Review: Whisker Litter-Robot 4

I used to be staunchly against automatic litter boxes. Frankly, I thought moving parts could easily trap tiny kitty paws. And without daily scooping, you lose vital information—if a cat isn’t urinating, that’s a telltale sign that something bad is happening internally. A difference of a few days could be tragic. I have to keep a close eye on one of my own cats, Huxley, for this reason. 

Now that I’ve tested two automatic litter boxes made with the safety, comfort, and health of cats in mind, I’ve come around to the idea of letting a machine do most of the dirty scooping—at least, as long as the pet parents are keenly observant and their kitty likes it. 

I have two cats. Even though Huxley is the one whose health is a concern, he is not impressed by robots and chooses the $5 storage tub with an opening cut out for easy access. Eely-Rue, on the other hand, walks right into whatever robot box I bring home that week without concern.

Whisker’s Litter-Robot 4 is the company’s fourth iteration of its famous box (we also liked the 3 Connect). This one comes with a much larger entry and sleeker design. Considering that it’s essentially a vessel for clumps of poop and pee, I don’t hate looking at it in my living room. There are even two little dim lights you can turn on to illuminate the opening. It was an unbearably cute feature, like a bathroom sign. (For more cute cat toilets, I suggest peeking at some of the older Litter-Robots, which looked like something out of a Star Wars cat cosplay.) 

Probably the closest competitor to the Litter-Robot is Leo’s Loo Too litter box (8/10, WIRED Recommends). I also loved how it looked, and it’s becoming clearer that cat companies are starting to take home design into account. Leo’s Loo Too is equipped with safety features and connects to an app that displays the cat’s bathroom schedules and weight, and the Litter-Robot 4 has similar features. 

Weight sensors detect cats, as long as they weigh at least three pounds. Laser monitors stop a cleaning cycle if a cat jumps back into the drum or even stands on the step; I put my arm into it without touching anything, and it stopped then too. With any electronics, there’s a chance of malfunction, and after a month it started cleaning multiple times per day when no cat was using it. The company told me it’s aware of these “ghost cycles” and that they will be fixed via a firmware update. 

It’s not as sensitive as Leo’s Loo Too, which stops if it detects any movement even close to it, but it’s enough to put my mind mostly at ease. When it does start a cleaning cycle, it is nearly silent. Most of the time, I don’t even notice it until my phone pings.

The Litter-Robot 4’s waste drawer is huge. When I let it get completely full, I could have knocked someone out with the weight of the bag—that is, if the smell didn’t get them first. The drawer is designed to be tightly sealed and has carbon filters so you don’t smell anything until you open it. And believe me, it’s impressive how well it contains that stench. When you open it, the hair on the back of your neck stands up. The inside of the globe doesn’t smell wonderful, but it also doesn’t smell like the drawer. It’s about what a normal litter box that’s just been scooped smells like.

Whisker’s app is excellent (it’s available on iOS and Android). I love that it shows an illustration of how full the drawer is with an accompanying percentage, and there’s a litter-level scale so you can see at a glance if you need to add any. The lasers are working here too, constantly monitoring levels to provide real-time info.

Recent activity outlines what time a cat was detected and how much they weighed, so you should be able to tell if something is off when your cat hasn’t gone in a while. The website says it will alert you of irregular bathroom activity, but thankfully, I didn’t run into that.

The weekly breakdown in the monthly history tab shows highest and lowest weight for that week. For multi-cat households, their weights are hopefully different enough that you’ll know which is which. According to Whisker, the app should be able to recognize individual cats before the end of the year.

Most notifications, like for a completed cleaning cycle, were accurate. But I didn’t get a notification when the drawer was full, even though I had that option turned on. Briefly, the litter scale went from completely full to empty, and then corrected itself. If you run into the same issue, you’ll clearly see that it’s full when you open the app, but the LED panel on the top of the drum also flashes blue when the drawer is full. 

That panel includes physical buttons, so you can start a cycle from there if your phone is MIA. There’s even an empty button that empties all the litter in the globe into the drawer for really easy cleaning. That’s an incredibly helpful feature.

I suggest keeping the shipping box until you know your cat will use this very expensive thing. Thankfully, the company offers a 90-day return window for the Litter-Robot. You will, unfortunately, have to pay a return shipping fee. I thought automatic boxes would be risky, but they’ve just made me even more obsessed with my cats’ bathroom habits. It is what it is. Being a cat lady is a full-time job.