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I grew up with dogs but I’m a cat person at heart and since I left home 17 years ago, I’ve almost always lived with cats.

They’re the purr-fect companions. More like flatmates than fur-children, snuggly, weird and so very distinctive in their personalities — it’s hard to imagine my life ever being cat-free.

There’s just one downfall. Litter. It’s disgusting, there’s no two ways about it. Scooping up poop and clumps of pee... foul. Not to mention the smells that come from it. How can my precious furry pals create such horror?

Then I discovered the Litter-Robot 4.

The brand, Whisker, says that the automatic litter box means you’ll “never scoop again” so of course, I was immediately in. 

However, it’s so much more (and that’s BEFORE we even start to talk about its current extended Black Friday discounts).

I was quite nervous about my cats using it because cats are famously against change and this massive Litter-Robot 4 isquite the change from the plastic boxes that they’re used to.

I shouldn’t have worried. My oldest cat Jess is 14 and was the first to dive right in there, and she did her business pretty much immediately. As she did so, the Litter-Robot 4 informed us that she’d done her deed, that she had put on a tiny bit of weight since her last visit and, 15 minutes after she vacated the box, a clean cycle had started.

You know what I didn’t have to experience in that 15 minute period? The smell of whatever Jess had done in there. That was between Jess and the Litter-Robot, which I very maturely named ‘The Poopatron’.

This is because it comes with odour control. The self-cleaning box neutralises cat litter tray odours with Litter-Robot 4′s improved waste drawer sealing, carbon filters, and optional OdorTrap® System. 

There’s even an option to add OdorTrap® Packs to the integrated holder for enhanced odour control which is, uh, necessary in a home of four cats (and cheaper now than ever thanks to the Black Friday deals).

Most importantly, though, it’s safe for cats. If a clean cycle is due to start and a cat steps in, the Litter-Robot 4 knows to pause immediately, and informs you on the app that it’s done so which, as an anxious cat owner, is incredibly reassuring. 

It’s not loud, either. I never notice the cycles throughout the night, and my cats aren’t panicked by the sounds it makes. In fact, the technology used to keep it so subtle is aptly-named QuietSift®.

The smart technology ensures that only the soiled parts of the litter are removed during a cycle and I have already noticed that I’m buying a lot less litter which in this economy, can only be a good thing.

Additionally, the app tells me just how full the tray is before I need to empty it, too, making life much easier for me.

There are officially no downsides to having cats anymore.