Allison Murray/ZDNET
You are both a cat particular person or a canine particular person, and this author is a cat particular person. My cat, Norbert, is a loud, orange boy and is the cutest factor ever. He is simple to care for, however one factor I, and maybe all cat homeowners, dread is the litter field.
It is messy, smelly, and only a downright gross chore to scoop your cat’s enterprise every day. You have to be diligent about it, particularly since a litter field sits inside your house.
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After I was given the chance to attempt Whisker’s Litter-Robotic 4 — a self-cleaning litter field — I used to be all for it. Whereas it is costly ($699), it solves cat homeowners’ every day downside of getting to scoop out their cat’s litter.
Norbert and I got down to attempt the robotic litter field, and we have been each impressed. I might go as far as to name this machine life-changing for cat homeowners, and whereas Norbert’s solely response was “meow,” I can inform he appreciates having clear litter every day.
Setting it up
The robotic litter field comes out of the field already assembled — simply plug it in and comply with the instructions supplied. You may must obtain the free Whisker app and join the unit to the app through Bluetooth (it is also linked to your house’s Wi-Fi).
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Whisker Litter-Robotic 4
See how typically your cat makes use of the litter field or how a lot your cat weighs. It’s also possible to automate scooping up poop with this robotic litter field.
Total, the setup was simple, however I wanted clarification at some factors. It took some time to study that the machine is tremendous delicate and can “sense” a cat, even should you’re taking part in round with the field and figuring it out. It took some taking part in round with the app and the litter field’s buttons, however finally, it took solely just a little little bit of time.
No extra scooping
The Whisker app provides you perception into when your cat is within the field, when a cleansing cycle is occurring, and when a cleansing cycle is full, in addition to a whole historical past and your cat’s common utilization. I by no means paid a lot consideration to how typically my cat was utilizing the litter field in the course of the day, and I really feel lots higher now understanding each time he is going and his regular vary.
I can see the historical past monitoring serving to pet homeowners to catch issues like a UTI (when your kitty begins to urinate extra often) and spot it early earlier than it turns into one thing severe.
Allison Murray/ZDNET
I additionally love the sensible scale constructed into the Litter-Robotic 4, which robotically data your cat’s weight every time they use it so to preserve observe of any regarding weight achieve or weight reduction.
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The machine is way quieter than different robotic litter bins I’ve seen that my buddies have, and it by no means scared Norbert away from its noise.
The app tells you the clear litter stage and the waste stage. It took a couple of week and a half for the waste to achieve 85%, which is after I emptied it. It was tremendous simple to take the waste liner out and swap it for a brand new bag, and whereas the Litter-Robotic 4 comes with just a few litter baggage, you will finally need to buy extra on Whisker’s web site.
Even with the waste at nearly 100%, I by no means as soon as smelled his litter, which is refreshing, to say the least.
Is it price it?
After utilizing the Whisker Litter-Robotic 4, I’ll by no means return to a daily litter field. The perception it provides me into Norbert’s general well being and the every day cleansing makes it utterly price it. Simply be affected person with the setup course of and along with your cat studying a brand new routine. Norbert’s opinion additionally upholds the brand new litter field since he was in a position to transition fairly seamlessly and will get to have a clear litter field each single time.
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The Whisker Litter-Robotic 4 is little doubt costly, however the firm additionally provides the earlier era Litter-Robotic 3 for a bit cheaper at $549. It is undoubtedly an funding, however it is a kind of automated know-how I can get behind.