In our cattery, cats are part of our family and live with us. After several attempts to find suitable litter and litter box options to save time and maintain hygiene, we decided to opt for automatic smart litter boxes.
But what is an automatic litter box and how does it work? It’s an ingenious device, also known as a self-cleaning litter box, that simplifies the process of cleaning and maintaining your cat’s litter box without the need for manual intervention. This litter box uses sensors and mechanisms to detect when the cat uses the it and when it leaves the area. The smart ones are equipped with motion and temperature sensors to stop cleaning during useage and can even monitor your cat’s weight and how it changes over time via apps.
Compared to traditional litter boxes, automatic ones offer many benefits, such as reducing unpleasant odours, preventing litter spills, creating a comfortable and cosy environment for the cat, cleaning automatically with no effort from the owner, and maintaining hygiene by segregating waste and neutralizing odours. Monitor settings and operation via remote apps. However, there are drawbacks such as higher initial costs, energy consumption and potential technical problems.
We looked at the impact of an automatic litter box on cat health.
The benefits of an automatic litter box include regular cleaning after each use, which can improve your cat’s health by
– Maintaining a clean and hygienic environment, reducing the risk of infection and disease.
– Reducing cat stress by avoiding a dirty or smelly litter box.
– Preventing the spread of bacteria and other harmful microorganisms in the home through odorant/disinfectant spray systems (Petkit PuraMax) or ozone generation disinfection (Tonepie Pro 3).
– Improve the quality of life for cats and cat owners by reducing unpleasant odors and reducing cleaning effort.
Risks Associated with Using an Unattended Automatic Litter Box
Describing the risks associated with an unattended automatic litter box, the importance of monitoring its operation, and how it works the cleaning process are essential aspects of understanding the potential problems associated with this type of product. Risks can include:
– Technical failures that can lead to ineffective cleaning or spreading of waste around the litter.
– The possibility that the cat becomes afraid of the automatic cleaning mechanism and avoids the litter box (in our case, curiosity was much greater than fear, in the beginning, every time the self-cleaning started, they all ran to see what was going on and so it was easy to test the stop sensors in case of cat entry).
In conclusion, an automatic litter box can have a positive impact on your cat’s health, but it is important to be aware of the risks involved and to monitor the operation of the litter box to ensure that your pet is provided with a clean and safe environment.
We use traditional litter boxes and automatic litter boxes such as: Petkit PuraX, Petkit PuraMax, Tonepie Pro 3. Aspects to evaluate before choosing an automatic litter box are:
– The application with which it works, through which you can set, monitor the operation (advantage of those that can monitor the cats by weighing),
– The presence of a deodorization/disinfection system, its position in the unit: in some units it is in the area of the waste tank, in others it is above the litter,
– External dimensions,
– Volume of the waste tank,
– The type of litter you will be using (works with clumping litter),
– The type of sensors, both to detect the presence of cats to ensure their safety, and to ensure efficient operation, such as waste tank full, disinfectant tank status, etc.
– The minimum weight of the cat that can be used, the existence of a “kittens present” function that can deactivate the automatic cleaning when kittens are present.
Remember! You can study automatic litters, you can read about the advantages and disadvantages, you can make the smartest choice, the one who will decide in the end, if there are several types of litters available, is the cat 😊.
