Upright vacuum cleaners are great tools for cleaning carpets. They can provide strong suction power to get your carpet cleaned and restore their fluffed appearance. It is important to vacuum your carpets once a week to keep them in tiptop condition. Since the market is filled with a lot of brands making these cleaners, it is quite challenging to choose the best vacuums for pet hair. That’s why I took my time, to research, test, and analyze the best vacuum cleaners for pet hair on the market.
I choose eight of them based on the reliability of the manufacturers and the ratings they had garnered. I also looked at their affordability and the range of features they pack. Personally, I prefer vacuums with great filters to cut down on allergens. Here are the 8 best vacuums for pet hair.
With that in mind, we can now proceed to review the best vacuum for pet hair;
1. Dirt Devil UD70355B Bagless Upright Vacuum
The steerable upright vacuum comes with a TurboClaw Pet Tool making it perfect for pet owners. This tool removes dander and hair from rugs, furniture, and stairs. The vacuum works on both carpets and hardwood and also features a two-in-one crevice and dusting tool. I found its unique hose exciting thanks to its great suction power.
This is the best upright vacuum cleaner if you are living in a small apartment. It is easy to maneuver and does a great job cleaning your floors. It’s smaller and lightweight so you can use and store it easily.
Plus, it has one of my favorite features- a bagless canister. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about stocking up vacuum bags. This can save you a lot of money in the long run.
If you live in a small place and would love to save money on your cleaning, the Dirt Devil UD70355B Bagless Upright Vacuum is your best friend. Not only is this cleaner affordable for budget-conscious buyers, but is also compact enough to clean and store in tight places. The machine boasts a low profile nozzle that makes cleaning hard-to-reach areas such as underneath space of the furniture a breeze.
It comes with a 20-foot cord for long reach
Bagless canister makes it easier for you
Has low-profile nozzle for reaching under the furniture
It offers stress-free cleanup
It sticks to hardwood floors
It may be a bit too powerful for carpets and rugs
2. Dyson V8 Cord-Free Vacuum
This cordless powerhouse vacuum by Dyson can transform into a semi-handheld vacuum with one click. The digital V8 motor gives it strong suction power that can last over40 minutes of consistent use, and 25 minutes with motorized floor tool on. Despite all its power, this vacuum doesn’t make noise; it runs quietly making it relaxing to clean around your home.
It uses HEPA filtration (see how to clean HEPA filters), capturing allergens and fine particles while also cleaning the air in your home to protect people with respiratory issues. Its direct-drive cleaner head is powerful enough to pick up even the toughest dirt.
Dyson V8 Cord-Free Vacuum comes with variable parts including mini-motorized tool, soft roller head, and a mini-soft dusting brush rolls. These brushes can handle jobs ranging from fine dust on wooden floors to dirt-encrusted carpets.
It also features a clear hygienic bin that can be emptied easily; in fact with a push of a button.
It can operate for up to 40 minutes when its battery is full
It uses HEPA filtration, making your air cleaner and breathable
It comes with extra tools for different cleaning tasks
It has an easy-to-empty bin
It sticks to hardwood floors
It‘s a bit pricey as compared to most of its competitors
3. Miele C3 Cat and Dog Canister Vacuum Cleaner
The C3 Cat and Dog come with an active AirClean filter that works similarly to a HEPA filter for preventing allergens from escaping back into the air. It also stops odor and unpleasant smell from being released as well. I found this feature helpful because I didn’t have to deal with smelly vacuuming again.
You can vacuum any floor surface with this vacuum as it comes with three cleaning heads for optimal performance on short, medium, or long pile carpet, upholstery, and carpet flooring.
The three head include;
The Parquet Twister Floorhead that is designed for gentle and extremely quick cleaning of sensitive hard floors with its natural bristles glide smoothly across floor surfaces.
The handheld mini Turbo Brush offers a perfect way for easy removal of pet dander, fur, pet hair, and lint from your stair, upholstery, curtain, and hard to reach a carpeted area.
The third head, electro-plus floorhead allows for deeper cleaning of carpet piles whether it’s medium, short, or long. You can use this head for cleaning shag piles and rugs as well.
It has a modern design, and it’s sturdy
It has six powerful suction levels
Operates quietly
Comes with 360-degree caster wheels making it highly maneuverable
It is a high-end expensive vacuum cleaner
It’s 3-filter system has to be changed periodically to maintain its efficiency
4. Hoover UH70210 WindTunnel Pet Vacuum
This floormate is a top line, state of the art vacuum cleaner that is made and designed by a reputable manufacturer, Hoover. It is explicitly designed for people who have hardwood floors and will not leave any scratch on the surface they are cleaning. With this vacuum, you can give your hardwood floor the kind of the spa treatment they deserved. It can also clean rugs and carpet effectively.
With Hoover WindTunnel UH70210 Pet, you will not need buckets, brooms, brushes, and elbow grease to carry out cleaning tasks. You can clean, wash, vacuum, and dry your hardwood floors in just one fell swoop with this cleaner.
This machine is designed for pet owners and features WindTunnel Technology that enhances its suction and pet hair-removal capability. This technology features an activated carbon filter and auto-cord rewind to deal with musty pet odors.
For pet owners like me, you will definitely appreciate the features included in this WindTunnel T-Series Pet Rewind Upright Vacuum Cleaner from Hoover as it will help you win the never-ending pet hair battle.
It is highly effective in eliminating pet hairs
It features WindTunnel technology for powerful suction
It is made by a reputable manufacturer hence reliable
It’s lightweight
It is mostly designed to clean hardwood floors although it can clean other floors
5. Shark Rotator Powered TruePet Upright Vacuum, Bordeaux (NV752)
With a 3-in-1 design, this vacuum attracts buyers who want a little extra versatility from their cleaner machine. It offers a great combination of power and ease of use, lifting away pet hair with brush roll and canister. It is one of the most appealing and best vacuums for pet hair. It has been a flagship model for Shark this year.
The effectiveness and power of the brush and its pod makes it one of the best vacuums for pet hair, and this is enhanced by the anti-allergen complete seal technology as well as TruePet motorized brush attachment. This accessory also works well on hard floor thereby showcasing the versatility of Shark Rotator Powered TruePet Upright Vacuum. The addition of the LED lights makes it great to clean under furniture and other dark spots in a house. Although lifting pet hair is its primary task, this cleaner is also highly adaptable to any dirt.
With a 30-feet cord, you can clean large spaces
It allows you to clean hard-to-reach areas easily
It offers good value for the money
It features LED lights and advanced swivel steering to illuminate dark areas in a room
It uses Anti-Allergen Complete Seal Technology enabling it to eliminate 99% of the allergens and dust in a room
It requires a lot of power due to its great power suction
You need to be cautious as it can ram against other people
Hard to empty its bin
6. Shark Rotator Powered TruePet Upright Vacuum (HV382)
This ultra-lightweight upright vacuum weighs in at 9.9 lbs. making it one of the lightest vacuum cleaners on the market. Besides, you can easily convert it into a handheld vacuum for cleaning upholstery and ceilings.
It is one of the most versatile cleaners that you can use to clean your car, carpets, hardwood flooring, curtains, bed, stairs, and upholstery. It can clean up nearly any kind of debris and dirt thanks to DuoClean Technology. Therefore, stubborn pet dander, split cereals, and dust on a polished surface can be picked easily by this cleaner.
With a bristled roller to deep clean your rugs and carpets, as well as soft brush roller to clean polished hard floor, the Shark Rotator Powered TruePet Upright Vacuum HV382 is one of the best vacuums for pet hair.
It has a handy LED light to help you see underneath where you are cleaning. This will help you clean dark corners or areas with low light.
It comes with plenty of accessories and tools including a duster crevice tool, a pet multi-tool, a hair removal tool for removing longer nails from the rollers, and wall mount storage hook.
It’s easy to maneuver
Lengthy power cord to allow clean large surface area
Can clean virtually any surface
Its lightweight and has a powerful suction
Can remove dust from polished floors
It struggles to clean too much long pet dander
Its dust cup fills up quickly
7. Dyson DC65 Upright Vacuum Cleaner
With Radial Root Cyclone technology and tangle-free turbine tool, the DC65 can clean deep-seated dirt out of carpeting very easily.
As this is the most expensive item in my best vacuums for pet hair review, one does expect a high level of performance, durability, and reliability from it in exchange. Fortunately, it scores highly in all these areas.
The Dyson DC65 Upright Vacuum Cleaner is one of the most powerful cleaners for its size, and although it feels largish, if you live in a small apartment, you can still use it.
It comes with an impressive design, and I found it slimmer than it is on Amazon, which is a good thing. You can drive it easily, and I didn’t find it troublesome switching from one type of floor to another.
It is easy to move around
Automated floor adjustment feature works smoothly
Its bagless design saves you from stocking replacement bags
It has a very strong suction that makes it effective in cleaning dirt
It is pricey
It is quite large than most vacuum cleaners
If you are still not sure of the best vacuum for pet hair to choose, here is a brief buyer’s guide;
Difference between Pet Vacuum and Regular Vacuum
There are some differences between a regular vacuum and a pet vacuum. If you are a pet owner am sure you have realized that a regular vacuum cleaner doesn’t do a very good job sucking up pet hair. This is because some of the pet hair ends up stuck in the vacuums head brush. The reason this happens is that the regular vacuum cleaner is made of a two-part mechanism which is not all that suitable when cleaning up pet hair.
When pushing the vacuum cleaner over your carpet, its head brush stirs up remains in the rug. The remains that were stirred up are then sucked into the vacuum hose.
The two type mechanism found in the regular vacuum works well with most types of remains but not when it comes to pet hair. The vacuum brush just tangles the pet hairs further into the rug instead of stirring them, so they get sucked up. The little hair the regular vacuum cleaner manages to suck up often get caught in the brush, where it becomes very difficult to get out.
Here are more differences;
Pet vacuums have marginally altered designs that allow all the pet hair to get sucked instead of it just getting tangled into the rug. Some of the pet vacuums come with silicon brushes instead of the regular brushes found in regular vacuum cleaners. Other pet vacuum cleaners are made with improved spin brushes where the remains will first be sucked and then spun instead of the vice versa.
Pets releases dander in addition to shedding hair. The dander has a negative effect on indoor air quality making it highly distressing for people with allergies. Pet dander can intensify lung problem for people with allergies. It can also worsen bronchitis and asthma. Pet dander is also unhygienic hence homeowners with pets prefer the pet vacuums for their excellent filtration system.
The high suction power allows pet vacuums to exhaustively suck up all the tangled up pet hair, unlike the standard vacuum cleaners. The best pet hair vacuums have adjustable power levels as the high suction power is not enough. This allows you to change up the suction power depending on what is you are you are vacuuming. Medium rugs will only need a medium setting, while a basic carpet will need high suction power. Furniture that has sensitive fibers and drapery will need a lower setting.
Pet vacuums also have great maneuverability, carpet height adjustment, extra-large tubing, automatic clog shut-off and it can lie completely flat making it easier to get in tight places.
Along with all the above features, you will need to keep several considerations in mind
Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best Vacuums for Pet Hair and Allergies
1. Type of Vacuum Cleaner
There are several types of vacuum cleaners you can choose from depending on your needs;
These are easy to use because you do not have to bend a lot. They usually suit both bare floors and carpets and are fairly versatile.
They typically have a wide range of features that suit carpets and hard surfaces. They are great for cleaning pet fur.
Robot Vacuum cleaners like these do a good job without your involvement, and you can program them to clean at specific times of the day. Unfortunately, they lack effectiveness when it comes to cleaning thoroughly.
Although they don’t have strong suction, they are great for spot cleaning such as cleaning fur that has been balled up somewhere. They offer convenience and are cheaper.
Stick Vacuum Cleaners pack many features and are very lightweight. They are cheaper, but not nearly as good as canister and upright vacuums.
My choices are upright vacuum cleaners and canister vacuums.
2. Ease of Use
Vacuuming is a physical task, and you will need to think about the weight you will need to exert when pushing it around while cleaning. Some are lightweight and easy to push while others are heavier because of their strong suction power. Choose a vacuum that has convenient features such having an innovative design for easy turning and ability to make adjustments.
3. Bag or No Bag
Bagged or bagless vacuums call for some level of maintenance as both have to be emptied regularly. A bagless vacuum saves you from stocking up vacuum bags, but you will need to clean its filters. Bagged vacuums trap debris and dirt inside a bag that can be carried out for disposal.
4. Level of Dirt
If you have many pets in the house, you are likely to clean up more hair. You need to go for a vacuum cleaner that is highly efficient at cleaning pet fur. Therefore, check vacuums with right features such as crevice tool and turbo brush.
5. Reliability and Durability
Make sure you go for models that offer lengthy warranty and are known to make durable vacuums. Since you may not be able to test your cleaner, you can rely on consumers’ reviews to see how the vacuum performed on different floors. But do not worry when it comes to this because I have you covered.
6. Allergen Removal
You need to consider buying a vacuum that has a sealed air system to prevent dander, dirt, allergens, and fur from escaping the vacuum.
The Bottom Line
Just because you have a pet doesn’t mean that pet fur has to take over your hose. The best vacuum cleaner will be up of to the task eliminating hair from your furniture and carpets.
To make sure you are buying the best vacuum cleaner for pet hair, be sure to take considerations such as filtration, power suction level, and reliability.
You can find many types of pet vacuums on Amazon, but I have helped you narrow your options, and you should not have a problem finding the best vacuum for your home.
When you buy the best vacuums for pet hair, you can reduce the amount of dog or cat hair on your furniture or carpet, and keep your house free from allergens. This can make a huge difference in terms of the appearance of your home, allergic reactions, and the love for your pet.
