If you have a feline friend in your household, you know cleaning up litter boxes is part of your routine. These days, more and more busy people are turning to convenient self-cleaning litter boxes to automate this task. There’s a wide variety of brands, models, and prices to fit every preference and budget. Most brands do thorough exhaustive engineering and testing to ensure the safest, best product possible. But there has been a few accounts of cat deaths tied to certain brands of these devices.
Self-Cleaning Robots For Automation
Let’s face it: we’re living in the 21st century. Back in the 50’s, people dreamt of a modern world full of wonder and promise. We may not have flying cars (yet!), but we do have better washers and driers, flatscreen TV’s, tiny pocket-sized computers, energy-efficient appliances, and even vacuuming robots. While it’s true that most cat people don’t mind cleaning up litter boxes, a lot of them spend a big chunk of their time at work, away from their beloved pets. There was definitely a need and a market for such people, enter: automatic self-cleaning litter boxes.
Top to bottom: Furrytail Cleaner, Neakasa M1 (Images via One Man Five Cats YouTube Channel). The CaM family have the Neakasa and LitterRobots and apurrove of them too!
Can’t Over-Engineer Safety!
Marketing research, mechanical engineering, software development, beta-testing, and manufacturing are just a few of the things needed for a successful and safe final product. Think about all the basic sensors you need for a safe self-cleaning litter box:
- Web camera (For operation and smartphone notifications)
- Infrared sensor (For operation triggering)
- Weight sensor (For both cat detection and weight tracking)
- Pinch sensor (For resistance triggering)
The camera and infrared sensor will trigger the device from standby mode. Then, the weight sensor confirms that, indeed, there’s a cat inside minding their own business. When the weight sensor detects that the cat stepped off the sensor, hands it off to the infrared and camera to make sure the cat’s outside of the litter box. Then it starts the cleaning cycle, rotating on its X-axis or Y-axis, depending on the model. Sensors are engaged the whole time, PAWsing function if any sensors are triggered due to your cat’s innate feline curiosity, and sending a notification to your smartphone. And then, should no more interruptions take place, finish cleaning up and set to standby mode.
Whisker’s Litter Robot 3 (Safe)
One Man Five Cats Channel
Philip Bloom is a British man with several YouTube Channels. One of those channels is called “One Man Five Cats”, with over 62K subscribers. This vlog specializes in reviews of cat products, and these cats are more than willing to give these devices a very thorough testing. Philip does a great job to synthesize his findings into a concise, compelling review video.
Philip has a video titled “The DEADLY self-cleaning litter boxes that have flooded the market”. In it, he states that there has been a few accounts of a particular brand that has claimed a few feline lives: Amztoy. The company named their device “Litter Robot”, taking a page from the very well-established and safe “Whisker” brand’s naming convention. A TikTok user, “Carli Jay”, claimed that she found her beloved cat “Mochi” hanging from the device, the door closed tightly around her neck. A lady called “Trish”, messaged Carli Jay saying that her cat “Charly” a three-month-old rescue kitten, was also killed by the Amztoy box. There was another deleted Amazon review with the same story. Only in this instance, the cat made it through, barely saved in the nick of time by the reviewer.
Amztoy Amazon Review
Philip tried to get a comment directly from the Amztoy company’s YouTube account, but the company erased his request for comment from the site. Watch the full review video on his YouTube channel:
Know What To Watch Out For With Self-Cleaning Litter Boxes
Amztoy’s design flaws are blatantly obvious: the entrance to the litter box is a fixed, sharp, oblong, one-piece of molded plastic. Software-wise, the sensor pauses the door from closing all the way, but immediately resumes after a few seconds, regardless of whether the cat is inside, outside, or halfway in between. In this article’s featured image, you can see Philip’s hand actually got caught in the door, having to pry it open with his other hand to free himself.
Similar designs showing the same Amztoy oblong entrance.
Amztoy released a firmware update, fixing the pinching sensor issue. But, according to Philip, the manuals said nothing about very important firmware updates. Philip accurately states that the firmware update fixes the pinching sensor bug. Although the sensors themselves look cheaply made. This just adds to the possibility of failing in the future, regardless of future firmware updates.
However, is not as simple as avoiding this one brand. Nowadays, a lot of brands buy the design from the manufacturer and then just paste their logo onto it. That’s why you see a lot of products on the market that look similar, if not exactly the same.
Amztoy Copycats
In the end, Philip recommends Litter-Robot 3 & 4 (by Whisker). They are an established brand with a great design, and a safe track record. But they can set you back from $650 and up to $999 for a full bundle. Philip also likes the “Furrytail” brand, which is budget-friendly, starting at $399.
Whisker Litter Robot 4
Whether you decide to get a self-cleaning litter robot or scoop manually, it’s all about what you feel it’s best for your cats, your time, and your budget. Your furry friends deserve the best, and so do you.
