The great thing about self-cleaning cat litter box options is that you do not have to scoop the litter after your cat has relieved itself. These types of litter boxes will also include other benefits, such as odor control which make them popular alternatives to traditional litter boxes.
Two of these self-cleaning litter boxes are the Litter Robot and the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box. While both of these litter boxes allow for you to no longer have to deal with the chore of scooping your kitty’s litter, they each have their own method of self-cleaning as well as other benefits.
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Design
Compared to traditional litter boxes, both the Litter Robot and the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box are much bigger. While the Litter Robot has a more futuristic bubble shape, the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box is designed to look more like a traditional litter box.
Even though it does not look like a traditional litter box, the Litter Robot gives your cat a spacious area and allows for any litter that is on your cat to fall off before they leave the area, so the litter is not tracked out onto your floor.
If you are looking for a self-cleaning litter box that would fit in an area where you already have a traditional litter box, it would be best to go with the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box as it is designed to look like a litter box and is not as bulky as the Litter Robot.
Size
The ScoopFree will take up 19 x 27.5 x 6.5 inches of space while Litter-Robot is a little bigger at 30 x 25 x 27 inches. Their shapes are kind of different too, with the ScoopFree resembling a rectangle while the Litter-Robot being more of a taller device. It takes up more vertical space in that sense so you can’t just hide it in a small, shallow corner if that was your intention.
Odor Control And Other Features
One of the main features that make self-cleaning litter boxes a great purchase is that they tend to include a feature that helps to control odors. No one likes smelling what’s left when your cat uses the restroom.
When comparing how the Litter Robot handles odor control to how the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box controls odor, the Litter Robot proves to excel more.
If you have multiple cats, a build-up of litter can lead to stronger odors, and this could be an issue for the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box. This is because the waste compartment could overfill, which would leave the lid to be unable to close. This allows for the odor to escape into your home.
Odor control is only one of the features offered by these self-cleaning litter boxes. The Litter Robot also includes an automatic night light which makes it easier for your cats to see when they have to relieve themselves at night, and a cleaning indicator that lets you know when the waste tray is filled.
The Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box includes a customizable cleaning cycle as well as a sensor that detects when your cat has used the litter box and includes a delay that allows for the litter to better absorb what has been left before cleaning.
Maintaining the Litter Boxes
While you do not need to clean out the litter boxes every time your cat or cats use them, there is still some maintenance that needs to be done to both the Litter Robot and the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box to ensure they continue to work properly.
Luckily, neither of these litter boxes needs a great deal of maintenance. In most cases, the extent of maintenance that will need to be done is restocking the litter tray and emptying the waste compartment.
The Litter Robot needs less maintenance than the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box. For the Litter Robot, you will only need to remove the plastic bag or liner in the waste drawer to discard the dirty litter. Once you have done this, you just need to replace the plastic bag or liner and restock the litter.
The Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box requires you to empty the waste compartment more if you have more than one cat, as the buildup of waste can cause the lid to the waste department to be unable to close. It is also important to note that you may need to scoop out the tiny pieces that are not scooped by the litter box’s scooping feature.
Their Performance
Other than their design, one of the biggest differences you can see between the Litter Robot and the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box is how they perform their duties as a self-cleaning litter box.
On the surface, both self-cleaning litter boxes present themselves as sifting litter boxes, but this is not completely the case for the Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box. The Petsafe Scoopfree Litter Box does not sift through the litter in the way you may think.
Instead, it has a rake that moves across the litter box once your cat has left and collects the clumps of litter and solid waste.
The Litter Robot, on the other hand, sifts the litter once your cat has left the box. During this sifting, the litter is rotated, which allows for the clean litter to fall through the grate while keeping the clumps and waste inside and depositing them into the waste compartment.
Before initiating the cleaning process, each of the litter boxes includes a weight sensor that tells them when your cat is using the box and when the cat has left. This allows for the box to clean as soon as your cat has finished their business, so there is not a lot of build-up all at once that would need to be cleaned. You can also choose to set a timer for how long after your cat has left the box for the cleaning process to begin.
Pricing And Benefits
When looking at the price of these self-cleaning litter boxes, it is best to determine whether the benefits and features of each litter box are reasonable for the price they are listed for.
The price for the Litter Robot is $499, with an additional $499 needed to use the Connect feature and app that helps to adjust the settings and provides you with more information concerning the litter box. This price is very expensive, but there are many beneficial features of the Litter Robot that may help to make the price seem more reasonable.
Some of the features and benefits that can help justify the pricing of the Litter Robot are:
- It includes a backup battery, so you do not have to worry about constantly changing the battery of the litter box to keep it working.
- There is an option to use a sleep timer. During this time, the box will not clean while you sleep, which can help to lengthen the battery time.
- There is a night light that can be used to help your cats see better when they have to go relieve themselves during the night. It can also make it easier to avoid running into the box during the night.
There are two Petsafe ScoopFree Litter Boxes that you can choose from, and both are much cheaper than the Litter Robot. There is the Scoopfree Smart Self-Cleaning Litter Box which costs $199.95, and there is the MScoopFree Self-Cleaning Litter Box – Second Generation, which costs $139.95.
It may seem like it is obvious which litter box is better based on the pricing. But you must remember that while the Petsafe ScoopFree Litter Box is cheaper, you will need to replace the disposable litter boxes that go inside, and this can be costly.
You must also keep in mind that the Petsafe ScoopFree Litter Box does not have as many features as the Litter Robot.
With all of this, it is best to assume that based on price and the features that are provided by the self-cleaning litter boxes, the better choice is the Litter Robot.
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Final Verdict
Pick Scoopfree If:
- You have a small, shallow corner that won’t work with something taller like Litter-Robot
- You don’t want to fork out too much
- You like easy maintenance
- You don’t mind some odor leakage
- You care more about less litter tracking
Pick Litter-Robot 3 Connect If:
- You see the value of investing in this significant machine in exchange for a better lifestyle!
- You want a litter machine that’s stylish and unique
- Your cat loves a covered litter box
- You love having a mobile app and all its high tech features
- Odor control is super important to you
Both these brands are great options. It really just depends on how much you want to spend and what you prioritize.
Check out the current price of Scoopfree Here and Litter-Robot Here