Smartsift Automatic Sifting Cat Litter Box

Okay, here we go - honest report for all you cat lovers. We got this unit a weeks back. We researched ALL the different ones out there, agonized over which one to decide to purchase and finally settled on this one. Other automatic units were higher priced, all having quite a maintenance expense whether the litter itself or other supplies, mechanical/electric components that could/would fail, mechanisms that would need maintenance fairly often. Not good! We decided to purchase this one because the price was right, not many moving parts to fail over the long run, could use the normal clumping litter, and bags if used seemed reasonably priced. So now we have used this for some weeks now and the evaluation is this: It is a rather large unit so be prepared for that. I sprayed the unit completely including sifting grill within the unit with "never wet" or whatever they call it from Rust-oleum which works like a charm. You can use bags on the upper section and lower drawer and once we have used it for awhile decided that we only needed the drawer bag. Doing that made it is so easy to clean up and we were willing to pay for them because of that and they are not that expensive if you buy them in bulk. You will not want to overfill with kitty litter but if you do, no harm since first time cleaning, the extra litter just gets dumped into the drawer and you learn your lesson. Always move the cleaning handle very slowly and you will have no issues. The only issue we ran into in dumping the waste into the bottom drawer was if the waste is a narrow strip, it sometimes sticks between the grill sifter vanes - don't do anything, just let it sit there and it gets put back into the kitty litter after cleaning cycle. Most the time after a few cleanings, it gets dumped eventually anyhow. If you try to dislodge it (and if you don't mess with it, it always returns to the recycled litter after cleaning cycle), sometimes you inadvertently push it into the holding bin for the litter during the cleaning cycle and that is a pain in the a** to clean. Just leave it to recycle and it eventually will get dumped into the waste drawer. We have two cats, one about 10LB and the other 18lbs. It is small for the big cat but the 10lb cat has plenty of space. We have not trained the cats to use the swinging door so we left it off. Your cat may be different. However, so easy to clean that most of the time we just walk by it and use the cleaning cycle since it is so easy and therefore smell is not any issue. The cats love the clean litter all the time, too. Both my cats are diggers so I have no issues with urine on the sides though I believe the "never wet" would take care of that pretty easily but can't attest to leaking down in the unit of the urine since that doesn't happen. The one issue I have found is after a while using the cleaning cycle multiple times and if the cats go in the same place all the time, the waste occasionally gets dumped in the drawer on top of each other and while there is space still left in the drawer, a hill forms that must be spread around to empty spaces in the drawer. I have a wooden stick basically next to the unit to push the waste to an empty spot in the drawer so I can finish the cleaning cycle. To me: Big Deal!! small price to pay for a unit that does what it is suppose to do, fairly inexpensive and supplies fairly inexpensive, very easy to clean using the drawer bag, cuts down on the smells, the cats love it, no electronic parts or motors to fail in the future, no special litter or hook up - What more could you ask for except having someone else to do it for you. Hope this helps you to make the decision. Durability is yet to be determined since we have had it only a few weeks but the only thing I could see going bad is the cleaning handle breaking and using it slowly (which you should do anyhow to clean properly) is going to take care of that possible issue as far as I am concerned

This seemed like a great idea. I wanted to be able to quickly handle the litterbox and minimize my actual touching of used litter (because, be honest, that's gross). Unfortunately, this litterbox was problematic from the start. First, is the size. I mean, it's huge. Huge. I don't know where a cat owner is expected to keep such a monstrosity but it won't fit under the bathroom sink, or most anywhere else for that matter. Ok, so I have to have it in a closet that I now have to leave open all the time. If that was the only problem, I could have lived with it; but it wasn't. I'm so sick of these products that you buy and then in order to keep using you have to buy more products (I'm talking about the liners). On top of that, these liners are crap. The litter gets caught in the folds when you rotate to sift, so how the hell is that supposed to work?? I had to be reaching in and shaking lose the litter; remember how I said I wanted to minimize my actual touching of the litter? Yeah, didn't happen; instead I am touching it more directly than just with a scooper. So, I thought that maybe the think could work without the liner for the actual litterbox part. And it does; partially. The litter will be sifted and the poop will fall into the bottom. But the urine sticks to the litterbox, so you have to scoop it loose to get it to fall in the bottom. What's the point of a litter sifting cat pan that still needs scooped? Again, possibly something I could work around, but now I'm getting frustrated. This is three strikes, but I'm gonna try anyway because the d*mn thing cost a good bit. So what was the last straw? When my cat, in distress, had to pee on the floor because the handle-hook that's supposed to keep the litterbox locked in place had gotten loose during use so the litterbox swing up a bit during the last cat use, blocking the door, preventing the kitty from being able to get inside. Oh, and icing on the cake, the thing does nothing for odors. Nothing. Not a thing. There's so much space between the sides of the clear flap and the wall that plenty of odor can get out. And if you're thinking 'I can sift the used litter into the bottom drawer and only change it every other day' or anything along those lines; you'll need a ton of febreeze or scented candles because that drawer has absolutely no odor stopping power at all. So I've detailed my experience. I have two kitties and they're really great about switching to new types of litter boxes, never having mistakes on the floor. So when my kitty had to pee on the floor (happened while I was witness) and was in such distress about doing it, I was done with this thing when I realized it was because the litterbox essentially locked them out.

Ok I've only have my cat since November and I have QUICKLY become tired of SCOOPING!!!! It's my least favorite thing to do. So I went online and started doing some research for automatic litter box cleaners. I have looked at the all. I read most of the reviews. The automatic litter boxes with the rakes seem to be horrible. The only one that has good reviews is the Litter Robot but for $340 I will make that purchase later besides they aren't for small kittens and my babies are 3 months and 2 months old. The set-up was pretty easy and it's very sturdy I really have no complaints EXCEPT one but it's easily fixable. The poop gets stuck to the plastic on the bottom. But guys its fixable. I just took a plastic white liner and with scissors cut out the size of the pan. I would cut then measure. I taped the liner then stuck it to the bottom of the pan. Problem SOLVED. I had read some of the reviewers of mention this problem but its easily fixable guys. The only two other problems I found is that when the poop is left there it starts to smell but that is fixable too I just put Arm & Hammer Litter Deodorizer. Also the filter is just a piece of crap and does NOTHING to control odors I would not even buy the filters. But guys this is fixable as well I bought a pet odor absorber gel in Home Depot. 3 little problems that have very EASY solutions, other than that it's great. NO MORE SCOOPING!!! It works great I have no complaints other than those that I have mentioned. The entrance is a little high for my babies but I just put a step in front. Those little problems are why I'm not giving it five starts it's not perfect but it works. So if you're on the fence about this product BUY IT!! Your life will get a lot easier.

I read a lot of reviews about this cat pan before purchasing it, and I compared it to some others. I ultimately decided to purchase this litter pan despite some of the reviewers crying out "don't buy this!" I have had this pan for four months now, so I think I can tell everyone what is good and what is bad about this litter pan. Since I've had it for months rather than years, I can't speak to its longevity. - For those complaints about the handle: I haven't had an issue. I turn the handle gently (be careful not to overfill the pan with litter), and I haven't had issues with it not locking in place. - Size: the cat I originally bought the box for is smallish, so the pan and area are plenty big for her. She's now been joined by a kitten who is determined to use this litter pan. I haven't noticed any issues other than needing to sift it more often. As the kitten grows things may change. - Liners: I no longer use the liner in the actual pan. My cat split it open within a couple of days of me setting it up. The litter and waste also got caught in the folds of the liner when I went to sift the litter. The pan liner just isn't useful and is awkwardly wide and not deep, without handles for disposal. I do use the liner for the drawer down below. However, I dump the clumps from it into another bag so that I can reuse that liner as long as possible. I clean out the pan about every 10 days to 2 weeks--everything slides pretty nicely into the waste drawer below (info about litter below). - I don't use the cat door on the box because my cat won't go in and out a door; it would probably smell better if I did. It would be helpful if the lid on the top opened all the way back. I have been buying the super big boxes of Arm & Hammer litter, and I can't get the box positioned for the litter to fall in the pan properly. I have to take the whole top off. Adding litter is necessary because as the clumps are dumped in the drawer below, the litter in the pan is disappearing. So, the big thing I don't like is the top and its lack of a decent opening for adding litter. - Speaking of litter, before i got this box, I had been using regular clay litter. Upon a reviewer's recommendation, I purchased the Arm & Hammer clump & slide litter at the same time I bought the litter box. I haven't had many issues with the clumps sticking or not sliding in the pan below, so I do recommend using that litter with the box. I haven't tried any other kind, so if someone has a better recommendation, I defer to them. I'm not sure the little sand-type litter that my cats track all over my laundry room is better than the old clay that ended up everywhere, however. Litter will be tracked, it seems. In sum, I don't believe that the worst reviews should drive off anyone interested in this litter pan. I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy sifting litter pan, and this seemed a good compromise. So far, it has been, so if that's what you're looking for, I can recommend. The older cat that I originally purchased this pan for is finicky about her litter pan being clean, and this has enabled me to sift and dump the waste without a lot of effort. I sift in the mornings before work and again at feeding time in the evening. I can dump the bottom drawer when it's convenient for me. (BTW, I do keep a pooper scooper handy to help rake some of the lumps into the drawer below--they can hang up on the ridges sometimes.) On the other hand, since getting the litter box and the new clumping litter, I have wondered if just getting a bigger, covered litter pan and using the clumping litter might have been just as good. Whenever this pan wears out I will probably try that before I get another sifting pan like this one.

After having owned countless numbers of litter boxes over the years, this is without question the absolute best one I've ever owned. Yes, that is high praise. Particularly if you consider that I was very hesitant initially to purchase this sifting cat box due to the wealth of mediocre reviews submitted here on Amazon. In my previous experiences, I generally could count on the reviews from loyal Amazonians (whether favourable or unfavourable) to be very consistent with my own experience. So in spite of such reservations, and somewhat against my better judgement, I decided to order it anyway. For about $60, I figured that if it didn't meet my needs, at least the investment wouldn't be too extreme. I had also planned to try the Litter Spinner as well. If the SmartSift proved unsatisfactory, then I'd turn to the Litter Spinner in my quest for kitty litter purr-vana. In the past, all of the new and innovative boxes I've used ended up being replaced by the obligatory cat pan that required constant and tedious cleaning. I was looking for a better, more clever solution. One previous purchase included the Omega Paw box that you roll (tip the box over) to sift the waste from the clean litter. It lasted about 1 week before I just started using it as a regular litter box. Why? The clips holding the sides failed, and the design seemed poor in overall quality - such that when I rolled the box, litter would spill everywhere. And the actual act of physically rolling the entire box was just awkward and cumbersome. I had also purchased an earlier iteration of the Litter Robot. At first, it seemed like the Holy Grail of litter boxes. But it wasn't long before I encountered electronic gremlins. While walking by it I would suddenly notice an array of flashing lights that reflected annoying and all-to-common technical glitches......which invariably led to lots of frustration and troubleshooting. A common one involved the drum stopping half way through it's cycle. Or issues related to the sensitivity of the step entering the drum. And these weren't the only problems. The waste bin was small and needed to be emptied frequently. I remember at the time wishing for a manual version of the Litter Robot that allowed me to rotate the drum by hand (cue foreshadowing music) to completely bypass any temperamental electronics. In effect, I was left wishing for NO circuit board, manual control, and a $300 reduction in price. Of note, apparently, the newer versions are more reliable. But I don't want to risk gambling more than $400 again to find out. When the financial loss was factored in, it ended up being the worst litter box I'd ever purchased. Ultimately, I ended up reverting back to the tried-and-true litter pan. Next, I tried the CatGenie. I was once again hopeful that this would be the one. It was clever and innovative. But my cats simply would not go near the thing, even after painstakingly and carefully exhausting all of the suggestions the manual offers to coax cats into adopting it. On top of that, I found that when transferring hard waste from the regular cat box into the pan of the CatGenie and running a cycle, the filtering shovel would automatically shake to remove excess plastic litter before dumping (like it's designed to do), but then shake the waste off the shovel as well, and back into the pan where it would eventually be heated during the drying cycle and baked into a smelly Easy-Bake-Oven-like brownie. These issues and the fact that the consumables were too costly, had me unfortunately, once again, reverting back to a simple cat pan. So after reading through all the reviews on this site, I wanted to make sure that I was well equipped, and well prepared to try this litter. If it didn't work, I wanted to make sure that it was due to the box itself and not anything related to the quality of the litter. So based on suggestions, I made sure to buy some Exquicat Crystal litter, as well as some Arm and Hammer Clump and Seal, and threw in some Precious Cat for good measure, as these products seemed to clump well according to claims on Amazon. My regular litter is Odour Buster clumping clay cat litter and is fantastic. Still, I wanted to have some options available should troubleshooting be necessary. My experience? I have the litter in my basement near the washer and dryer. First of all, I never use the plastic bag in the little pan itself - even though it's recommended in the instructions. As many have suggested in these reviews - the box seems to work much better without it. I only use a plastic liner in the waste container. I also removed the cat door as well as the filter at the top of the box to allow more light to enter inside, thus more closely mimicking the openness of the cat box my cats are more accustomed to. The door and the filter just seemed completely unnecessary to me. Removing them also allowed me to monitor the litter level better which made it easier to replenish the pan with fresh litter when needed. I love the fact that I can simply free up the handle and SLOWLY rotate it back and forth to sift. Nice and simple. Just move the handle, not the entire box. Brilliant. Just make sure to do it slowly, and to NOT overfill the litter pan. Otherwise - you will waste fresh litter when you sift. The quality also seems very good. When assembling the product, make sure to insert the arm into it's slot with some deliberate effort to help prevent the arm from loosening later during use. I find this box to be easy to disassemble and clean. Everything just seems well thought out. It's hard to believe I'm saying this, but I actually enjoy sifting the litter now. The box also stays cleaner longer and my cats seem to like it - they acclimated to it very quickly. I have used the Odour Buster litter exclusively (there has been no need to try the other litters) and it works well. Occasionally there are clumps that hold a bit more tenaciously to the bottom or side of the pan (as described in other reviews) but I use my litter scooper to quickly dislodge them when this happens. It's quick and painless. And to be honest - such sticking has always been a common occurrence with any litter pan I've owned - so the SmartSift is no different here. I also love that the waste bin is large. I was thinking that another SmartSift might be necessary with 3 cats, but I'm finding that I can easily get by with only one. I empty the bin each week and toss out the waste with my regular garbage. I'm also pleased that the smell is virtually non-existent. Granted, this might have something to do with the litter choice, but the reasonably well-sealed bin certainly seems to help in this regard.. A big surprise for me is how much money I anticipate saving over the long-term. So far, it's looks like I'll be cutting my litter costs by 2/3rds. I was wasting so much litter previously. This is definitely, an extra, unanticipated perk. Overall, as you can tell, I'm very pleased. So pleased that I've purchased another one as a gift for a friend who has 2 cats. What would make the SmartSift even better? It would be great if it was offered in a slightly larger version that allowed one to add more than the normal 3" or so of litter to the pan. With that said - I've noticed that many reviewers here have commented about how inconveniently large this box is. Ironically, many reviewers have also complained that the interior litter pan is too small. Changing the size of the pan would likely increase the overall size of the box too. In addition, some cat pans are now available with slick, non-stick surfaces and this would make the waste fall even better into the lower bin. I see this as the single most important simple improvement that could be made to enhance it's functionality. Aside from that, there is really little to criticize here based on my experience. If any issues appear, I'll make sure to update this review. *Update* - April 8, 2017. I have now owned the SmartSift for 3 months and still absolutely love this litter box. Is it perfect? No. But neither is a brand new Honda Civic. Yet, just like a Civic works so much better and represents such a large technical leap in convenience, efficiency, and functionality next to a horse-drawn chuck-wagon - it's hard to resist feeling like this product represents a revolution in litter boxes. It's my hope that the design will see incremental improvements over time to address what I view as minor flaws in an otherwise excellent time and labor-saving litter pan. My suggestions for improvement outlined above - in my original review - still stand. Overall though, I'm very happy with this product. And so is my friend who I purchased another one for - also mentioned in my original review. Highlights? Well, I've just run out of my first bag of litter a few days ago, so I effectively reduced my litter use from one 15 kg (33 lb) bag per month, to one every three months using this box. Considering the reasonable up-front cost of this product - I have saved almost enough in 3 months in litter alone, to cover the initial expense of the box. Not only does the SmartSift save time and effort, it's also saving me money, and reducing waste.

This litter box ended up being more frustrating than helpful. The concept is great, but the design just doesn’t work well in practice. The litter constantly got stuck, which made the whole “automatic sifting” feature useless. It also started to smell bad quickly, even with regular cleaning. The handle would pop off all the time while trying to sift, and the box itself was much harder to clean than expected. It’s bulky and awkward to take apart, which kind of defeats the purpose of making litter box cleaning easier. Overall, it’s a great idea but not a great product. I wouldn’t waste my money on this one—spend a little more and get a better litter box that actually works as intended.

Bad design, wastes litter, not enough capacity, can't handle 2 mid size cats I've used the "tippable" sifting Omega Paw litter pans for years, but decided to try the Smart Sift because some of the plastic parts on the Omega Paw will break after about 4 years of use. I'm very disappointed with the Smart Sift. It's clearly a design that needs to go back to product development. First thing I noted is the litter area is overly small. Smaller than most would consider for even a single small cat. Adequate for a kitten, but not a single full size cat certainly not two. When cleaning-- "tipping" the pan via a lever arm, litter flows through a grate in concept straining the refuse while unused litter flows into a reservoir. Tipping a little further dumps the refuse into a separate lower pan. Then pushing the lever back (should) move the litter back where your cats can use it again. That's the concept. Problem is the reservoir is way too small to handle the recommended amount of litter, and, once the strainer starts accumulating feces and clumped urine, it blocks the sifting action. Even when slowly tipping, as recommended. This causes you to loose a significant amount of clean litter each day. The clumped feces/urine caught on the strainer also directs unused litter to the side, so it fills portions of the reservoir while other areas only fill if you shake the entire pan side to side, while holding the lever and trying not to shake litter out of the pan. As another reviewer mentioned, if your cat urinates on or near the sifting grate, it will cause a clump to form in the grate--requiring removal with a stick and further mis-directing sifting litter. Then, when you reverse the lever to move the now strained litter back to the pan the lever will not move far enough so a large amount of "good" litter is trapped behind the sifting grate. So--one gets to add a fair amount of new litter each day. Kind of negates one of the benefits of clumping litter. When you get and assemble the Smart Sift, likely the first thing you will notice is that the exterior dimensions are much larger (especially height) than you might have thought. I'm not saying the manufacturer misstated dimensions. Just, in person, it seems much larger than any other litter pan I've seen. It's because of the basic design--it has to be taller because of the storage pan underneath the main kitty used sifting pan. It has to be wider, due to the lever and pivot mechanism. So you end up with a much larger overall litter pan, with much smaller area for your cat to actually use. All this for roughly twice the cost of the large size tipping/manual sifting litter pan from their competitor. (the OmegaPaw) In spite of the exterior size issue-- if the product functioned well, did not waste litter, and had enough capacity for a couple cats with a daily sift, it would be nice. Unfortunately it fails in all these areas.

Before ordering i looked at reviews on youtube and read the reviews on here. Im verry happy with my choice of this product and so are my two kittys. My furry babys are large kittys both around 18lbs or so ones mixed with part maincoon with a large frame and the other is just fat. But i was looking for something that would make cleaning up after them easyer and also useable for them. ive used a smaller catbox before and one of my boys doesnt always sit down when going so there was times where poop or pee would end up on the side or the floor next to the box. so after that i switched to larger covered boxes. to that i also will add one is a hevy digger while my other boy wil only cover pee and not poo so it tends to stink after he goes, wich would couse me to clean it then or at the verry least cover it myself. I looked at the automated boxes all witched seemed to be smaller on the inside being that the arm the cleaned it took up alot of space, and none of those comes with a cover. being that my boys have missed the box before haveing to have or order a cover would have added to the cost of it and mantince of removeing the cover to then get to empty the contents on a weekly bassic i desided against those. then the ones you spin on the floor or spin in general. both of those i did not like the idea of getting pee or poop all over the box in order to clean. and my floor space beeing tighter an in a bedroom i wanted to keep the litter tracking low. out of the two main spinners i could not find to many vieos online so i skipped those and got this. Sorry for being kinda long there but heres the main point. for me this box works great. i have larg boys with large abounts off poop and pee. first i use the baggs on the bottom and not on the top part of the box. ive tryed liners in my cat box befor this and my boy being a digger has always made holes and its aways caused problums in the past so i chose not to with this box. with 2 weeks of use its worked out great with out the top liner. theres times with lots of pee they will stick to the box but with a guick skoop u can unstick it. I have not used extra litter with as some other reviews have said. but i think my looking at youtube and reviews have helped there you have to pull back slowly to give the sifter time to do its job. when used right going slowly and by lightly scooping away stuck peices its a breese to clean. i only use the sifter 2 times a day 3 if my shifts from work cause my to work a double. my room smells way better from when i did not have this box. again before i had the box on days where i was working back to back shifts i would go sometimes a few days before cleaning. i feel like a better kitty moma now becouse they have a clean place to go now. as for the bottom its easy to dump out take out bag tie and replace. i have not found that pee gets under the box like a few other reviews. i dont know if its becouse my boys being nuttered dont spry up, but for me i have not found that issue. to add i use the booda scoop & hide (with this and its a covered cat scoop that stands up neatly next to the box) with stuck on messes. after stuck on messes once unstuck what ever was stuck on seems to dehrate and are gone the next time i use it. to add if you really want to make shure its clean u can take a wet wipe and clean the spot before it tilted back with out litter in your way. my boys adjusted differently to the box. one jumped in right away once he noticed a new box. my other took a few days to get used to jumping in higher and was more skittish about it but within 3 days got better. pro. for me its really easy to clean and its reduced bending an sifting creating more dust as u look for hidded clumps. its as close to automated as u can get with out worrying about it breaking down or jamming. pluse no noise to wake u up. con. its higher up so boys have to jump into witch took my boy a few days to get used to. then number one for me it takes up so much space. this thing is HUGE and that just the footprint in your space the inside is roomy for even my boys but the pan for litter could be a bit deeper so i wont have suck on clumps. i will try one review useing pan spray and repost if that helps.