Automated Litter Box vs. Giant Cats: Litter Robot 3 Connect Review

The Litter Robot broke onto the market nearly 20 years ago. It has gone through multiple versions over the years until it arrived at the Litter Robot 3 Connect version that is reviewed here. My big question was whether the Litter Robot could work for big cats? This review pits the Litter Robot 3 Connect vs. 2 Maine Coons and a street rescue cat.

Why would I want an automated litter box?

This is actually my 2nd review of an automated litter box. If you are interested in my Litter Maid review you should check it out here. Much like the great Litter Maid purchase of 2019, the Litter Robot 3 purchase of 2020 was driven by a cat care need.

My wife got sick in 2020 (not from COVID, thank goodness) and the result was that I needed to take a much larger pet care role while she was recovering. Over about 3 months of being the primary care giver of our dog and 3 cats. I was willing to do almost anything to reduce the number of litter boxes I had to clean.

In order to give or remind you of the scale of the litter problem, we have two large Maine Coon cats and one street rescue cat (names and pics below). Even though my prior experience with another automated litter box demonstrated my giant cats could generate waste much faster than that litter box could cope, I was willing to give it another try.

Which automated litter box to buy?

There are quite a few automated litter boxes on the market and I took my time to research options. In the end I came up with following 3 options as my top candidates. The Pros/Cons of my top 3 are below.

• CatGenie:
  • Pros:
    • I liked the option of cleaning reusable litter rather than using disposable litter.
  • Cons:
    • I read a review or two that suggested the CatGenie was not suitable for large or multiple cats. 
    • The need to be close to a running water source kept me looking for options.

• LitterMaid Automatic Multi-Cat Litter Box Automatic:
  • Pros:
    • LitterMaid has been around for many years with lots of great reviews
    • The price of the LitterMaid made it an easy decision to at least get it a try
  • Cons:
    • My personal experience was that the Multi-Cat was still not sufficient for my multiple large cats and needed repeated and excessive cleaning due to the amount of waste the cats generated
  • I reviewed the LitterMaid here.

• Litter Robot 3:
  • Pros:
    • I had hope that if the cats would use it, this system could deal with the large amount of waste these behemoths generated.
    • I read that the amount of litter used would be much less
  • Cons:
    • This is an expensive investment for a litter box
  • Unknown: It was unclear whether my cats would be willing to do their business in a semi-enclosed, ovoid.

I took the chance and bough the Litter Robot 3 Connect. Below is my summary of experience at the 6 mos timepoint.

Was the Litter Robot 3 easy to assemble?

Yes.  The Litter Robot arrived fully assembled in a box. The only assembly was removing it from packaging. It took about 10 minutes and that is because I stopped to take pictures.

When I opened the box it was a bagged litter robot surrounded by cardboard packaging.

Removal of the bagged litter robot was also easy as the system is bulky, but quite light.

There were approximately 3 pieces of tape, 2 pieces or cardboard and 1 piece of foam to remove from the litter robot after the bag was removed.

The picture above shows the size of the Litter Robot compared to a standard litter box. As you can see, most of the Litter robot size is in vertical space.

The first thing I learned with the litter robot was how not to add litter. I use arm & hammer clump & seal platinum cat litter and if you try to pour litter in without placing the entire top of the box into the body of the litter robot, you will most likely have litter hit the front lip of the opening and have a mess to clean up. I was able to have success by inverting the box and pouring the litter in.

You could also also just open the top of the litter box and add it a cup or so at a time.

Do you need to use special litter for the Litter Robot?

Litter Robot advises to just use a clumping litter and they sell a clumping clay litter on their site. I use arm & hammer clump & seal platinum cat litter and decided to stay with it because the cats are used to it. With that said, I did have one of the cats (Cleo) hesitate to use the litter robot and after consulting google, I found Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract Litter. I added some of this magical stuff in a roughy 50% mix and it completely reversed Cleo’s hesitancy. I now just use the old litter but will revert to Dr. Elsey’s if there seems to be hesitation to use it in the future.

Is there anything else the Litter Robot requires?

LitterRobot sells many things to go along with the Litter Robot from litter to furniture to plastic liners (bags) for the waste tray. The thing I think is most important is the plastic bags used to line the waste tray. with that said, you should definitely check out the bundles they offer as the cost of the other items is much reduced when you buy them bundled with the actual Robot purchase. My only concern about the bags is I wish they were biodegradable.

Did the cats use the Litter Robot?

With the exception of Cleo, the cats seemed to love the Litter Robot. My most adventurous rescue cat jumped in to use it within 5 minutes of assembly.  Josie used it within the day. Prints may actually like it too much as he watches the robot and trys to stop it or start it. I’ve watched him do it many times and both he and the robot are unscathed, but sometimes he gets so excited that he will trigger another cycle to start by hitting a button.

Did the Litter Robot work?

Yes. The litter robot works great and Ive had literally no issues with the function other than Prints triggering a cycle by hitting at the buttons while in a fit of excitement. 

Is the App worth it?

I actually love the App and am happy to use it. The most important part of the app is the Waste Level Gauge which tells me when to empty the waste.

How difficult is it to empty the waste?

Emptying waste is the selling point of the litter robot and why Im thinking about getting another one. After the the app tells me to empty the waste, I go and remove the full waste tray.

After you throw away the full bag, simply take another liner, roll the edges dow 3-4 times and add it to the waste tray.

Who should buy a Litter Robot?

If you hate scooping cat litter, love your giant cats, like technology, and have the resources, you should but a Litter Robot. There are a few things to be aware of though:

1. 1 Litter robot may be able to replace 2 litter boxes, but definitely not 3. I’m looking to buy a 2nd to see if I can eliminate the remaining 2 manual boxes, but I’m not sure if I will ever be completely free of scooping litter.
2. Technology is great… until it’s not. I managed to disconnect my app from the litter robot and didn’t get notifications of the full waste until a week later. The system was a mess and I had to completely empty it out to get the cats to start using it again.

Are there any other automated litter box option that could work for multiple giant cats?

I’m honestly unsure if there are other automated litter options for big cats, but I’m willing to try them out if any come on to the market. Let me know if you have any suggestions.