Allison Murray/ZDNET
You are both a cat individual or a canine individual, and this author is a cat individual. My cat, Norbert, is a loud, orange boy and is the cutest factor ever. He is simple to handle, 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 day by day. You have to be diligent about it, particularly since a litter field sits inside your private home.
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Once 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 house owners’ day by day drawback 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’d go as far as to name this system life-changing for cat house owners, and whereas Norbert’s solely response was “meow,” I can inform he appreciates having clear litter day by day.
Setting it up
The robotic litter field comes out of the field already assembled — simply plug it in and observe the instructions supplied. You will must obtain the free Whisker app and join the unit to the app through Bluetooth (it is also related to your private home’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 as well 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 be taught that the system is tremendous delicate and can “sense” a cat, even in case you’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 in the end, it took solely somewhat 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 complete 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 rather a lot higher now figuring out 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 regularly) and spot it early earlier than it turns into one thing severe.
Allison Murray/ZDNET
I additionally love the good scale constructed into the Litter-Robotic 4, which routinely data your cat’s weight every time they use it so as to maintain observe of any regarding weight achieve or weight reduction.
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The system is far quieter than different robotic litter containers 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 degree and the waste degree. 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 change it for a brand new bag, and whereas the Litter-Robotic 4 comes with just a few litter luggage, 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 value 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 day by day cleansing makes it fully value it. Simply be affected person with the setup course of and with our 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 doubt costly, however the firm additionally presents the earlier technology Litter-Robotic 3 for a bit cheaper at $549. It is positively an funding, however it is a kind of automated expertise I can get behind.