Beginning with ease of setup, our testers timed how long it took to get an automatic litter box up and running. If directions were confusing, or an app annoying, our testers let us know. Next, it was time to put the litter boxes to the test, running them through a methodology designed to determine their ease of use. This included evaluations of each box's interface, and putting it through the paces of a manual cleaning cycle. While there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that cat litter boxes attract bugs, there are a few things to consider that may make this seem like the case. Use an aerosol can filled with insecticide spray around your cat’s litter box. The spray will kill insects inside the box and outside of it, preventing them from crawling into your home. While we think the Litter-Robot 4 is a substantial improvement over its predecessor, the Litter-Robot 3 Connect is still a high quality product. It's a little larger (more than 2 inches wider), less attractively designed, and a little louder, but the reduced price might make the previous Litter-Robot model worth your consideration.

Keep the litter box in a spot where it won’t be exposed to direct sunlight. This will help keep flies away from your cat’s waste. A cleaning fee will be charged if the product is not returned in new condition with all accessories We also recommend a litter box that uses silica crystals. This can be an excellent option if you dislike clay dust. It also absorbs smells well. However, you may want to acclimate your cat to crystal litter before springing an automatic litter box on them, since not all cats adjust well to the silica crystals. Depending on the number of cats in your home, the bin should be emptied out at least every two weeks for optimal use. But the litter box itself is wide (over two feet in length), so it takes up more space in a home than other automatic litter boxes on our list.

The Litter-Robot is an appliance-quality, automated self-cleaning litter box designed to last the nine lives of your cat. Whisker stands behind this litter box with a 24-month full warranty. In a home setting, we found the PetSafe ScoopFree to be effective at both self-cleaning and odor control. Plus, unlike the Litter-Robot 4, the PetSafe won't take up a ton of space in your home so it's a great option for apartment dwellers. There are a lot of colored lights to learn, which all signify different things, but once I got that down, I found them very helpful," the tester said. The Whisker Litter-Robot 4 is not merely an iterative improvement on our former "Best Overall" automatic litter box, the Litter-Robot 3 Connect, but a comprehensive upgrade. In lab testing—and throughout weeks of follow-up testing with real cats in a home setting—our testers expressed repeated admiration for various features, design improvements, and their overall experience using the Litter-Robot 4.

The best way to prevent infestation is a monthly application of boric acid powder in all crevices along floorboards and under appliances.

Since it doesn't have the wide open entryway of the Litter-Robot 4, the Leo's Loo Too is more comparable to the Pura X in its operation and was comparably quiet when running a cleaning cycle. Otherwise, it follows the classic design of automatic litter boxes with a rotating barrel passing through a grate, leaving behind solid clumps, which are dumped into a lower reservoir. It's all part of a comprehensively thoughtful design, right down to the built-in night-light. It's weird to say that an automatic litter box was a joy to use, but the Litter-Robot 4 impressed us at every step.