How to Pick the Perfect Pet Hair Vacuum

Based on the needs of your home, choose which type of vacuum to buy. Every home can have a robot or upright vacuum. We found upright vacuums to be the best overall option for pet hair on a variety of surfaces, with handheld models as a solid supplemental cleaning device. Vacuum cleaners are now equipped with a wide range of useful features. There are some features that you should consider for pet hair problems.

Suction Power: This is what you want to be looking for. The best vacuum is one that can run 12 amps. But, as long as you include special pet hair attachments, your vacuum will handle any hairy situation with ease.

Bag or Dustbin: Even though bagless models tend to be less convenient than the bagged alternatives, emptying dust cups can cause allergic reactions in those suffering from allergies. The choice is yours, but it’s personal preference.

HEPA Filters: HEPA filters can remove 99.97% or more of the dust, pollen and mold, as well as bacteria, that are 0.3 microns (or larger). Because pet fur or hair can trap pollen and mold spores outside, it is essential to be mindful of what you are bringing inside the home. If you have allergies, this is a very important aspect.

Rotating Brush The attachment can be either included or on the vacuum.

Attachments: Most, if not all, vacuum cleaners will come with some standard attachments like a crevice tool and upholstery tool. Some vacuums made for pet hair might include special tools that can be used to reach corners, ceilings and other places in order to get rid of hairs you don’t see.

When researching and testing, we’ve considered all of these factors, as well as customer reviews, and we’ve found options for every budget and need.

Dyson

The best pet hair vacuums should be able to pull dirt off floors with ease, have whole-machine filter, and provide tools for cleaning up under and high furniture. Dyson Ball Animal 2, checks all the boxes. Specially engineered to deep clean homes with pets, the Animal features a self-adjusting cleaner head that automatically raises and lowers to seal in suction across tile, hardwood, carpet and vinyl, and the motorized brush bar digs out dirt, hair and allergens everywhere your pet steps. Due to the whole-machine filtration, which ensures that allergens stay inside the vacuum and do not escape into the air, this machine has been certified Asthma and Allergy Friendly (A&A Foundation). The Animal also includes a turbine tool to remove hair from upholstery and carpet, as well as a tool for stairway and combination cleaning that make cleaning difficult-to-reach places (e.g ceiling corners). It takes just one click to empty the dustbin. It is washable and can be used for life. And at 17.5 pounds, it’s heavier than our cordless pick but on par with the other upright vacuums on our list.

The Editor: Our Editor Loves This Vacuum Cleaner! My Saturday routine is to vacuum and am always surprised at how many pet hairs, dirt, and dust the vacuum collects each week. $2999.99 With its triple-action brush rolling, it lifts, loosens, and removes embedded pet hair. The soft bristles of the Bissell Cleanview Swivel Pet Upright Vacuum Amazon work well on hard surfaces and clean up any dust or debris with scattered-free technology. Swivel steering maneuvers around under furniture and other obstacles easily, while edge to edge cleaning capabilities collect pet hair from all sides of the brush roll. This reduces the time it takes to clean. Use a 6-foot stretcher hose with specialty tools, such as a corner and TurboEraser tools to reach hard-to-reach places. Multi-level suction provides the best suction to capture pet hairs. This helps to trap dust and dirt. Done cleaning? Do you want to clean quickly? At just 13.5lbs it is easy to lift up and down the stairs or move from room to room, without getting grouchy.

Bosch

Miele, Image Credit: Published. Our top 11 vacuums are the best for your pet’s hair. To bring you the complete guide to vacuums for pets, we have been testing them in our homes. We included top picks by Shark, Dyson and Vax.

You will spit a lot fo the best vacuums for pet hair in our guide to the best vacuum cleaners . That’s because when a vacuum cleaner is capable of picking up a lot of pet hair and allergens, that’s usually a sign of a very good vacuum cleaner! Because pet hair can be difficult to extract from upholstery or carpet, we test all attachments.

Many of the best vacuums for pet hair are upright vacuums, because these typically have the power needed to uproot pet hair from even trodden-down carpets. A few cordless machines are available, too. While they have enough power to do the job, some of these may be too slow for large homes.

Check out our interactive cordless vacuums video under

Our Choice

iRobot Roomba i3 a reliable and tangle-resistant robotic vacuum. The robot will keep your floors clean longer than any manual cleaner. The i3 performs better than others at pulling pet hair out of carpets.

Amazon: $299* or $349 at Walmart

As any robot vacuum can handle pet hair, the iRobot Roomba is a great choice because it’s so easy to use and durable. It’s a great choice, the Roomba 694 being the most basic. You can also read about other excellent robots in our guide of the best robot vacuums that we have tested. But paying more for our top pick, the Roomba i3 , will get you extra suction, a nimble navigation system, and tangle-resistant brushes that can make the life of a pet owner even easier.

There are many buying options

Best Buy: $400

These extras may be beneficial, but they do not make the vacuum more effective or less efficient in getting pet hair off of the floors. Even the cheapest vacuums can pick up pet hair off a bare floor, and any vacuum that’s good at getting dust out of rugs should also be good at digging pet hair out of rugs. It is best to start by looking for a vacuum that has great cleaning capabilities, like the Shark Navigator Lift Away NV352, then look into whether they have pet-friendly variants. Shark sells a specially designed upholstery brush which you can also buy.

Our favorite cordless stick vacuum is the Tineco S11 pet-friendly model. It is an adequate cleaner, and is good for all purposes. But, our top pick, Dyson V8Animal, is more suitable. Our tests showed that the Dyson was able to pick up pet hair better than the Tineco. This is especially true for carpets. Our testing also revealed that pet hairs were more likely to become wrapped around the Tineco’s toothbrush or stuck in the intake area than on other models. The Dyson also comes equipped with an attachment for a motorized mini brush that can be used to remove hair from upholstery.

One note about tangle-resistant brushes: They aren’t all equally effective. While we have not tested these brushes extensively, we found that Shark vacuums with anti-tangle systems are more likely to cause clogging.

The best YouTube vacuum-review channel Vacuum Wars has recommended that the Bissell IconPet cordless vacuum avoids tangles and doesn’t cause clogs. Even so, the Dyson vacuum picks up more pet hair than that of the Bissell. And, it can also be detangled with scissors if you use it regularly.

This is a case where you should be cautious: Bagged vacuums may not work well for you if your pets are very hairy, such as four Golden Retrievers or several long-haired cats. The cost of replacing bags can quickly add up, as pet hair is a fast way to stuff a bag.

Top Vacuums for Pet Hair

James Brains/Insider $5999.99 at Best Buy Dyson. The Dyson V11 Pet Cord-Free Vacuum collected all the hair we tested and was very easy to empty the dustbin.

The pros include: Excellent suction, particularly when removing pet hair. It also has contact-less debris removal. This vacuum is the Dyson V11 Animal Cord-Free Vacuum.

Per Dyson, it engineered the V11 Animal for larger homes with pets. The V11 Animal performed very well during our tests. It was among the few vacs that successfully collected every pet hair found on each surface we tested. Additionally, it did not cause hair to get stuck in the brush.

The Dyson vacuum also picked up all other dirt and debris from hardwood floors, furniture and left behind no flour. Carpeting flour was difficult for the V11, which left about 17%.

None of the vacuums I tested did well in every category, and the V11 Animal performed poorly in terms of ease of use. It is necessary to hold the trigger down for the unit’s to function. A piece of ducttape was wrapped around my trigger.

To empty the dustbin, you have to remove the attachments. It’s possible for the trap-door to release and send trash flying if you do not have your bin in a proper position. For the most part I was happy with how the bin was emptied. My hands weren’t dirty.

Last but not least, it was very disappointing with its battery. I was disappointed that the battery only last nine minutes when it was in boost mode. Then, it took four hours just to charge up. The boost mode was more powerful than any other cordless vacuums that I tried. In Eco mode the battery lasted approximately 75 minutes. It was 45 minutes for auto mode.

Dyson claims that eco mode will work for about 60% of all uses. It can be removed, so additional batteries are available at $150. On the positive side, V11 Animal was simple to use. I found I could easily move it perpendicular to where I was standing. The non-Dyson vacuums couldn’t do this. A wall-mounted docking station is included with the V11 Animal, which stores all the attachments and allows for easy, hidden storage.

Our complete Dyson V11 Cordless Vacuum Reviews

This is the Best Vacuum to Clean Pet Hair

James Brains/Insider 154.49 Amazon Bissell CleanView Swivel Rewind Vacuum Cleaner While cheaper models are available, it is still a great vacuum for collecting pet hair.

Pros: Picked up all of the pet hair in all of our tests, great on hardwood, features a retractable cord, powerful suction Cons: Messy debris disposal Perhaps unsurprisingly, the four vacuums I tested that cost less than the Bissell CleanView Swivel Rewind Pet Vacuum Cleaner (model 2256) performed poorly. I can’t recommend any of them. Our budget choice is $150 but well worth it.

CleanView Swivel-Rewind was one among the three vacuums tested for picking up pet hair. The brush didn’t catch hairs.

Although it was not able to collect other debris on carpeting or furniture, its performance on hardwood floors was exceptional. All of its cat litter was picked up by it. It was unable to collect the coffee grounds from carpeting, and it did not do well with flour.

It was so simple to use the Bissell CleanView Swivel Rewind. The swivel head makes it easy to maneuver with one hand. It was easy to retract the cord (the “Rewind”) so it didn’t get out of my way. Also, because the upright design means that I don’t need support for the weight of the vacuum. It did a great job of cleaning up any mess I left. The hose was easy to release and reach higher areas.

However, I had a hard time emptying the dustbin without getting my hands dirty or inadvertently sending gunk flying outside of the trash can. You can release the trap-door mechanism by putting the bottom of your trash container.

Best Handheld Vacuum For Pet Hair

James Brains/Insider $195.23 Amazon

Overall: It cleans all surfaces well and is lightweight. Consequently, I can’t recommend any of them. In future updates, this guide will be updated with more models. While we are still testing models, we decided to make a handy handheld version. Black+Decker’s Powerseries Extreme Cordless StickVacuum Cleaner, in its handheld form, is your best option.

The Powerseries Extreme vacuum can be used handheld to pick up pet hairs, cat litter and flour. It was lightweight enough to not strain my arms while I held it for prolonged periods.

The stick vacuum mode performed less well, but was still very good. Both on hardwood and carpet, the vacuum collected every bit of Cheerios, cat litter and ground coffee. The Black+Decker vacuum only collected 85% of pet hairs and flour from both carpeting and hardwood.

The rubberized bristles kept the tangles away and I loved how the brushroll head pivots to allow for tight turns. I noticed that the vac seemed to do a better job of collecting debris when pulling the head toward me rather than pushing away.

Tightly emptying the garbage bin was an easy task. I found it was easy to place the gunk in the trash can due to the narrow opening. Also, the trap door released the particles so they were not in my hands.

The biggest negative with the Black+Decker Powerseries Extreme Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner is its battery. The battery performed well on high power and was at the top of our test pack. It was however one of the most difficult to charge. However, you can easily remove the battery to make it compatible with other Black+Decker cordless tools.

At the moment, they’re about $35 on Amazon

Best Robot Vacuum to Clean Your Pet’s Hair

James Brains/Insider $399.99 $299.00 Amazon Walmart $399.99 $499.00 Target Target The Bissell SpinWave robotic vacuum cleaned all of the hair from carpets during our tests.

The pros: It is quiet, has app connectivity and picked up every pet hair we tested. Robot vacuums tend to be smaller in size and have less suction power than other models. Robot vacuums are indispensable for automated, daily cleaning.

Because robot vacuums can be independent, I used a different test method. Learn more about the testing methodology in our robot vacuum guide. I tested dozens upon dozens of robot vacuums before deciding that the Bissell spinWave robot vacuum is best for pet hair. The robot vacuum was able to pick up the entire pet hair mess I had laid on both hardwood flooring and carpeting. It left no traces of flour or kitty litter on the hardwood. It could also reach deep into corners.

Robot vacuums may be difficult for pet owners. The SpinWave is quietest of all the models I have tried. On high suction, it’s 65 decibels (a little louder than a normal conversation), and it’s just 58 decibels on quiet mode.

Mop attachment comes with spinning mop plates that scrub dried-on liquids away while not causing carpet damage. The included tool allows you to trim hairs that are caught between the brush and the vacuum. This was however, not a frequent problem during my testing.

It is possible to schedule SpinWave for cleaning at the same time each day. Or you can use Bissell Connect (available on iOS and Android). The biggest issue was the one-inch barrier that separated rooms. You can’t set no-go zones to avoid it, so you may need to put a physical barrier in the way. You should also consider removing a robot vacuum from your home if you have pets who are prone to having accidents. Robot vacuums can spread mess around and could even cause harm.