**Brought to you in partnership with Litter Robot.

Listen. I don’t want to talk to you about kitty litter issues anymore than you want to hear about them. But that’s just it…I don’t have them anymore. And let me tell you, I have tried ALL OF THE THINGS. Every darned litter, litter box, and litter box cleaning scenario that has ever existed: I’ve tried it.

So to say I was skeptical of the Litter Robot is a hugenormous understatement.

But we were so damned blown away by it that it inspired us to give our litter box nook a full makeover. The Litter Robot doesn’t deserve to be in a wonky, unfinished basement nook. It deserves to be in a fancy kitty powder room complete with cat wallpaper and faux sheepskin lounge area, okay?

So let’s back up first to why I was skeptical. This thing is big. It looks like a spaceship. And it comes with what feels like a pretty hefty price tag. But most of all, I was judging it because I had tried other self-cleaning boxes—which were also big, strange-looking, and pretty expensive. And they just…didn’t…work. Right out of the gate, they didn’t work like they were supposed to. And not only did they not work, when they malfunctioned it was BAD. Such an enormous mess and waste of money.

So here I am, staring into the jaws of this UFO-looking beast, and I’m thinking: how is this any different from those that have come before? Also thinking: there is no way my cats are going to touch this with a ten foot pole, let alone set foot in it and and do their darned business.

I was wrong. About everything. My cats took one look at it, batted exactly zero eyelashes, and then strolled right into it. Even when it clicked on to clean (which involves the entire dome suddenly coming alive and rotating around like a cement-mixer), they sat around staring in fascination instead of heading for the hills.

So how does it work, exactly? I dunno…SCIENCE? The damned thing senses when a cat “makes a deposit” and then several minutes later it slowly tumbles the litter box contents and sifts the clean litter from the dirty. Then it returns to the starting position and is ready to go again. It comes with an app, you guys. And the app not only tells you when your cat is in it, it also tells you when the waste drawer is full and needs to be emptied (this seems to be about once a week).

AND IT WORKS WITH NORMAL, OFF-THE-SHELF, CLUMPING KITTY LITTER. No strange, expensive litters designed to work only with this box. STANDARD LITTER. As long as it clumps, it works.

It has absolutely worked like a dream. And there is no smell. None. I’m truly astonished.

Now that I don’t have to scoop litter anymore, I have a lot more time to pursue some of my interests. Such as rosé.

And also chickens.

Decor sources:

Wallpaper by Andrea Lauren for spoonflower.com, pendant and faux sheepskin rugs from World Market. And of course, litter box by Litter Robot.

**Brought to you in partnership with Litter Robot.