Is a Litter Robot Worth It? An Honest Review

Is Litter Robot Worth The Price? An Honest Review 

My children had been asking for a pet for years, and I always said no. 

My usual excuses were:

• "We don't have time to take care of an animal."
• "We don't have the money."
• and finally..."The poop. Think of the poop, children."

And round about the conversation would go. One day I caved because they wrote a song on the piano about how they wanted a cat. Being a sucker for musicals (and my kids), I said fine. 

A few weeks later, I brought home Honey the Cat after a visit to the humane society. Here she is, posed among Barbie toys:

Yeah, she is cute. Its true. I was smitten for this kitten.

But what I was NOT smitten over was the standard litterbox. We kept the litterbox in our basement, but after a few days of walking into our home and being greeted by the ripe smell of cat waste, I decided we needed another solution. On top of that, we are a busy family and I don't have time to be scooping poop every day.

And lo and behold I discovered the Litter Robot: a self-cleaning litter box with a rotating drum that drops the waste into a bag-lined drawer. "Great!" I thought. Problem solved. 

Until I saw the price, and I swallowed hard. $699? Wowsers, that could save a lot of cats from the humane society. 

However, Litter Robot sells REFURBISHED units with a nice discount that are also under a one year warranty. I discovered an older model for $450. That's still a lot of cheddar, but remember: the smell. I pushed go on the order. 

In short, this thing is amazing and let me tell you why.

Pros to Litter Robot

• Some reviews indicate it didn't help with smell, but this is flat out not true. There was a huge improvement over odor and still is to this day. 
• I don't have to scoop poop. Just empty the drawer once a week. 
• I use the corresponding Whisker app which can notify me when the unit is full.
• When we are out of town for a few days, I rest easy knowing she has a clean litter box each day. 
• Because only the clumps go down into the drawer, it only uses a small amount of litter each week, reusing what didn't get peed/poo-d upon.

 Cons to Litter Robot

• The unit is pretty big, bigger than I expected. 
• We had a kitten (see above) at first, so she had to gain some weight until she could trip the sensor in the unit (about 5+ lbs and it will work)
• After about 8 months of use, it began to jam up sometimes. I would have to unplug it and restart. I found that using less litter helps prevent jamming. 
• If you don't regularly remove ALL the litter (every few weeks) from the unit, the reused litter can get pretty nasty. 

I've owned one for close to a year and I have to say: the positive reviews are justified. Its an excellent product that saves time, smell and litter. The initial price may be steep, but long term it is worth it. 

What about you? Do you own a Litter Robot? What's been your experience?