Who’s winning the robot litter box wars?

*Editor’s note: this article does not contain affiliate marketing.

For decades, the cat litter box has been the most rudimentary of feline care accessories. Basically a tray, a scoop, and some cat litter.

But like a lot of products, the humble litter box has become smart.

Smart litter boxes have expanded into health monitoring, making them a valuable tool in feline preventive health. They can monitor if, when, and how much your cat is going to the toilet.

Not only that. Startups and pet brands are fighting over smart litter boxes because increasingly, litter boxes are part of an ecosystem, or Internet of Things (IoT). This means that, rather than a one-off purchase, smart litter boxes can now offer recurring revenue streams: app subscriptions, data services, and premium product tiers.

And with an increasing number of feline households, demand for smart litter boxes is expected to grow rapidly.

Cat parents increasingly want better for their felines. If their cat is hiding a health issue or pain, cat parents want to know ASAP. Early detection can help minimise feline discomfort or pain and potentially prevent costly veterinary treatment later on.

Cats are masters at hiding illness, and conditions can go unnoticed until they’re costly (or worse, impossible) to treat. Litter boxes are therefore marketed as 24/7 health monitors, catching early signs of kidney disease, diabetes, or urinary tract infections.

The grandfather of modern-day litter boxes is Whisker’s flagship product, Litter-Robot.

Launched in 2000, the Litter-Robot made waves in the pet industry for solving the most detested chore of cat ownership: scooping turds.

The only automatic cat litter boxes at the time were self-raking and litter-sifting trays, which did not always clean thoroughly (and normally required clumping litter).

The Litter-Robot appealed to affluent early adopters who were happy to spend US$500-US$700 on a gadget that rotated, sifted, and sent their cat’s waste into a sealed drawer.

The 2000s also saw another cat litter revolution: the first flushing toilets for cats. In 2007, the CatGenie was launched as the first litter box to flush the waste away into the drainage system.  

Two decades on, Whisker’s Litter-Robot (now 4th generation) remains the category leader. It’s remained competitive by shifting its focus from mere convenience to home health monitoring.

A new generation of challengers has also emerged:

Behind this evolution is the same goal: to become the default interface between cats, their guardians and vets (and insurers).

As with most fast-growing industries, there are the market leaders, and then there are generic me-too products trying to make a quick buck by cutting corners.

The popularity of smart litter boxes has unleashed a flood of cheaper versions, typically from China-based manufacturers. Some of these have questionable or lacking safety features. Heartbreakingly, some models have resulted in cats being killed: this valuable review explains the risks.

What does the future hold for robot litter boxes?

Most likely, more integration: data from the litter box can feed directly into telehealth platforms, pet insurance dashboards, and veterinary clinic systems.

For the pet industry, smart litter boxes are a case study in how commoditised accessories can be transformed into data-driven platforms. We already saw this with electric toothbrushes for humans, which became platforms for subscription brush heads and oral health data.

In short: one cat’s poop is another company’s profit. The smart litter box space represents a serious battleground for companies to access a valuable untapped dataset: your cat’s poop and pee. Winners in this space will have access to feline health monitoring streams that will drive recurring revenue.

It’s not a gold rush yet, but there has been notable investor appetite for smart litter boxes. A few quick figures:

AutoPets (now Whisker) raised US$31 million in 2019 via a growth equity round led by Pondera Holdings. In 2024, Whisker was reportedly valued near US$1 billion as Pondera considers cashing out its stake.

Catlink, founded in China in 2017, reportedly secured tens of millions in Series B funding in 2022, aiming for global expansion.

In 2020, Japanese startup Hachi Tama Inc. announced it had completed its Pre-Series A funding of US$4 million. The company planned to use the funds to further improve the accuracy of its early-detection algorithm in their smart litter box, toletta.

PETKIT raised about US$20 million in a Series C round in February 2019.

About 10 years ago, I made the mistake of thinking I could train Ethel and Morag to use the human toilet.

We already know how this story ends.

In my optimism, I purchased CitiKitty Cat Toilet Training Kit. The system is simple: you hang a set of concentric rings above the toilet bowl and scatter cat litter on it. You ask the cat to do its business on it.

Over time, you remove one strip at a time from the centre. Each time you remove a strip, the hole widens. This teaches the cat to do its business directly into the cistern.

Eventually, the strips are all gone and the cat will use the loo like any other member of the household!

No more mess! No more scooping!

The prospect made me so happy.

At first, Ethel and Morag seemed okay with this.

They would jump up on the Cat Toilet Training Kit and paw curiously at the cat litter. Morag wasn’t as confident as Ethel, but I was sure she’d catch up.

Every few days, I removed an inner strip from the Cat Toilet Training Kit. Each time I removed a strip, I smiled at the thought of our impending freedom from litter boxes.

If this goes well I could teach them to flush afterwards, I thought.

Anyhow.

One day, I came home from work and went straight to the bathroom for a progress report. There were no marks on the Cat Toilet Training Kit. They hadn’t used it.

Hmm. And what was that smell?

I walked back out into the adjoining bedroom, and there it was.

The biggest, scariest, most offensive, most humongous cat turd I’d ever seen. Right in the middle of the carpet, where I couldn’t fail to see it.

It was a message. I’m convinced it was from Ethel.

The turd said: “Stop your shenanigans, human. Continue at your peril.”

I knew immediately that all was lost.

The Cat Toilet Training Kit went in the rubbish bin.

I gave up my hopes for a litter box-free lifestyle.

And Ethel hasn’t pooped outside the box since.