Did You Know Self-Cleaning Litter Boxes Have Gotten So Good They’re the Only Choice for Cat Owners?

If you live with cats, I think a self-cleaning litter box is the only way to go now.

I’m Hide, tech journalist and part-time house-husband. I’ve used self-cleaning litter boxes since the early days — I even personally imported a US-made one called the Litter-Robot — and the way they’ve evolved is amazing.

There are now vertical-rotation and horizontal-rotation types, and we use both: the Neakasa M1 (vertical) at my parents’ house, and OFT’s CATLINK (horizontal) at our place.

Both have pros and cons, but to be honest up front, I prefer the OFT CATLINK. It’s super quiet and super easy to clean.

That said, I found a surprising number of things I liked about the Neakasa M1 depending on your setup, so I’ll review those here. I’ll cover the OFT CATLINK in detail next time.

Vertical rotation is gentle on cats and easy to keep clean

The first thing I noticed was how easy the vertical type is to clean. The big opening makes it easy for cats to get in, and if it’s dirty, you can see it right away and clean it. With horizontal types, it’s hard to see inside, so it often gets dirty without you noticing. The Neakasa M1 wins here.

I also like that when cleaning, it doesn’t just rotate — it first moves back and forth to make sure the waste is properly covered with litter. Cats cover things themselves, but sometimes not enough, and then the inner walls get dirty, so this is a thoughtful feature.

Neakasa used to be neabot, a company that made robot vacuums, and lately it’s focused on pet products. With that background, I appreciated how carefully it’s made.

## Being able to use many kinds of litter is a big plus

Self-cleaning boxes used to work mainly with mineral litter only. The Neakasa M1 also works with tofu litter and mixed litter, which is a lot more economical. Mineral litter is pretty expensive, so the Neakasa M1 has a clear advantage here.

Its shape also makes it easy to clean. Something like the CATLINK has a big sphere for the litter area, so wiping off dirt is a lot of work. The Neakasa M1 is a half-sphere, so it’s easier to wipe and keep clean.

The concern: how loud it is

The only thing that bugged me was the noise. Part of it is that the CATLINK is so quiet, but if you put it in the living room, some people might wake up at night. A better motor would make it even better.

One thing’s for sure, though: having a self-cleaning litter box skyrockets quality of life for both cats and humans. Cats always get a clean litter box, and humans get easy cleanup. There’s barely any smell.

If you’re getting a cat, there’s almost no reason not to get a self-cleaning litter box. It’s not cheap, but it’s definitely worth more than it costs. I can confidently recommend it even to people using a manual litter box right now.

Official site: Neakasa Where to buy: Neakasa M1

This story was originally published (in Japanese) on Yahoo! News Japan Expert.