@condalmo A woman posted on TikTok (her username isn't mentioned) that her cat died. She explains but doesn't show it got stuck in the litter robot, and she found the machine covered in blood. In the video, she didn't specify which litter box, but her review could be found on Amazon, on Amzy Self-Cleaning Litter Robot.

Youtuber "One Man Five Cats" moderates a Facebook group for reviewing self-cleaning litter boxes, and someone shared the tiktok video, so he decided to investigate. He quickly noticed that the amazon.com review had changed from "This machine killed my cat!" 1-star to "Good machine" 4-star, and then product was taken down completely. In the cursory internet search, he learned that the litter box is white label—so different storefronts bulk buy and can put their own branding on it. Just because Amzy took it down doesn't mean it isn't available from other sellers. So he ordered one from AliExpress to test himself.

Immediately, the YouTuber noticed the mechanical flaw with the machine. There is a little hole for the cat to climb into, but the inner litter area rotates up and since there's a cover on top, it closes off and there's no way to escape like some other boxes. There are two sensors that are supposed to prevent this, but the sensor failed and it resumed rotating. He sits a banana right in front of the sensor, and the inner litter area rotates up, up, up. The banana gets cut in half.

The YouTuber checks the app that comes with the robot and sees that there's a firmware update, so he updates it. He notes that there was nowhere in the instruction manual that there is a risk if not updated, and that this risk doesn't exist for any other boxes he's tried. He does a test again now that the box is updated with a stuffed animal, which crushes the stuffed animal's neck. Unable to keep spinning, the machine makes a whirring sound until the man pries the top off with both hands. He notes that a cat, if stuck, wouldn't be able to escape.

The YouTuber again tests both sensors—there is one at the entrance, meant to detect if something is entering/exiting, and another in front of the box itself. He holds both hands in front of the centers, but the box continues rotating upwards until his hand gets stuck. He shouts and works hard to free his hand, which has an indent in the skin. He opens the box to show the inside: there is a lip that is pretty sharp and there is no lining to even effectively remove clumped litter. The plastic looks cheap.

He mentions that he found two other reviews (doesn't specify what platform) for this particular litter box—a kitten was also crushed, and another heard their cat struggling and managed to get them free but still needed an emergency vet visit because the cat wasn't breathing well. He got in touch with the first woman from TikTok who said that Amzy gave her monetary compensation for the loss of her cat in exchange for her changing or deleting her review. They also said they would no longer sell the robot. Since she couldn't delete it, she changed and took down her TikTok video, but she didn't know the litter robot is available through a bunch of other dropship-type companies.

The YouTuber ends by giving advice on buying litter robots—buy from established brands with a history of making automatic litter boxes, check reviews that are from real people and preferably lots of them, confirm the specs and details for the size of your cat (there are some with weight restrictions), and make sure there's no way for your cat to get stuck—either there is no top, or the interior rotates along the X axis which will leave the entrance open all the time.