About IRIS USA
IRIS USA is the American subsidiary of IRIS Ohyama, a Japanese housewares manufacturer founded in 1971. IRIS USA was incorporated in 1992 and made its name introducing clear plastic storage containers to the U.S. market before expanding into a much broader home-goods and pet-product lineup. The company moved its U.S. headquarters to Surprise, Arizona in 2016, and runs additional manufacturing and distribution facilities in Wisconsin, Texas, and Pennsylvania -- a domestic manufacturing footprint that's larger than most litter box brands on the market.
Its pet division centers on litter boxes, airtight pet food storage, carriers, and playpens, with the Top Entry Cat Litter Box line as its best-known design -- a covered box with a grooved lid that strips litter from a cat's paws on the way out, which won an International Housewares Association Global Innovations Award at the 2019 International Home + Housewares Show. Independent reviewers including Cats.com have hands-on tested the top-entry design, and IRIS USA is GreenCircle certified for its use of recyclable polypropylene in its litter box lines.
Brand website: irisusainc.com
What IRIS USA makes
IRIS USA's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Open-top litter boxes
high-sided pans with scatter shields for cats that prefer an uncovered box — featured on House of Mittens
Top-entry litter boxes
grooved-lid covered boxes that reduce tracking, IHA Global Innovations Award winner — featured on House of Mittens
Airtight pet food storage
sealed containers and dispensers for dry food
Pet carriers and playpens
dog and cat carriers, exercise pens, and pet gates
Home storage bins and totes
the clear-plastic storage line the company built its U.S. business on
WOOZOO air circulators and purifiers
small-appliance line rounding out the broader household catalog
Why we recognized IRIS USA
The House of Mittens Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our vet-reviewed category guides. IRIS USA earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: assessed against feline-health criteria, used with real cats, and judged on merit.
IRIS USA products we rated highly
IRIS USA Large Open-Top Cat Litter Box with High Sides and Scoop
The box we recommend first for most households: a large open pan with genuinely high sides and a built-in scatter shield that contains kicked litter and standing-up spray without enclosing the cat. The open top lets owners see urine and stool every time they scoop, which matters for catching early signs of urinary and digestive trouble, and the box carries nearly thirty thousand ratings at an unusually low price.
Read the 10 Best Cat Litter Boxes of 2026 guide →
IRIS USA Large Top-Entry Cat Litter Box with Lid
A top-entry design whose grooved lid knocks litter granules off a cat's paws on the way out, cutting tracking more than almost any other box style. The enclosed body gives shy cats privacy, contains odor and mess, and keeps curious dogs and small children out of the litter -- backed by more than thirty thousand ratings on a proven, affordable design.
Read the 10 Best Cat Litter Boxes of 2026 guide →What earned IRIS USA the recognition
- Two IRIS litter boxes are among our top picks in our litter box reviews, including the large, high-sided open pan with a scatter shield that our reviewing veterinarian recommends first for most households.
- The Top Entry Cat Litter Box design won an International Housewares Association Global Innovations Award at the 2019 International Home + Housewares Show for its grooved anti-tracking lid.
- GreenCircle certified for using recyclable polypropylene plastic across its litter box lines.
- Independently hands-on tested by Cats.com, beyond Amazon customer reviews alone.
- A larger U.S. domestic manufacturing footprint than most litter box brands, with facilities in Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas, and Pennsylvania.