Change can be good! 

When you first take on caring for a pet, it can feel like a full-time job. It’s easy to underestimate just how much time, attention, and patience a new furry companion requires. Over time, you find a rhythm dealing with the day-to-day pet maintenance, but even so, your fur baby still needs consistent care. 

What’s more, the more pets you have, the less time you have for yourself. Perhaps you’re like me, and you can’t resist rescuing stray cats or fostering pups. In that case, you’ll find yourself in the predicament of having enough time to look after your furry friends while keeping up with our work, relationships, and self-care.

Luckily nowadays, there are pet products available to help ease your responsibilities and free up your time. The biggest game-changer to hit the market is the emergence of the automatic litter box. Whether you have one cat, two furry companions, or are fostering a litter of kittens, a self-cleaning litter box will change your life completely. Here’s how:

1) Automatic Cleaning After Every Use

An automatic litter box’s primary purpose is, of course, to clean the litter and scoop the waste so you don’t have to. But did you know that self-cleaning litter units run a full cleaning cycle after every use? Models such as the AutoEgg, initiate four additional daily deep cleans to ensure a spotless litter bed upon every entry.

Most cat owners who manually scoop will do so once a day on average. If you upgrade to an automatic litter box, not only do you get to say a happy goodbye to your daily scooping chore. But, your cat will feel delighted to have a fresh bed of litter each time they enter the litter box too.

2) Litter Tracking Prevention

Cleaning the litter box doesn’t just involve scooping waste. You also need to regularly clean up the litter granules that escape from the litter bed and scatter all over the floor. The traditional open-top litter trays are notorious for litter tracking as the sides are low, and there is nothing to catch the grains from your kitty’s paws upon exit. 

One of our favorite perks of an automatic litter box is litter tracking prevention. For starters, most self-cleaning units feature a hooded, enclosed design. This prevents your feline from kicking litter out the sides or back of the box. Next, many of these high-tech products have a tracking pad to reduce this issue further. Strategically placed at the entryway, the tracking step effectively catches the stuck granules from your kitty’s paws as they leave the box.

This design feature will keep your floor clean and hygienic, and you’ll find yourself rarely having to sweep or vacuum around the litter box. Additionally, with the granules staying inside the box, you’ll notice a decrease in your litter usage, and you won’t have to top it up so often. 

Talking about litter efficiency, the cleaning process of automatic litter boxes does a fab job of removing only the waste particles and returning the clean litter to the tray. With a self-cleaning litter box, you’ll use up to 75% less litter than you would in a traditional litter box setup.

3) Effective Odor Control Compartments

After a long day of work, the last thing you want to come home to is a litter box full of foul-smelling waste. You want to make a cup of tea and put your feet up, but you know you have to tackle the horrid smell in the room first. With an automatic litter box, never again will you experience this frustrating situation. 

As a self-cleaning litter box removes the waste promptly, any foul odors diminish before they have a chance to spread. But where does the poop go after being scooped out? Automatic litter boxes that use either a traditional rotating system or a raking method will have a waste compartment at the bottom of the unit, under the litter bed. Here, the waste is stored until the drawer becomes full and needs emptying. 

These compartments are fully concealed and air-tight to prevent any scents from seeping out. Therefore, you can allow the drawer to fill up without the worry of a bad smell building up. 

4) An Intelligent Health Tracking System

At first glance, you may think an automatic litter box is costly compared to traditional litter boxes. However, these electronic litter units are capable of doing much more than cleaning. Take the AutoEgg, for example. This self-cleaning litter box doubles up as a useful health and weight tracker.  

With each use, the system records your cat’s weight, the time spent in the box, the amount of waste produced, and more. You can view this information in the health log on the display panel. You’ll easily be able to keep track of your cat’s weight and check that their litter box habits appear healthy. 

The smart system will also alert you of any potential issues relating to your feline’s digestive health. This could be if your cat has diarrhea or constipation. Whether you have a busy job or are looking after multiple pets, it can be hard to spot elimination issues like this. Thankfully, an automatic litter box can be your helping hand.   

5) A Modern, Hooded Design Your Cat Will Love

Many self-cleaning litter boxes boast a cool, futuristic look that appeals to the curiosity of felines. Your cat won’t be able to resist checking out its new litter box and will, therefore, acclimate to it quickly. The sleek, hooded style also gives a minimalistic and modern look in your home, blending in well with all decors. 

6) Sustainability

While most units do appear to present a hefty upfront investment the long term monetary benefits to an automatic litter box can end up paying off down the road. Most units require minimal maintenance or replacement parts to upkeep other than the litter itself (some don't actually require litter replacements at all).

Additionally, if there's one element to an automatic litter box that is unanimously impressive it's sustainability. In addition to being cost effective in the long term most units have been designed for optimal energy usage. The AutoEgg for example uses just 1 kWh of energy per 500 cleaning cycles, keeping your electric bill low while it keeps your litter box looking clean. 

Final Verdict

These innovative cat products are a must in all cat homes because let's be honest, no one enjoys scooping a dirty, smelly litter box. An automatic litter unit reduces the tiresome pet care chores, giving you more time to cuddle and play with your furry companions.