If you’ve never considered that bugs could be nesting near your kitty’s litter box, then you might want to consider this post because some pretty nasty little critters can take up residence there. How do I keep bugs away from my litter box? Phorid flies, also known as litter box gnats, can be a common problem with cat litter boxes. They’re small and dark, and they can be difficult to spot when they swarm your cat’s litter box. If you are concerned about bugs in your home, be sure to keep your litter box clean and dry, and try to keep it in a well-lit area. Why Are There Bugs in My Cat’s Litter Box?

The Smarty Pair Leo's Loo Too is available in four colors—Avocado Green, Baby Blue, Leo Gray, and Pretty Pink—and comes with a 90-day free trial.

Wash the box with hot water at least once a week to get rid of any dirt and debris that has accumulated in the box over time. It's all part of a comprehensively thoughtful design, right down to the built-in night-light. It's weird to say that an automatic litter box was a joy to use, but the Litter-Robot 4 impressed us at every step. If you want to eliminate the threat of flies in your home, use a fly repellent that contains DEET. Apply it to the inside and outside of the windows and door frames where flies enter. It will also keep them away from any plants that you have near your home. For one, bugs are attracted to places where there is food, and cat litter often contains food particles. There are a lot of colored lights to learn, which all signify different things, but once I got that down, I found them very helpful," the tester said.

This roundup was written by Andrew Whalen, an editor for The Spruce Pets with hours of experience testing pet products in our labs. Whalen lives with two rescue cats, Church and Wally, who have wildly different litter box habits. Their input and emotional support was crucial to the automatic litter box testing process. Finally, testers were asked to give their overall impressions, rating how they perceived the product's value, both before and after learning the retail price. We also recommend a litter box that uses silica crystals. This can be an excellent option if you dislike clay dust. It also absorbs smells well. However, you may want to acclimate your cat to crystal litter before springing an automatic litter box on them, since not all cats adjust well to the silica crystals. If you have weevils in your cat’s litter, add some diatomaceous earth to your kitty’s toilet area. It will kill off any bugs crawling over it without harming your kitty! Automatic litter boxes tend to have a large footprint. Our favorite overall, the Litter-Robot 4, takes up a lot of space. Measuring your intended space in advance is key, but even a space that will technically fit may look cramped or crowded. Automatic litter boxes tend to come in two basic forms: rotating cylinders and rakes. Cylinder-shaped litter boxes are necessarily tall, and can look quite imposing in a small space. Litter boxes that use electric rakes to clear the box of clumps often have a lower profile.These little bugs feed on the feces of cats that use the litter box and lay eggs near it. This is why you might see them flying around your home or inside your cat’s litter box. They’re attracted to light, so you may notice them hovering around windowsills or lamps where there is light coming through. Rinse the box well after each use with warm water and dishwashing liquid to remove any waste or residue from the previous use. Of course, this means buying a whole new tray of crystal litter every month, or even more often. So while the PetSafe ScoopFree is much more affordable than our Best Overall automatic littler box, the cost of using the same expensive litter each month will add up fast. While it's possible to dump out the waste reservoir without completely replacing the litter tray, our tester found this to be an unwieldy task, requiring lifting away the entire upper assembly of the device. We hebben echt niets op te merken over deze bakken (we hebben er nu voorlopig 4 en wanneer de katten wat groter zijn kopen we er misschien nog).

If your cat isn't using the new litter box, you can try sprinkling a little catnip inside the automatic box. There's also training litter, designed to attract reluctant cats. But if you know your cat is ready for crystal litter, then the PetSafe Scoop-Free Smart Covered Self-Cleaning Litter Box is one of the best ways to take full advantage. The automated box rakes through the litter 20 minutes after your cat is done using it, moving solid waste to a separate compartment. Meanwhile, the silica crystals absorb urine and other smells. Once a month (for a single-cat household), you simply slide out the entire tray, put a lid on it, and throw it away. The automatic cleaning is remarkably quiet and the comb slowly passes through the litter to weed out solid waste. You never have to touch—and you barely even have a chance to spot—the waste your cat leaves behind. Most people don’t think about bugs in their cat’s litter box, but there are a lot of cat owners that do. It’s not an uncommon problem for pet owners to have, and you’re likely to see it happen all too frequently in your house every single day. The main downside our tester noted was the smaller entry hole, which was barely more than half the circumference of the wide opening on the Litter-Robot 4. This may make the Pura X a less attractive option if you have especially large cats. While the Pura X is suitable for cats up to 18 pounds, one tester, with cats of varying sizes, had trouble getting all four of their cats to consistently use it.

There are also several areas where the Pura X takes a different design approach than the Litter-Robot 4, making selecting between them partially a matter of taste. This is most noticeable when it comes to the interface on the device itself. Whereas the Litter-Robot 4 opts for big, bright indicators that allow you to access most features directly, the Pura X has a more minimalist interface, with only two buttons used to navigate a small OLED display embedded in the front of the litter box. Our tester found it usable, but a little too limiting.

The Litter-Robot 4 also shares with its predecessor a very large silhouette. Anyone living with cats in a small apartment should measure first, and have a good sense of whether they have enough room to accommodate the Litter-Robot. The Smarty Pear Leo's Loo Too is the most affordable of the premium "cylinder" design automatic litter boxes we recommend, but we found it to be nearly as impressive as the Litter-Robot 4 and Pura X. While our at-home tester wasn't impressed with the overall build quality, noting its mediocre plastic construction, she was impressed with its overall performance. "It doesn't have the fanciest design, but it's good for what it is and what you pay for." ze zijn stevig gemaakt, het deksel van iets soepeler kunststof is stevig en gaat heel vlot open en dicht (met één hand), het bijgeleverde schepje is ook stevig en werkt goed.Using a blue modeling compound dipped in water to simulate solid waste, our testers then rated each box on its performance. Water scented with vinegar was used to test how well a box could contain or eliminate smells. Once each automatic litter box was put through multiple cleaning cycles, filtering several days' worth of waste, we emptied each box of litter and gave each one a thorough cleaning. Most of the automatic litter boxes we recommend are compatible with a variety of litter, though there are substantial exceptions. For example, most automatic litter boxes struggle with wood-based pellets, or other litter that gets soft. In general, automatic litter boxes work by filtering hard clumps from a uniform litter, which makes clay, clumping litter an excellent option. Unless testing a litter box that employs non-standard litter, we used Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Ultra litter, which is an affordable clay-based litter that clumps very easily. While we think the Litter-Robot 4 is a substantial improvement over its predecessor, the Litter-Robot 3 Connect is still a high quality product. It's a little larger (more than 2 inches wider), less attractively designed, and a little louder, but the reduced price might make the previous Litter-Robot model worth your consideration. First, make sure you clean out your litter box at least once a week. This will help to eliminate any lingering odors and also prevent the breeding of various types of pests.