How We Pick
Everyone in this category says they tested twenty litter boxes. We have not tested any, and we say so. Here is what we do instead.
Last updated
This page is the most important one on the site. It is what stands in place of the credentials our competitors lead with, and it is deliberately specific enough that you can check whether we followed it.
The stance
We are not a test lab. We do not own the products we write about. We have no veterinarians, no expert panel and no medical reviewer. If a page implies otherwise, it is an error and we want to hear about it.
What we do have is time, manufacturer documentation, published utility rates, and a willingness to show our working. That turns out to be enough to produce things nobody else in this category publishes — and, unlike a test result, it is something you can verify yourself.
The method, step by step
- Which products enter consideration. Products currently on sale in the US that cover the range of the category — the obvious market leader, the credible alternatives, the budget option and, where it exists, the one that solves a specific problem the others do not. Never selected by commission rate. Where a category leader sells direct rather than through Amazon, we include it anyway and label the link as non-earning.
- Specifications come from the manufacturer. Every number in a specification table is read off the maker’s own product page, support article or manual, or off the retailer listing named in the Sources block on that page. Each product write-up carries a source link.
- Where a figure is not published, we say so. We do not estimate a wattage, a drawer capacity or a weight rating from a similar product. A blank cell that says “not published” is a finding: in a category with no independent testing, whether a manufacturer will commit to a number is itself information.
- Running costs are computed, with the arithmetic shown. Power draw x realistic duty cycle x the published US average electricity rate, plus consumables at manufacturers’ own listed prices and published intervals. Every sum on the site shows its inputs.
- Our own figures are labeled as ours. The cat tree stability index, the litter-load-per-box arithmetic, the extension of the litter box n+1 rule to other resources — all of these are our reasoning, and every appearance says so rather than borrowing somebody else’s authority.
- Behavior and welfare claims are attributed, never asserted. Litter box counts, litter preference, placement, enrichment: we cite the Cornell Feline Health Center and the Ohio State Indoor Pet Initiative and link to them. We do not put veterinary guidance into our own voice.
- Every roundup names one product we would not buy, with the reason. A list where everything is good is a list that is selling, and the honest negative is what makes the positives worth reading.
The electricity rate we use
We revisit that figure when the published rate moves materially, and the running-cost pages carry a modification date so you can see when they were last checked.
What our scores are, and are not
Each product carries a score out of ten and a set of sub-scores. These are our editorial weighting of the published specifications above — a way of making the trade-offs visible — and they are not test results.
What each sub-score means is category-specific and shown on the product card: for a litter box it is room for a large cat, published spec depth, running-cost transparency, consumable lock-in and multi-cat capacity. For a cat tree it is stability, room for multiple cats, big-cat suitability, published spec depth and scratch surface.
How prices work here
| Situation | What you see | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Verified live price, checked within 48 hours | The price, inside the button | It is current and dated on the page |
| Price older than 48 hours | "Check price" | A stale number is worse than no number |
| No verified price at all | "Check price" | We are not going to print one from memory |
| A product sold direct, not through our program | A reference link, labeled | We earn nothing and say so |
The freshness gate is 48 hours: Amazon's terms want prices no older than about 24, and 48 allows for one missed daily check before every number on the site disappears.
The countable proof
Only categories where zero is the good number appear there. A zero counting something we lack, sitting in a band of positive metrics, would read as a deficiency rather than as integrity — so the honest stance lives in prose, which is where an argument belongs, and the band carries only the claims we refuse to make.
What would change a pick
- A manufacturer publishing a figure it previously withheld. Several products here are ranked down purely for not publishing capacity. If that changes, the ranking changes.
- A change in consumable pricing or interval that materially alters the annual running cost.
- A product being discontinued or persistently out of stock.
- A specification revision — makers change capacities and ratings between production runs without renaming the product.
- Being shown that our arithmetic is wrong. Which is the quickest route of all, and the reason we show every sum.
How to tell us we are wrong
Email info@perchandpurr.com with the page and the figure. If it is a number, tell us what you think it should be and where it comes from — that is the fastest possible fix, because we can check a source in a minute and we cannot check an assertion at all.
Corrections are made in the page itself with the modification date updated. The process, and what we count as a correction rather than an edit, is on the editorial policy page. How the site is funded is on the affiliate disclosure page.
Written by
Sawyer V.. More about who that is, and what the site is for.