Easy peasy. -Allison T.S. Robicelli, product tester Whisker Litter-Robot 4, $699; chewy.com, litter-robot.com

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