For a while, I didn’t understand the hype of top entry litter boxes. Although my sister has been a huge fan of top entry litter boxes and has praised them for a few years now. I never decided to jump on the bandwagon until I visited my sister earlier this year to see the litter box in use.
My sister has a Modkat Litter Box and while it seemed like a really great litter box we opted out for an IRIS Top Entry Cat Litter Box with Scoop as it came for a much better price (in Canada especially).
My Cats Used it Immediately
When trying out a new litter box my biggest worry is always: Will my cat knows how to use the litter box? Although training a cat to use a top entrance litter box is fairly simple, especially if you make sure to use the same litter you were using in their other box.
For me, I set the box up in the corner of our bedroom and made sure not to show my cats the litterbox. (I just wanted to see if they would discover it on their own, or if they could figure it out). Within the first 30-minutes of the litterbox being placed, Beau walked up to it and used it. My cats are fairly curious, so it doesn’t usually take them very long to try something or at least sniff around it.
It Helps with Odour
Alright, no matter what litter boxes are going to be stinky. I’m personally a big fan of hooded litter boxes, although we have both kinds in our apartment (at the moment we have 4 different litter boxes placed around the apartment). In the past, it was fairly impossible for us to leave a litter box in the bedroom because Beau & Kalista both make very stinky poops. However, I will say the poops that they make in the IRIS Top Entry Cat Litter Box are a lot less smelly. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that you can actually put a lot more litter inside of these boxes and our cats are actually burying their poops in it (which they don’t always do with the other litter boxes.)
My Cats Prefer It
My cats are weird and have always had favourite litter boxes. What I mean by this is, there’s always one litter box that Kalista will poop in, and one that she’ll always pee in, and the same goes for Beau. However, this is the only litter box they will do both in and it seems to be their top choice when I’m out of the house. (The others they will use most commonly when we’re in those rooms.)
Honestly, sometimes when I come home this litter box is filled with so much kitty waste that I question what it is about the box that they like more. I’m assuming it has to do with the extra litter that it can hold. It seems to keep smells in better and I’m sure they appreciate that just as much as I do.
At the moment, I would say they do their #2s in this litter box about 85% of the time and the only times they ever do their #2s anywhere else is if we are in that room (as mentioned before.) They will still do their #1s in the litter box that’s closest to them, however, it’s not uncommon for us to hear one of the cats cross from the living room all the way to our bedroom just to go poop.
It helped reduce the amount of fall-out
We’ve placed the litter box right in the corner of a room so the cats are forced to walk on the grate and let me tell you… It really works! As always there’s always a little bit of fall out, but it’s so much better than any of the litter mats we’ve used in the past. On top of that, unlike the litter mats, there’s absolutely nothing you have to clean. We’ve only needed to take a hand broom to the floor every few days, rather than daily which is a huge time saver. The image above shows the amount of dirt after a week of no cleaning. You can tell that there’s a bit of fall out on the left, however, it’s not very much at all!
It gives our Cats More Privacy
If you have multiple cats, you may experience something similar to us. Kalista always walks up to Beau while he’s pooping and smacks him in the face. While this doesn’t normally bother Beau, we still wanted to find a way to get her to stop. I can happily say that Kalista doesn’t bother Beau whenever he uses the IRIS Top Entry Litter Box. Beau is fully covered and has his privacy and to this date, she hasn’t even climbed on top while he’s using it to check him out. I can see her doing that sometime in the future, but my fingers are crossed in hopes of her not developing that bad habit! I can also say that Kalista is still interested in what her brother is doing and will wait near the litter box if he’s inside, but again she doesn’t touch it or try to distract him.
It seems durable
As you know, Beau isn’t the lightest kitty. I wouldn’t say he’s massively overweight, but he is about 12-pounds, making him a tubby kitty for his height. For this reason, I was concerned that Beau would potentially break or warp this litter box. So far, it doesn’t seem like it’s buckling or even bending from his weight. This is a great sign for us, as it would be a huge shame if it were to break because he’s overweight. Maybe all of the jumping up and down from it will help him lose some of it ;).
Conclusion
I give this product a full 5/5. I think I’m going to follow my sister’s lead more often. Top entry litter boxes are the bomb!
So pet parents and pet lovers, have you ever tried a top entry litter box? What were your experiences? Would you recommend I try a different one?
Very interesting. It looks so hard to get into that I would have guessed they would ignore it.
Surprisingly not! I bet there are some cats who do ignore it, but both my guys took to it very quick.
Interesting. I never heard of this type of cat litter box for cats and I’ve had cats for years. Although Daisy Mae has her favorite litter box and favorite cat litter I just can’t see her liking this. Glad your cats liked it.
That’s fair! I’m glad our cats like it too, and that it’s actually a better fit for us! Always nice when you land on a product you actually enjoy 🙂