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 house owners, dread is the litter field.
It is messy, smelly, and only a downright gross chore to scoop your cat’s enterprise every day. You should be diligent about it, particularly since a litter field sits inside your house.
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After I was given the chance to strive 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 house owners’ every day drawback of getting to scoop out their cat’s litter.
Norbert and I got down to strive the robotic litter field, and we have been each impressed. I might go as far as to name this machine life-changing for cat house owners, 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 offered. You will have to obtain the free Whisker app and join the unit to the app through Bluetooth (it is also related 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. You may also automate scooping up poop with this robotic litter field.
General, 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 if you happen to’re enjoying round with the field and figuring it out. It took some enjoying round with the app and the litter field’s buttons, however finally, it took solely a bit 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 going on, 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 through the day, and I really feel quite a bit higher now understanding each time he is going and his regular vary.
I can see the historical past monitoring serving to pet house owners to catch issues like a UTI (when your kitty begins to urinate extra continuously) 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 mechanically information your cat’s weight every time they use it with the intention to hold observe of any regarding weight achieve or weight reduction.
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The machine is way quieter than different robotic litter packing containers I’ve seen that my mates 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 few 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 a couple of litter baggage, you will finally should buy extra on Whisker’s web site.
Even with the waste at virtually 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 an everyday litter field. The perception it provides me into Norbert’s general well being and the every day cleansing makes it fully 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 capable of 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 question costly, however the firm additionally affords the earlier technology Litter-Robotic 3 for a bit cheaper at $549. It is undoubtedly an funding, however this can be a kind of automated know-how I can get behind.