The Best Vacuum for Pet Hair

Pets are gifts you bring into your household to add personality, warmth, and lots of play and laughter to your family unit. As part of caring for your home and especially a home with pets, a vacuum for pet hair is a must. But which is the best? Just as you selected the best furry counterpart for your home, you also have to select the best vacuum for pet hair. Pets have their antics, they’re endlessly entertaining, and they open up a space in your heart that no human could ever touch. But gosh, do they shed!

With all the attributes that pets bring into your home, the pet hair they bring in is a reality you have to face. Yes, a lustrous coat is gorgeous and even the most well-groomed dog inevitably leaves hair behind on your furniture—or worse—your clothes. It’s easy to see pet hair on hardwood floors but it’s a little sneakier if you have carpet.

Not all vacuum cleaners are designed specifically to handle pet hair. Plus, with so many different varieties like cordless vacuums, upright vacuums, handheld vacuums, and robot vacuums, it can be hard to decide which to choose for your home. If you’re not sure which option is the best, don’t worry. In the list below, we cover the best overall vacuum for pet hair and highlight all the other convenient designs available on the market.

The Top Picks for Vacuum Cleaners for Pet Hair

#1 Best Overall: Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum Cleaner

The best overall vacuum for pet hair is the Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum Cleaner.

This vacuum cleaner has the strongest suction of any vacuum and is powerful enough to handle even the toughest tasks. It has a self-adjusting cleaner head that seals and suctions across different floor types like carpet, wood, vinyl, and tile. The turbine tool is tangle free and it also comes with a stair tool so that you can easily clean pet hair from steps throughout your home. A combination tool is included as well. Plus, you can hygienically empty the bin with the push of a button.

The whole-machine filtration ensures that any allergens left throughout your home are easily and quickly trapped inside the machine, never ejected back into the environment to litter your floors, furniture, or air quality. This Dyson vacuum cleaner is engineered with significantly more power to help you keep your home spic and span. It was designed specifically for homes with pets because the turbine tool can be dislodged from the upright vacuum, and you can use it to clean pet hair from carpet and furniture without any annoying tangling. There’s also an instant release wand that helps you reach high into those hard-to-reach places to keep your home clean from floor to ceiling.

However, some customers have reported that this vacuum is quite heavy to move around. Also, some found that the flexible hose for the attachments is quite stiff rather than being fully flexible as expected.

Pros and Cons of the Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum Cleaner

Best Overall

Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum Cleaner

• Powerful suction gets up all the hair
• Works on carpet, wood, vinyl and tile
• Includes tool to vacuum stairs
• Designed for homes with pets that shed

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2. Best Cordless: Shark SV1106 Navigator Freestyle Upright Bagless Vacuum

Having to plug and unplug your vacuum cleaner to move from room to room and floor to floor can add unnecessary time to your cleaning regimen. If you’re looking for a cordless vacuum, then the Shark SV1106 Navigator Freestyle Upright Bagless Vacuum gets the job done with the convenience you’re looking for.

This vacuum is portable, versatile, and only weighs 7.5 pounds. It’s optimized for different floor types like carpet and hardwood floors and provides premium pet hair pick-up, no matter where your pet loves to lounge the most.

The .64 quart dust cap is easy to empty, and its extra-large size makes it so you don’t have to keep emptying it while cleaning. Instead, you can focus on extended cleaning without getting interrupted. The charger it comes with doubles as a storage block, and you can charge it within four hours. The advanced swivel steering gives you exceptional control when you’re maneuvering around furniture, pet beds, and other items throughout your home. The motorized brush is designed specifically to lift embedded pet hair from your carpets, helping you feel like your home is actually clean again. Carpets hide a lot but with a great vacuum cleaner like this cordless one, you can seriously feel the difference.

Unfortunately, customers have reported that this vacuum does not hold its charge for as long as expected, resulting in them needing to charge it more often.

Pros and Cons of the Shark SV1106 Navigator Freestyle Upright Bagless Vacuum

Best Cordless

Shark SV1106 Navigator Freestyle Upright Bagless Vacuum

• Cordless model makes it easy to clean anywhere without the hassle of messy cords
• Lightweight at a mere 7.5lbs
• Works on carpet and hard surfaces
• Extra-large housing means less time spent emptying the dirt and fur
• Swivel steering makes vacuuming a breeze

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3. Best Handheld: Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Lithium Ion Cordless Vacuum

Sure, you need an upright vacuum to handle all the floors throughout your home but sometimes your long-haired cat has just left a ton of pet hair on your furniture and your guests are on the way. That’s where a handheld vacuum such as the Bissel Pet Hair Eraser Lithium Ion Cordless Vacuum comes in.

This vacuum is cordless and operates with a 14 V lithium-ion battery for lithium-powered cleaning. The motorized brush gets to work right away to remove embedded dirt and pet hair and the dirt cup capacity maxes out at 0.7 liters. The dirt bin is ample, helping you get rid of pet hair easily. It’s equipped with triple-level filtration to help improve cleaning performance and comes with a set of specialized pet tools including the motorized brush tool, an upholstery tool, and a crevice tool.

Pet hair isn’t the only thing this vacuum takes care of. Pet messes happen all the time, whether it’s kibble that spills out the food bowl or accidents that leave your floor littered with miscellaneous debris. With this tool, you can tackle soft surfaces on your furniture and can reach into those tight spots in between cushions. It can even help to keep your pet’s bed free from grime and pet hair.

Unfortunately, a replacement filter for this vacuum is a little pricier than expected. Also, some customers have reported that this vacuum takes a long time to charge, which is not ideal.

Pros and Cons of the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Lithium Ion Cordless Vacuum

Best Handheld

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Lithium Ion Cordless Vacuum

• Handheld for easy portability
• Operates on powerful 14V lithium-ion battery
• Easily picks up dirt and pet hair
• Easy-to-empty dirt bin
• Includes special pet-specific cleaning tools to work on upholstery and crevices

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4. Best Upright: Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Bagless Upright Vacuum

Our selection as the best upright is the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Bagless Upright Vacuum.

This bagless upright vacuum by Bissell is a two-in-one vacuum with a lift-off technology that easily transitions from a powerful upright vacuum to a detachable, portable lift-off canister. It’s equipped with edge-to-edge suction for powerful cleaning around those typically hard-to-reach areas like room edges and baseboards. It comes with a tangle-free brush roll, which is perfect when dealing with pet hair (and long human hair—hey, we shed too!). The cyclonic pet hair spooling system makes it so that you can empty all the yuck you suck up completely hands-free. Plus, you can extend your reach with specialized pet tools like a built-in telescoping wand!

This upright vacuum is equipped with a “smart seal” allergen system that captures fine dust and allergens inside the vacuum, without spitting them back out into the air. There is an optional Febreze pet odor eliminator filter that helps you deliver the fresh scent of Febreze throughout your home for a clean you can smell.

The main complaint that customers had about this product is that the cord is too short. Some people also found that the front of it is too bulky to get underneath some furniture.

Pros and Cons of the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Bagless Upright Vacuum

Best Upright

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Bagless Upright Vacuum

• Bagless vacuum with portable lift-off canister
• Works on hard-to-reach areas to get rid of dirt and dander
• Features "smart seal" allergen system to keep your home allergen-free
• Swivel features makes navigating tricky areas super-simple

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5. Best Robot Vacuum: ILIFE V3s Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Obviously, we have to highlight a high-tech device, so the best robotic vacuum is the ILIFE V3s Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner.

This vacuum cleaner brings tangle-free suction, automatic self-charging, daily scheduled cleaning, and ultimate convenience together into one awesome robot vacuum. Listen, we understand if you like the satisfaction of watching your environment get clean while doing it yourself but how about watching your environment get clean without having to lift a finger? Yes, it’s a bit of a splurge but it’s totally worth it if you don’t enjoy vacuuming yourself (especially if you’re gone all day and just want to relax when you get home).

This robot vacuum is equipped with tangle-free pet hair technology, which focuses on picking up hairs, dirt, and debris on hard floors. It has a low-profile design that gets under your beds, underneath your furniture where those dust bunnies love to form and is ideal for hard surfaces like hardwood, tile, laminate, or stone. It’s self-charging and you can program it on a specific schedule so that it works while you’re away from home, for instance. It’s also equipped with smart sensors so that it doesn’t bump into anything on the floor and so it doesn’t fall down stairs or from any other lifted environment. Operate it easily with a remote control or use the one-touch auto clean button on the robot.

The only drawback to this product that we can find is that it can get stuck on uneven floors or rucks in the carpet.

Pros and Cons of the ILIFE V3s Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Best Robot Vacuum

ILIFE V3s Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner

• Robot vacuum works without human assistance
• Automatically self-charges to be always ready to clean
• Tangle-free pet hair technology
• Low-profile design allows it to reach under furniture
• Smart sensors keep it from falling down stairs
• Remote control-operated

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Choosing the Best: What to Look For

So many styles, colors, prices, potential discounts, reviews, and opinions to sort through! It’s not easy shopping for a stellar vacuum when you’re presented with an overwhelming set of information. We worked to simplify the endless chatter for you and give you a list of six straightforward models so you can spend more time keeping your home clean and less time trying to find the best vacuum for pet hair.

Cost

Obviously, the cost is an important consideration but when shopping for a vacuum, it’s best you consider it an investment and not so much an expense. We highlighted several different models at different price points, keeping varying budgets in mind. The best overall is definitely at the higher end of the options but what can we say? It’s worth it. You can also add protection plans to help you feel more confident about your purchase. But if it’s not within your budget, you have plenty of other, more affordable options too. Just pick a style that makes sense for your needs and enjoy a more budget-friendly product that gets the job done.

Durability

Here’s where the investment part really kicks in. A high-priced piece of junk is no better than a low-priced piece of junk. Durability matters. If you spend moderately on a model that you intend to keep for at least a year, you’re being realistic. If you’re looking for a vacuum that can handle pet messes and hair for years to come, consider the durability of the model and any protection plans you may be able to purchase.

Type

Does a long cord bother you? If so, lessen your headaches and frustrations while cleaning and just go for the cordless option. Your future self thanks you already. Are you looking for a lift-off feature that helps you easily transition from floors to curtains and ceiling corners? Choose the model with this two-in-one feature. Are you not into vacuuming at all and totally willing to spend money on technology that takes care of the task for you? The robot vacuum—that’s the way to go. Be honest with yourself about the type of model you would benefit from the most and buy that one.

The Different Types of Vacuums for Pet Hair: Pros and Cons Compared

Cordless Vacuum

Handheld Vacuum

Upright Vacuum

Robot Vacuum

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