We tried the most popular litter boxes to find out which—from basic to self-cleaning—we and our cats liked most
Dilly Bean, a nimble tripod cat and one of our judges, is ready to hop down from the Litter Robot 4.
By Althea Chang-Cook
My cats’ litter box is the bane of my existence. Pouring the litter, scooping it up, dumping it out, scrubbing the pan. Over and over again. I’ve gone through several litter boxes at home without really thinking about my cats’ perspective. Instead, it was more about matching our decor. After sizing up from a smaller apartment, my family settled on a larger litter box, mostly because the particular design I wanted was larger.
But I should have also considered my cats’ needs. For instance, having a geriatric 3.5-legged cat means easy entry and a central location is important, says Kate Benjamin, co-author of New York Times bestsellers “Catification” and “Catify to Satisfy.”
“Don’t make a senior cat or cat with special needs go up or down stairs to find the litter box; keep it close by where they spend the most time,” Benjamin advises.
And while some humans prefer an enclosed box that traps and filters odors, a partial enclosure or some other way to shield their eyes from unsightly cat poop, I know my cats prefer to see what’s around them.
With so many litter box options to choose from, where should you start? Consumer Reports staffers evaluated some of the most popular litter boxes to find out which models are the easiest to use and clean, and which are preferred by our own cats in their real-life settings.
I enlisted the help of two colleagues: Arianna Coger, a senior lab tester at CR, and Karla Noboa, a research specialist on CR’s philanthropic partnerships team. Arianna, Karla, and I went into this project hoping to learn something about what our cats prefer and consider new options that might work in our homes.
We ordered multiples of six different litter boxes, and then made each one available to each of our cats for at least three days. Because cats can be very particular about the litter in their box, we used our cats’ usual litter. But if a box required or recommended a specific type of litter, we used that. We observed how easily our cats got in and out, and their behaviors around each litter box.
We also noted more human concerns, like how easy it was to set up the box and clean up afterward, noting, for instance, when wet litter was hard to scrape off the bottom. We were also well aware of the amount of litter that wound up scattered outside each box. Some models came with a scoop, and in those cases, we evaluated that accessory as well. We looked at whether each box could fit into our preferred spot at home, and because looks matter, we considered how well each box blended in with our home decor.
Because Karla and I each have a cat that can sometimes have challenges getting around, and mine is geriatric, we both looked at how accessible each model was.
Anecdotally, of all the models we evaluated, those with shiny (vs. matte) inner surfaces were easiest to clean, with the stainless model being the easiest of the models that required consistent manual cleanup. While stainless steel boxes are more expensive and heavier, Benjamin says they can be more hygienic and can last longer than plastic. If you prefer a plastic box, she recommends looking for one made of BPA-free, stain-resistant, durable plastic, and recognizing that it’ll occasionally need to be replaced.
Meet Our Judges
Our judges, clockwise from bottom left: Spud, Teddy, Dilly Bean, Twig, and Chip.
Photos: Althea Chang-Cook/Consumer Reports, Arianna Coger/Consumer Reports, Karla Noboa/Consumer Reports
Spud
Arianna calls Spud “a tiny gremlin with big opinions.” He’s a 9-year-old, nearly 17-pound cat who’s shy at first, but can be loud and picks playful fights, they say. “His goal is really just to wear everyone out so they surrender to his warm, post-battle snuggles,” Arianna says.
Teddy
Arianna calls Teddy a master of leisure. A 9-year-old, 15-pound cat, he can spend all day lounging on soft blankets and showing off his fluff. He enjoys birdwatching and chasing a laser with determination. He’s also a charming and sociable cat, always demanding attention, Arianna says.
Dilly Bean
Dilly Bean is Karla’s cat, an 8-pound 3-year-old with dog qualities. She waits at the door when Karla gets home and is eager to meet every new visitor. “She’s a tripod, missing one of her front legs, but it doesn’t stop her from her favorite activity, zooming through the house all day,” Karla says.
Twig
Twig is my cranky tuxedo cat who’s about 17 years old, and has three legs and a kind of stub of a front leg. She’s petite (just shy of 5 pounds) and was considered the runt of the litter when the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals rescued her. When I adopted Chip at the same ASPCA location more than 15 years later, they were surprised Twig was still alive. She has gotten very stubborn over the years and may have memory issues. She’s been through a variety of litter boxes and cat litter types.
Chip
Chip is my nearly 10-pound black cat who’s about a year old. She acts like a kitten but doesn’t seem to know her own size. She licks my face in the morning and hugs me when I get up. She jumps on me unexpectedly as if I’m a stepping stone. She gets the zoomies at night and will stare at the wall and howl at it like she’s possessed. Prior to these evaluations, she’d only ever known one litter box and nonclumping cat litter.
Whisker Litter Robot 4
If there’s room in your budget for a pricey self-cleaning litter box, we found this one totally worth it. A few minutes after a cat jumps in to do their business, the machine turns like a front-load washing machine (though slowly), sending litter through a grate for holding while clumps of litter are left to drop through a hole in the drum that leads to a waste drawer. It then turns back around to allow the unused litter to fall back through the grates to the bottom of the litter box. Clumping litter is recommended for the best results.
If the machine senses a cat’s weight on the step up to the box or inside the box, the unit pauses its turning as a safety measure. Chip is a curious kitty, and she frequently paused it midcycle.
Looks
This is a huge litter box, and I’m not just talking about its interior space. The Litter Robot 4 looks like a combination washing machine, spaceship, and time machine for small pets. This model didn’t fit in any of our preferred spaces, either because of its size or because it needs to be plugged in. Or in my case, both. It’s 22 inches wide and 27 inches deep. For comparison, my cats’ usual litter box fills a roughly 16-inch-wide space in the bathroom of my fairly small Brooklyn apartment.
Cat Reactions
After a couple of days of hesitation and experience with another self-cleaning model (the PetSafe Scoop Free), my cats got used to the idea of their litter box moving by itself. Twig, my geriatric cat, was much more hesitant about using this one, which requires a tall step up to enter. She did manage to hop up into it, but when given the option of using this one vs. a traditional litter box, she went the traditional route. Chip, in a few bursts of energy, created what I feared would become a cat litter tornado inside it, but she ultimately accepted it as a place to do her business.
Teddy and Spud were hesitant as well. “They were a bit intimidated by this box for a day or two, but after feeling safe around it, there were no issues,” Arianna says. The step has a grippy texture and can catch litter, so there’s less tracking than there would otherwise be, they said.
Human Experience
Arianna, Karla, and I agreed that this was the best of the bunch, even though two of us had to switch to a different litter for the best results. There was little cleaning involved (more on that below), but it was generally a set-it-and-forget-it model between litter changes. You plug it in and pour litter up to the indicator line.
I tried this model with three types of litter: our usual PetSafe Scoop Free Crystal Cat Litter, Whisker’s proprietary clumping Great Litter, and the Dr. Elsey’s Ultra Unscented Clumping Clay Cat Litter that Arianna uses. According to the Litter Robot owner’s manual, only certain types of litter are compatible with this box. Thankfully, my crystal litter, a type of absorbent litter that neutralizes odors, worked out, even though it’s nonclumping and even though the manufacturer says that it may affect the litter level and “drawer full” indicator accuracy.
The main difference between Whisker’s Great Litter and the Dr. Elsey’s litter was the size of grains. The Whisker litter had small grains, which created less noise than the larger Dr. Elsey’s grains. I could hardly hear the machine cycling using the Great Litter. But in my household, the noise level difference didn’t have much of an impact on our daily lives.
The Litter Robot works with the Whisker app, which allows you to monitor the number of times your cat visits the litter box and the cat’s weight, and you can set up app notifications every time a cleaning cycle is completed and when the waste drawer needs to be emptied. All three of us were fascinated by the weight readings, which can be shown in a line graph over time in the Whisker app. Being someone who uses a Fitbit to track sleep myself, I loved looking at the chart and coming up with theories as to why my cats’ weights went up and down. This feature might be more useful for someone whose cat is overweight.
The Whisker app shows litter and waste levels. I also appreciated the ability to chart my cats’ weight over time.
Ease of Cleaning
There was virtually no daily cleanup required (not including litter that tracked to the floor in front of it), and it was fairly easy to empty, wipe down, and refill with fresh litter. Occasionally, a bit of wet clay clumping litter stuck to the inside of the machine, but when left to sit under more dry litter, the moisture was soaked up and made it to the waste bin at the bottom of the unit at the next cleaning cycle.
When the plastic bag-lined bin is full (the Whisker app can alert you to this), you pull out the small waste drawer, which is attached to the step, remove the waste, and put in a new bag. Regular plastic grocery bags are too small, however, so you may either have to use a larger garbage bag or Whisker’s proprietary liners ($25 for a pack of 25). Determining how much litter to add to the Litter Robot was an easy task, too. If you add too much, the machine dumps out any excess into the waste bin on its first turn after cleaning.
Bottom Line
This convenience comes at a hefty price. If I had the budget for it myself—and it wasn’t so big—I’d already own one. So we offer a smaller and less expensive runner-up, a stainless steel model, which is shaped like and works like a more traditional litter box, below.
WoofiGo Stainless Steel Cat Litter Box
Traditional litter boxes work mostly the same: You pour in a few inches’ worth of litter, your cat eliminates waste in them, you scoop up the clumps daily, and replace the litter with fresh stuff regularly. One might think maintenance is more about the cat litter than the box, but this model proves that assessment is not quite right. Based on the material each litter box is made of, wet litter sticks to each one differently. We saw less sticking on this model compared with most of the others, which are plastic.
Looks
This may not be the most attractive litter box, at least in my white and bronze bathroom, but its almost-nonstick qualities make the stainless steel model worth considering. Arianna keeps their cats’ litter box in the living room, and this one didn’t match their decor, but Karla, who keeps their cat’s litter box on the bottom-most shelf in a closet, was more fond of its appearance. “The stainless steel makes it look clean and fancy,” Arianna says. “There is honestly nothing I dislike about it.”
There’s a sturdy plastic partial enclosure that snaps to the top of the stainless steel pan and provides a little extra privacy around the sides and back of the box and protects the walls from high spraying (more on that below).
Cat Reactions
Considering how different stainless steel looks compared with typical plastic, I found it surprising that my cats had very little reaction to this change, even though this model was the first we evaluated. Arianna said it was very easy for each of their cats to get into and out of the box. Karla said the semi-wide platform on the enclosure at the entrance of the box seemed helpful for their tripod cat.
Human Experience
The front of the enclosure has a small perforated step for easier entry and exit. Stray cat litter on little paws fell through the perforations and back into the box rather than onto the floor, which made living with it day to day all the more pleasant.
Ease of Cleaning
When it was time to give it a thorough clean, I only had to scrape a little to get the wet crystal litter out of this box. Then it only took a few swipes with soap and water and a generous rinsing to get it shining like new again. Arianna said that for them, dumping out their cats’ clumping litter was quick and mess-free. This model comes with a scooper, which has wider holes than those on the scooper I use most often. That meant litter crystals sifted through much quicker, making daily scooping a little less of a chore.
Arianna did say that urine sometimes got trapped in the area where the top and bottom pieces connect, which was mildly unpleasant to clean. “If I used the litter box for a longer period, I’d imagine it’d require some more frequent and intense cleaning than I’m used to, to avoid noticeable urine smells,” they said.
Bottom Line
If stainless is a look you can accept in your litter box spot, this is a simple, durable, and nearly nonstick model that’s easy to live with.
AmazonBasics Large Cat Litter Box
This is a very basic plastic model that does the job just fine. It consists of a gray litter pan and a beige three-walled enclosure that snaps to the top of it. If anything, it’s the most boring-looking model we evaluated. It was on the flimsier side, so in this case, you do get what you pay for.
Looks
Thoughts on how durable it looked were mixed. It’s thicker than some budget boxes out there, but not the most rigid, so expect to have to swap it out at some point.
“Plastic is the most common material used for litter boxes because it can be easily cleaned and it’s lightweight,” says Benjamin, the “catification” expert and author. “Plastic can become worn when cats use their claws to dig in the litter, creating grooves that trap bacteria and release microplastics that cats might ingest,” she says. “Over time, plastic can also stain and may trap odors.”
Cat Reactions
As its name suggests, this model is very basic. None of our five cats had any trouble getting in or out. In fact, the entrance to this model was noticeably lower to the ground compared with the other models we evaluated.
Human Experience
The enclosure part of this litter box was tricky to latch to the bottom and didn’t feel like it fit securely, but if you don’t expect to move it much and don’t have a cat that gets too wild in the litter box, it can serve its purpose while giving your cat a little privacy.
Ease of Cleaning
Not much stood out about this box, although a little bit of scraping and scrubbing was required during deep cleaning, much like your average plastic cat box.
Bottom Line
The good news, especially at this price, is that it comes with a scoop, so it’s a good choice for beginners on a budget who aren’t quite sure yet what bells and whistles they might want in a litter box.
Arm & Hammer Sifting Litter Box
This model may look like a friendlier option for the squeamish, but it requires more work than you’d think. It’s actually more of a system than a box. It includes two pans, plus a sifter that goes in between the two pans. Instead of scooping, you sift out the clumps by dumping everything in the top pan through the sifter and into the bottom pan. Then you throw out the clumps, and put the sifter, followed by the second pan, underneath the filled box so you can do the same thing the next day.
Looks
“It looks like a bin I would use to spot-treat or hand-wash my laundry,” Karla says. “Something about this made me dislike it. It just didn’t seem like a useful litter box from the second I opened the package.” Dilly, though small, likes a little extra space in a litter box, they say. Sure enough, Dilly didn’t even want to use it.
The box being small was a good thing for Arianna. “It isn’t very noticeable in my living room compared to the larger boxes,” they say. And to my own surprise, it’s much smaller than the space I have designated in my little bathroom for a litter box.
Cat Reactions
From the top, this model looks like an average litter box, and Chip and Twig had no issues with using this one. But Dilly didn’t seem to know what to make of it, and might have thought it was more of a toy. “She was throwing litter everywhere,” Karla said. “It was like a dog digging in the sand at the beach.”
Human Experience
Arianna and I faced similar litter-related challenges. Because clumping litter is recommended for this model, I switched back to the clumping litter Arianna uses. As a result, it really was a mess.
Ease of Cleaning
For a model billed as “scoop-free” on some websites’ product descriptions, there was an awful lot of scooping and scraping required. Just imagine going through this process on a daily basis.
“I found myself needing to constantly clean clumped litter that stuck to the sides and back of the box,” Arianna says. “I hadn’t experienced this issue to this extent while using other litter boxes.”
Because Dilly wouldn’t use this model, Karla simply evaluated how well her Tuft & Paw Really Great Cat Litter (made of tofu) made it through the sifter alone. That worked fine, but clumps of tofu litter are an entirely different problem.
Bottom Line
Sure, this system may work with different types of litter, presumably including Arm & Hammer’s own, which topped our cat litter lab tests, but one would expect to be able to use the brand of litter that they and their pets prefer.
PetSafe ScoopFree Pro Self-Cleaning Litter Box
With the PetSafe ScoopFree Pro system, a sensor perceives an occupant, and 20 minutes after your cat has left the box, a metal “rake” connected to the litter box’s cover passes through the litter, which sits in a smooth cardboard tray underneath. The rake drags solid waste to the covered end of the litter box where you won’t see it. This mostly takes care of the unsightliness of poop, but not the smell of solid or liquid waste as it adds up.
Looks
This model is like the RoboCop of litter boxes, though much more subtle. It looks like a regular litter box, but its wide sides conceal a mechanism that operates the rake. It’s not so obvious at a glance that the litter is on top of cardboard. This mechanical frame is very wide—at about 19 inches, it was too wide to fit in my preferred litter box spot. Plus, it needs to be plugged in.
Cat Reactions
When my cats first saw this model move on its own, they were curious and confused. But because it looked so much like a standard litter box, they didn’t hesitate to jump in. None of our cats seemed to have any problem getting into and out of the box. It was likely more trouble for the humans to handle than their cats.
This model comes with the litter we already use, PetSafe ScoopFree Crystal Cat Litter, for its odor- and liquid-absorbing qualities. This litter can have sharp edges, however, something to be aware of if your cat has sensitive paws. It can also be hard on human feet. Technically, other nonclumping litter would work.
Human Experience
“The walls of the box were a bit too short for my larger-sized cats,” Arianna says. “Due to my cats’ size and positioning, urine sometimes ended up outside of the box and on my living room walls, giving me some extra cleaning to do.” That’s definitely something to keep in mind if you have a cat that tends to pee outward or upward rather than downward. (This issue can be addressed with a PetSafe “privacy cover” or top-entry cover you’d have to buy separately.)
The challenge for me had more to do with No. 2. Twig sometimes has pebble-sized bits of poop, and they’re too small to get caught up in the rake because its “tines” are too far apart. As a result, small pieces slipped through and remained on the clean side of the box.
There’s an auto-stop mechanism in case a cat jumps in while raking is in progress, but if a cat poops on the wrong side of the rake, that waste might just stay there until you switch to a new tray.
Possibly the best thing about this model was the counter that’s meant to display the number of times a cat visits the box. But I personally learned that the number on the digital display may not be accurate (for example, if you have a kid who likes pressing the button for manual cleaning for fun every time he comes near the litter box).
Ease of Cleaning
Other than Arianna’s need to clean their living room walls, our few days living with this box showed that under the most ideal conditions, it will work just fine. Karla put it best: “Pee gets absorbed by the crystals; poop gets pushed to the side.” When it’s time for a fresh tray, which costs about $25, you remove the entire bottom and slide it into a trash bag.
Bottom Line
“Personally, I dislike how wasteful that is and I also dislike how the poop just gets pushed to the side and sits there barely covered until you’re ready to throw out the entire thing,” Karla says. This setup may also not work for cats who like to scratch at their litter, because the cardboard itself is flimsy and the proprietary litter is absorbent only to an extent. PetSafe does sell a less wasteful plastic reusable tray that you can refill with a bag of litter as an alternative.
Van Ness Pets EZ Clean Jumbo Enclosed Cat Litter Box
Van Ness makes one of the most popular enclosed litter box models. According to CR’s market research, the large size is the most popular, but when we found that the model was out of stock at multiple online retailers, we sized up to a Jumbo.
Looks
This is a fairly basic enclosed model, except for its comically large size (24 inches long and 19.5 inches wide).
When it comes to choosing an enclosed model, often it’s the cat owner’s specific preference that leads them to buy one. Sure, some cats may enjoy the privacy that an enclosed box offers, but ultimately, it could just be a matter of a pet parent’s preference.
“Enclosed boxes can also help prevent dogs and young children from getting in the litter and may help control odors,” Benjamin says, “but remember, if the odors are just being trapped inside the box, your cat might not want to use it.”
This model had plenty of ventilation, and while it looked a little out of place, there was an opening on top with a filter that let air in and out while containing odors.
Cat Reactions
Chip was initially scared of going in. Twig has used an enclosed model before, so she wasn’t at all fazed by the format. Chip watched Twig with confusion as she hopped in effortlessly. Chip must have figured out that it was fine to do the same. But when given a choice between an enclosed and an open model, both chose the open one. Karla said that Dilly didn’t seem to like the swinging door. She was hesitant to push it open on her own, but when Karla left the door open, Dilly did use the box. She apparently liked how large it is because there was plenty of space to go several times without burying her waste, Karla said.
Human Experience
Our evaluators weren’t exactly wowed by its looks; we didn’t see anything sleek about it. There’s a top part with a roof, a handle, three sides, and a door that latches to a single bottom pan. Such a large litter box requires a lot of litter to reach even a few inches high, so it can get heavy.
“Once I got the lid latched on, I attempted to pick the whole thing up by the handle, and I was able to move it around without it falling apart,” Karla said. “I was surprised by how sturdy the latches were.”
Ease of Cleaning
What stood out most about this enclosed litter box is what differentiates it from Van Ness’ other enclosed litter box models: It has a flip-top door opening that you can lift open and keep open while you scoop.
Bottom Line
Whether to get an enclosed model or not is a matter of personal preference. Otherwise, it was no harder to clean than expected, but I did notice that the ease of cleaning across all models generally varied depending on the pan’s surface texture.
Are you interested in hearing more about automatic or self-cleaning litter boxes? Let us know!
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