As anyone with pets (not just cats) knows, cleaning up their waste is a job no one wants to do. Whether it’s the odours or shovelling into a garbage bag, it’s a gross process, but we can’t fault the animal for doing what’s natural. So what can we do? Well, homerunPET have come up with their CS106 self-cleaning litter box, and it makes the task of cleaning up after the cats exponentially easier.
First of all, I want to talk about how big this thing is. homerunPET labels the CS106 as the “world’s biggest auto litter box,” and they are not kidding. In terms of floor space, it’s not all that much bigger than some of the other automatic litter boxes I’ve reviewed. It’s the overall area that makes the CS106 so big. It features a huge dome lid that stores the litter itself and is where your cat will climb in to use the litter. The dome itself comes in at around 106L in size, which is more than enough for even your largest housecat to fit inside with room to move about.
Once you choose a place to put the CS106, I hope you don’t reconsider the placement, because this thing is heavier than you might think. Weighing in at around 44lbs, it’s not exactly built to pick up and carry around.
Set up is relatively simple, especially since there is next to no assembly required. Sure, you have to put the waste bags in, but that is as simple as replacing the garbage bag in your kitchen or bathroom. The CS106 has two different waste collection bags, each serving a different purpose. One bag is for the actual cat waste, which is disposed of in a 12L waste bin on the side of the unit. The other bag is for replacing all the litter in the unit at once. One simple click of a button on the touch interface dumps it all into the bag underneath for easy removal and replacement.
“…the homerunPET CS106 is extremely quiet, creating noise levels not higher than your average household, or around 39dB.”
Once you get the bags in place, the CS106 also arrives with a gel deodorizer that gets installed in the same location as the waste bag on the side, where it is most needed. The deodorizer does its job quite well; in the few weeks I have had the CS106, I have not smelled anything coming from the litter box once it has finished its self-cleaning process.
On the back of the homerunPET CS106 is where the power cord plugs into the unit, and the on/off switch is located. They are both convenient to reach and out of the way enough that they won’t get accidentally nudged or tripped over.
Lastly, on the front right side is the touch-panel interface you use to control what’s going on with the unit (there’s also an app, which I’ll get to later). The touchscreen has 5 buttons: Lock/Unlock, Entry Up (what you use to add more litter to the dome lid), Dump, Clean, and Reset. Everything the CS106 does can be controlled through this touchscreen, which makes things easy and user-friendly.
One of the worst things about automatic litter boxes is the level of noise they make when they are performing their task. Thankfully, the homerunPET CS106 is extremely quiet, creating noise levels not higher than your average household, or around 39dB. In fact, I’ve been sitting on my couch, not more than 5 feet away and could not hear the unit doing a self-clean process.
One of my absolute favourite features of the CS106 is the simple litter refill. Essentially, you fill up a reservoir with litter, and the unit adds that litter to the dome lid whenever it senses that the levels are low, saving you from having to monitor it as often. I know it’s something small, but it makes a world of difference, especially if you’re out of the house a lot and don’t necessarily remember to add more all the time.
Having used other automatic litter boxes, my biggest pet peeve is the bottom of the dome liner. On 3 separate occasions, one of my cats has managed to rip a hole in the liner, rendering the entire machine useless because it would just keep dumping more and more litter into the waste bag, costing me more and more money. The CS106 has a reinforced liner that holds up to my two cats using it multiple times a day. I cannot put into words exactly how valuable this is because it is such an overlooked feature.
“Aside from one time when I sent too many commands at once from the app, the CS106 has operated flawlessly.”
homerunPET has also made things easy for the user in terms of accessories, because they include a plethora of them in the box: 1 roll (1 roll = 10 bags) of waste bags, 1 roll of used litter bags (1 roll = 10 bags), 1 gel deodorizer, 1 large pore filter, and 1 small pore filter. Each of these accessories is also available for purchase on their website as well, making replacement easier than ever.
I mentioned earlier that there is an app that the CS106 pairs with for even more convenience, and I have to say, it’s one of the easiest to use apps for a household appliance I’ve ever used. It allows you to schedule cleanup intervals, how long to wait after the cat uses the litter box to clean, a child lock to prevent accidental engagement of processes, a night mode that prevents the machine from lighting up or cleaning during given times, and an awful lot more. Pairing to your phone is easy, and in the app, one really only needs to use the “Clean Now” or “Refill Litter” buttons on the main screen.
Overall, I think this is an amazing product with many quality-of-life features that make it extremely easy to use and maintain. Aside from one time when I sent too many commands at once from the app, the CS106 has operated flawlessly. My only real gripe is the price, because it isn’t exactly inexpensive. Coming in at $899, it’s a big ask to spend that much on a toilet for your cat, but the payoff of simplifying an unpleasant household chore makes it just a little more worth it.
