What Type Of Cat Litter Box Should You Buy?

Scooping litter is not most people's idea of fun. Several cat litter boxes on the market promise to make the task easier. But, do they really work?

One litter box that I tried was covered with a built-in sifter. The idea was to flip the litter box over on the side so the litter went through the sifter, and then shake a few times. Unfortunately, I sometimes got litter on the floor outside of the box when turning it over. And, the latches that connected the top to the bottom of the litter box were hard to latch and to keep latched. Worse, poop got stuck in the sifter, and I ended up having to clean it out of the sifter regularly. Also, the largest box of this type wasn't really big enough to comfortably accommodate my large, male cat.

Next, I tried an open box that had two trays plus a sifter. You were supposed to sift the contents of one box into the other box so you didn't have to scoop. Dumping the litter onto the sifter resulted in a lot of dust. And, like the previous litter box, poop got caught in the sifter, and if I wasn't extremely careful, litter would end up on the floor. And, I now had two dirty litter boxes to clean out. I decided to try another option.

This new cat litter box looked like a storage container with a hole cut in the top. Although the box had to be scooped, the top entrance kept more of the litter in the box when the cats kicked litter. This litter box worked well when my cats were kittens, but eventually, they started using the carpet occasionally instead of the litter box. When I put out a generic, open litter box, the cats began exclusively using the new box.

I considered using the automatic cat litter boxes, given the amount that I had already spent on various litter boxes, I didn't want to invest more money in something that might not work. Friends had told me that these types of litter boxes don't always turn on when needed and that the sifter often gets stuck. I also heard that some cats get scared when the sifter turns on and refuse to use the box in the future.

Unfortunately, I am back to using the open litter boxes. I really wish that the other options had worked better, but the generic litter boxes are preferred by my cats and cost considerably less. And, the hassle factor isn't any worse overall than what I experienced with the other types of litter boxes.

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