Ezi’s Journey with the Litter Robot 4

With gentle and timid sniffs of the air, Ezi crept closer to the large robot where her old litterbox once sat. It was a strange sight, but it smelled like the familiar scent of her walnut litter. She bravely placed a front paw on the step and peered inside at the clean collection of litter cradled at the bottom of the drum. Like in before times, she had the urge to urinate in the freshness. With all the courage she could muster, she did so—a success. No urine was sprayed out of the drum as often happens when a litterbox is too small for her. She was able to turn and bury the liquid as it clumped in the litter. She leaped out, spraying walnut particles through the air, but most were caught in the litter mat beneath her.

Ezi curiously sniffing the robot, which has sensed her presence, as indicated by the red light.

Now, while I was trying to figure out how to put the filters, hopper, and other bells and whistles on the robot, I made the mistake of plugging it in for set-up. I should have waited. The first thing the robot does is go through a clean cycle. Ezi watched in horror as the drum rotated quietly, the litter disappearing into some sort of reserve while the clumps were caught by a mesh shield. It continued to rotate and the clumps fell into a hole that emerged at the base, falling into the waste drawer below. It then rotated back, allowing the litter to fall back into the drum. I feared Ezi would never urinate or defecate in the robot again.

Ezi taking her very first pee in the Litter Robot 4, before I plugged it in.

She cautiously continued to check out the robot, but I did not witness her use it until she could not take holding in her bowels any longer. I was sitting on the toilet next to her when she mustered all the bravery in the world to leap back in and take a dump in solidarity with me. Relief washed over me. The default setting is that the robot takes 7 minutes to cycle after it senses a cat has used it. This is 1) to allow the litter time to clump, and 2) to hopefully have cats lose interest in their fresh excretion. This time can be adjusted down to 3 minutes or up to 30 minutes. If there is a cat poop connoisseur in the household, a person may consider reducing the countdown timer. If the litter takes a while to clump, consider increasing the timer.

Ezi taking her very first dump in the Litter Robot 4.

Ezi was deemed a curious kitty. Each time she uses the robot, she zooms out of the bathroom, just to come back the moment she hears the soft whirring of the robot beginning its cycle. She places her paws on the step and watches in awe at the cycling robot. However, the moment her paws touch the steps, the cycle stops as a safety feature of the robot. I decided to place her atop the toilet seat with the lid down so she could watch without the cycle getting interrupted. This was a mesmerizing moment for the both of us watching her fecal matter tumble into the waste drawer. I hope she learns to use this method of watching instead.

When the cat is detected, the cycle stops.

While the robot, with all its bells and whistles, is quite the expensive purchase (I had just done a long pet sitting gig in which the payment covered most of the cost), it has greatly improved both Ezi’s and my quality of life. In the before times, I’d get home from work to the putrid smell of her litterbox. Occasionally, she would wake me up from my slumber to the foul smell of her excrement. I would often apologize to my guests when Ezi got her post-poop zoomies, knowing the stench would soon follow. On the flip side, if I ever forgot to scoop for more than a day, Ezi would take great offense, often scooping the litter herself and leaving it on the litter mat in front of the box. I witnessed her do this a couple times in horror and shamed myself for being such a bad cat mom. Now, we are both so much happier, cleaner, and enriched by the presence of the Litter Robot 4.

Ezi opting for a loving snuggle with my arm.