9 best vacuums for pet hair – fully tested by our home tech experts for fur-free cleaning bliss

Yes, the best vacuum for pet hair will pick up fur from your floors and furniture. But it must also deal with odors, trap allergens from pet dander, and clean up the rest of your home's general messes.

As Homes & Gardens' home tech editor, myself and a team of dedicated product experts fully test and review the best vacuum cleaners in our homes, in our dedicated test center, and even in a local pet shelter that's ridden with cat and dog hair. We've spent more than 1000 hours testing 68 of the world's best vacuums, and these are the nine best-on-test vacuums for pet hair.

Our guide is here to help you make a decision, and we robustly assessed each vacuum on pet hair pickup, odor, and allergen capturing, ease of use, cleaning, price, features, tools and attachments, and everything else that should make life easier as a pet owner.

The one-minute verdict

The cordless Dyson V15 Detect is the best vacuum for pet hair in almost every way. It has the best pet hair pickup we've ever seen, as well as a green laser that illuminates hidden debris, adaptive suction power, tight, anti-allergenic HEPA filtration and an attachment that can deep clean pet beds. Even though Dyson has released the upgraded Gen5detect, the V15 Detect still wins as it's almost identical but $100s more affordable.

The best upright vacuum for pet owners is the Shark POWERDETECT, a powerhouse that excels on every floor type with every debris type, cleaning every visible strand of pet hair in a single pass, even on carpet. And if you're looking to save money, the cordless Ultenic U16 Flex and the upright Bissell SurfaceSense are surprisingly impressive on fur considering they cost just $180 and $260, respectively.

A common and effective solution from pet owners is to invest in a robot vacuum that'll regularly take care of all the fur on the floor, and the eufy S1 Pro Omni is the best we've ever tested, as it’s one of the only robots that can actually remove deeply embedded fur from carpet.

The Quick List

Here's a quick overview of our best vacuums for pet hair. If any stand out, click on the jump links to take you to the more in-depth details below.

To better understand what to look for, there's a detailed how to choose guide at the bottom of the page. And if any of the terms in this guide sound like vacuum jargon, I've included a handy glossary to clear any confusion.

The best vacuums for pet hair in 2025

For more detail, here's our rundown of the very best vacuums for pet hair. We've personally tested every single one to see how they fared with fur.

The best vacuum for pet hair

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This is the best vacuum cleaner for pet hair, and one of the best in the world on every surface. It boasts unparalleled, market-leading suction power and exceptional performance on pet hair, especially when using Dyson's dedicated Motorbar cleaner head and hair screw tool that are designed exactly for that purpose.

Our expert tester Jaclyn Turner saw this first-hand when she tried the hair screw tool on her dog's lounge mat. She says, 'It is one of the only vacuum tools I've tried that not only revived the faux-sherpa bottom that is an absolute magnet for dirt but brightened the fleece top from a dusty blue back to its original turquoise.' Not only does it pick up pet hair effortlessly, it's so powerful that it revived an old dog bed to its original color.

I have since re-tested the V15 Detect at a local pet shelter where the floors were absolutely full of dog and cat hair. The V15 Detect swiftly and effortlessly vacuumed it all from every surface. Thick rugs, low-pile carpets, hard floors, stairs – it had no issue whatsoever vacuuming pet hair, and after spending hours there, not a single hair wrapped around the brushroll, which is one of the reasons why pet hair is so hard to vacuum.

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The Dyson V15 Detect, along with the newer (and more expensive) Dyson Gen5detect, leads our lineup of the best vacuums in the world. This is in part thanks to the green diode laser (see Glossary) which illuminates dust and particles that the naked eye can't see, and a particle sensor that measures microscopic dust particles in real-time so that it can automatically adjust suction power when needed. If the vacuum gets to a particularly dusty part of the floor, or moves onto a rug or carpet, the V15 Detect will up the suction in a fraction of a second.

But like most Dyson products, this quality comes at a cost. This is the best vacuum you can possibly buy for pet hair, with the best suction we've ever seen in a vacuum cleaner, but it will set you back more than $700. You may also find that dust occasionally gets stuck in the dust bin, and that having to hold down the trigger to keep it running might become uncomfortable, particularly if you have limited mobility in your hands (if that's off-putting, the Dyson Gen5detect and the V12 Detect Slim which we've reviewed as well have an on/off power button instead).

If you're willing to part with the money, you won't get any better than this. It also has a HEPA filter that can trap more than just the hair, but also the dander and super-fine particles that trigger allergies and spread odors at home.

Read more in our full Dyson V15 Detect review.

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Best upright vacuum for pet hair

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Our tester James Holland found out that Shark's latest upright vacuum, the accurately-named POWERDETECT, works like a dream on pet hair.

'With one pass, the Shark POWERDETECT had basically picked up every visible piece of hair (as well as litter near the litter box) from the carpet, filling the dust bin with an amount of hair equal to a second cat,' he shared after his cat went through a period of heavy shedding, leaving his carpet in need of a deep clean.

It was just as efficient on other floor types too, no matter what debris he threw at it. Seasoning powder, flour, sugar, and cereal were all vacuumed in one pass, alongside plenty of dust and dander.

It boasts a HEPA filter, an Anti-Allergen Complete Seal, and a wide 12-inch floorhead that covers a great deal of ground with each movement. 'On top of that, it’s good at getting edges even without the attachment tools as the brush rolls extend almost completely to the edges of the floorhead.'

This is helped by the vacuum's ability to detect edges, floor types and dust volumes to adjust suction power when needed. Move from wooden floor to carpet and the vacuum will up the power to get deeper into the carpet fibers. You can also use Shark's signature 'Lift-Away' feature when vacuuming tricky spots like stairs or under furniture. You can detach the pod and use the motorized nozzle for an easier and more lightweight clean.

At the time of writing, it retails for $399.99 by itself, or $499.99 with the TruePet upgrade that comes with a self-cleaning pet power brush. It might seem a little steep compared to some of the more modest cordless vacs, but it's worth the price when you consider all the cleaning power on offer. It's also a similar price to other upright vacuums like the Shark Stratos, which was released years ago and doesn't have the same up-to-date tech.

Read our full Shark POWERDETECT review for more details.

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Best handheld vacuum for pet hair

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Not only is this our best handheld vacuum for pet hair, it's the best handheld vacuum we've ever tested at Homes & Gardens. I was genuinely surprised that such a tiny vacuum could clean so well, and actually pull pet hair from carpets, furniture and soft upholstery.

I tested the dustbuster furbuster in a local pet shelter full of cat and dog fur. I vacuumed thick rugs, low-pile carpet, hard floors and furniture with it and it cleans almost as well as one of the best cordless vacuums. This is rare for a handheld vacuum, especially for less than $100, and it's mostly owed to the motorized attachment that's an essential vacuum attachment for pet hair.

I was able to deep clean a rug that hadn't been vacuumed in weeks and so was covered in dog hair. It was clean after just a few passes, and I didn't need to use the power boost, the higher suction mode that cleans even more comprehensively at the sacrifice of battery life.

The dustbuster furbuster's cleaning performance is so obvious that, each time I use it, the dustbin is absolutely full of hair. When I tested it alongside the Black+Decker 12V MAX, the dustbin was almost empty in comparison. It's super easy to empty too, and you can pull out the filter to shake any stubborn dust loose, which helps to prevent your vacuum from losing suction power.

Keeping a handheld vacuum nearby is a tip recommended by professional cleaners to stay on top of pet hair at home. The Black+Decker dustbuster furbuster is the perfect choice for this, and it even comes with a handy charging station so that it's always ready when you need it.

Read more in my full Black+Decker dustbuster furbuster AdvanceClean+ Cordless Pet review.

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Best budget cordless vacuum for pet hair

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I don't often recommend vacuums that sell for under $200, but Ultenic's affordable vacuums have surprised us a few times, previously with the U12 Vesla and now with the upgraded U16 Flex.

Of course, it's not as powerful as the others in this guide, but for the price, this is a decent cordless vacuum that can help to take care of pet hair at home. I tested it in a local pet shelter and, on hard floors, it picked up everything right up to the edges, even on stairs. And, no hair was wrapped around the brushroll.

It's also the only cordless vacuum we've tested that has a green laser that works almost as well as the best Dyson vacuums that cost $100s more. It revealed dust and pet hair that I couldn't see otherwise.

On low-pile carpets, the vacuum struggled to get those stubborn hairs that are stuck within the carpet fibers (one of the reasons it's so hard to vacuum pet hair). The green light revealed a lot of hair on the floor, which is helpful for cleaning, but it also showed all the hairs it leaves behind.

It was able to clean an entrance mat, however, and one of the trickiest surfaces we test on, but it took a lot longer than other vacuums I've tested, and it had to rely on the turbo suction mode to be able to finish the job.

When tackling all other types of mess, like fine dust and large debris, the U16 Flex did great. In our cereal and lentil test it performed better than some of the best Shark vacuums we've tested. Its floorhead has a wide opening so it has no issue vacuuming large pieces without flinging them across the floor.

It's certainly not perfect, but at this $200 price point, you won't find anything better. If you're comfortable spending an extra $100 however, I'd recommend the Shark POWERDETECT above.

The full Ultenic U16 Flex review is coming soon.

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Best budget upright vacuum for pet hair

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Seasoned tester Camryn Rabideau has reviewed more than 50 vacuums across all types, brands, and budgets, and even she was impressed by how well the Bissell SurfaceSense Allergen Pet Lift-Off performs at this low price point. And between her and her three pets, there's plenty of hair to be vacuuming.

It's hard to find an upright vacuum below $260, let alone one that can do a decent job of cleaning your floors, but as one of the most affordable picks in this guide, this model from Bissell might surprise you.

The Bissell SurfaceSense Upright did a fantastic job of vacuuming pet hair from rugs and carpets, even in the spots where Camryn's dogs hang out all day and collect hair. On hard floors, it was able to pull fur from a few inches away, showing that the 1000W motor, which is less powerful than other upright vacuums we've tested, can still create strong suction.

After a week of use, there wasn't any hair wrapped around the brushroll. The vacuum also comes with a motorized mini brush, one of the best vacuum attachments for pet hair when it comes to cleaning fur from furniture. Camryn used it to vacuum fur from her sofa and it managed it easily with its spinning rubber fins.

Pet hair performance aside, this is a nifty vacuum. It boasts the floor detection tech we love in premium models from Dyson and Shark, automatically adjusting its own suction power as it passes from hard floors to carpets, or after it senses a particularly dirty area.

As one of the best multi-surface vacuums, it can clean general dirt and dust from any surface with ease. It might not do so as efficiently as the more expensive vacuums in this guide, but if you're on a budget, this cleaning power is more than plenty.

Read more in our full Bissell SurfaceSense Allergen Pet Lift-Off review.

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Best carpet cleaner for pet messes

Resembling an upright vacuum, the Shark CarpetXpert is a full-sized carpet cleaner that's able to deep-clean carpets, rugs and furniture. Using clean and dirty water tanks, as well as an oxy-powered cleaning formula, the CarpetXpert can remove stains and clean up pet messes.

But this isn't actually our best carpet cleaner for pets. That would be the Bissell Revolution Hydrosteam, which was able to clean years-old stains from a local pet shelter using its deep steam cleaning power. The Shark CarpetXpert is our pick for this guide thanks to its dedicated tool to clean pet messes, but if you're not often cleaning up after your pets in this way, I'd go for the Bissell.

After weeks of testing, our expert reviewer Camryn was so impressed with the Shark CarpetXpert that she awarded it a rare 5 stars thanks to its cleaning power and thoughtfully designed features. It was able to deep clean a rug that she didn't even think was dirty, reviving the feel and color while being dry touch after one hour. She also cleaned a 6-month-old stain on a lounge chair using the included Shark StainStriker formula.

The true saving grace for pet owners is the dedicated pet accident tool, which has a 'small, self-contained dirty water tank that captures everything you suck up, stopping pet waste from getting into the main body of the cleaner.' The CarpetXpert was able to completely clean a vomit stain caused by our tester's cat while removing other old stains and discoloration in the process.

Thanks to all the removable parts, Camryn also found it surprisingly easy to clean (considering how dirty these components are getting), and they all store neatly on the appliance. She did note that the water tanks could be bigger, but it's a small critique when compared to the CarpetXpert's deep cleaning capabilities.

You can find more details in our Shark CarpetXpert review.

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Best pet hair vacuum for apartments

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The V12 Detect Slim is Dyson's smaller, lighter and more affordable alternative to their market-leading Dyson V15 Detect and Dyson Gen5detect, which we reviewed. It carries many of the same features; the laser that illuminates hidden dust, the accurate particle sensors, and the automatic power adjustment are still just as useful.

Unlike the Dyson V15 Detect, the V12 Detect Slim also has a single power button, creating less of a strain on your hands while vacuuming. This goes well with the lighter weight: the cordless vacuum is agile, smooth and very easy to use.

But the smaller size does bring its downsides, like a smaller dustbin and shorter battery life. Both of these are certainly noticeable, which is why the Dyson V12 Detect Slim might be better suited to smaller homes and apartments. When testing, I found the battery couldn't make it to the end of a whole-house deep clean, but it could be a good fit for those who clean more frequently and rarely need that deeper clean.

Regardless, its cleaning power shouldn't be ignored. Like we've come to expect from recent Dyson releases, its powerful suction is unrivaled by other brands. I tested it alongside four other vacuums at our test center (including the Henry Quick in this guide), and the V12 Detect Slim was always the vacuum I'd turn to when the others couldn't finish the job. No matter the debris, whether it's hair, dust or cereal, it could clear it all in one pass.

It's worth noting that hair did occasionally get wrapped around the FluffyOptic floorhead's brushroll, but it wasn't difficult to remove it. In the dustbin, hair can occasionally wrap around the filter, but once again, this is super easy to remove. Even when it comes to stubborn dirt/dust, tapping the dustbin or moving the opener back and forth removes anything that's lodged.

Read our full Dyson V12 Detect Slim review for more details.

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Best canister pet hair vacuum

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The Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog is purpose-built for pet hair. It’s equipped with a TurboTeQ floorhead – an upgrade you won’t get on the standard Blizzard CX1 models – and it makes a real difference when tackling embedded hair and fibers in carpets. It's what makes it our pick for the best Miele vacuum with a bagless dustbin.

We tested the Cat & Dog model in a local animal shelter and it lived up to its name. Hair was pulled up quickly and efficiently, and on hard floors, it was visibly drawn in from several inches away, before the head even reached it.

Even on the mid-settings, you can feel air being pulled in around the nozzle, and on carpet, there’s a satisfying grip as the vacuum suctions itself to the floor. It handled every surface in our pet hair tests with ease – low-pile carpet, thick rugs, upholstery, even a rough, stubborn entrance mat that sees high foot traffic all-day from people and animals.

While its performance on carpet is among the best we’ve seen, the standard EcoTeQ floorhead (which you’ll find in other CX1 versions) isn’t quite wide or agile enough to deal with heavy debris on hard floors. In those cases, using the nozzle without the floorhead actually proved more effective.

At just under $1,000, the Cat & Dog model is definitely an investment. If you’re after a more affordable route, the Blizzard CX1 PureSuction PowerLine offers similar performance minus the TurboTeQ, for around $629. Or, for something more compact, the Miele Boost CX1 is another decent option, though not quite as capable when it comes to lifting pet hair from deeper carpet.

Read more in my full Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog review.

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Best robot vacuum for pet hair

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I've spoken with dozens of consumers about the struggles of how to vacuum pet hair, and one solution stood out the most: invest in a robot vacuum. It's the most effective way to stay on top of the frequent cleaning without having to dedicate hours of the day to it as a robot vacuum can clean your floors as often as multiple times a day.

The eufy S1 Pro Omni is the best robot vacuum for pet hair that we've tested. Many of the robot vacuums we test can do a decent job of vacuuming the floors but struggle to pull hair from carpets (and the hair that does get vacuums gets wrapped around the roller).

But the eufy S1 Pro Omni didn't get a single hair tangled during a whole month of testing. Homes & Gardens' Head of Solved, Punteha van Terhedyen, has kept the robot vacuum since, and it continues to be a savior from pet hair, reducing how often she uses her canister vacuum by about 90%.

The robot leaves 'nothing on hard floors when it comes to pet hair and dust, and picks up much more than any canister vacuum I've owned on carpet.' This level of cleaning is pretty much unheard of in a robot vacuum; the only other we've tested with similar performance is the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+, but it's still not as thorough as the eufy.

It's also an impressive mop, using a cleaning solution (rather than just water) to sanitize your floors regularly. Punteha said after testing: 'It tackled sticky, sugary liquid spills with ease, sensing the spill and adjusting how many times it needed to do over the area.

'Much like the tests available to view on the manufacturer’s website, this robot vacuum also easily blasted through coffee, milk and ketchup stains with zero issues, residue, or spread.' Punteha has tested two other eufy robot vacuums as well as SwitchBots, and they do not cope with the ketchup. With the S1 Omni Pro, you can confidently say goodbye to muddy paw prints.

Its only downside is the price. It costs a whopping $1,500 at full price (and around $200-400 less if during sales), putting it as one of the most expensive options available.

The Eufy X10 Pro Omni is a great alternative if you're on a budget, but we learned that you need to buy a separate rubber-only eufy roller to be able to deal with pet hair. Otherwise, you'll be cutting out hair after every vacuum.

Read more in our full eufy S1 Pro Omni review.

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More pet hair vacuums

So there you have it. Those are the very best nine vacuums for pet hair, and in my professional opinion, the only ones that are truly worth considering for almost every home.

That being said, we've tested some other worthy contenders that didn't quite make the cut. They may have some unique features that your household would benefit from, so I've included their highlights below.

• As I mentioned above, the Dyson Gen5detect is actually the best vacuum for pet hair out of all the models we've tested, but it's $100s more expensive than the Dyson V15 Detect with only a slight difference in performance. I can only recommend it if money isn't an issue.
• The Shark Cordless PowerDetect, Tineco Pure One Station and Samsung Bespoke Jet all have cleaning stations that store weeks' worth of dust and hair, minimizing how often you're coming into contact with allergens. Of the three, the Shark cleaned the best on test.
• The Miele Complete C3 Cat & Dog is an excellent canister vacuum that's one of the best we've tested on pet hair, but it's also the most expensive at over $1,200. It's also a bagged vacuum, making it one of the best vacuums for allergies.
• The Bissell Revolution Hydrosteam is the absolute best carpet cleaner and stain remover that we've tested. If your home's carpets are full of old stains from muddy paws and messy animals, this will do the trick.
• The iRobot Roomba j7+ is great at picking up pet hair, with special obstacle avoidance to avoid any pet accidents. It's not nearly as powerful as the eufy S1 Pro Omni in this guide, but it's around half the price.
• The Miele Triflex HX2 is almost as strong at picking up pet hair as Dyson's cordless vacuums, but it's heavier and bulkier. It does have a more customizable design however, and is able to be configured as a top-heavy or flexible cordless stick.

How to choose the best vacuum for pet hair

Pet hair is a challenge for vacuums to pick up, and you also need to contain fur and dander to prevent allergies. You need strong suction that can pick up all pet hair without any shaking loose. Suction is often measured in air watts, but can be difficult to accurately quantify as it's influenced by other factors like motor type and airflow design. This is why it's important to read reviews for real-world analysis of how they perform.

Ensuring you choose a vacuum with the right filter type is essential. A HEPA filter (or better) is a must for trapping microscopic particles like pet dander and dust that can trigger allergies. Filters have to meet rigorous testing standards to be able to be labeled HEPA, as it must be able to trap at least 99.97% of airborne particles that are 0.3 microns in size.

Be careful of brands that state 'HEPA-style' or 'HEPA-like' filters, as these won't have met the standard.

When dealing with carpets or rugs, look for a motorized brush bar, which uses rigid bristles to agitate and loosen hair so that it can be sucked up from deep within the carpet fibers.

For hard floors, having pure suction flow through the cleaner makes more sense for hair, but look out for a cleaner that has a soft brush, designed to pick up pet dander and microscopic bits of dust first.

Tools for dealing with pet hair around the house are just as important. A mini motorized brush can be your best friend, giving you the same qualities as a floor brush in a smaller package that can help clean up pet beds and upholstery with ease, while avoiding hair wrap.

Any motorized tool with tangle-free technology is worth looking for, as you won’t have to worry about cleaning stuck hair so often.

Otherwise, look out for regular accessories (dusting brushes, crevice tools and so on) for getting into those hard-to-reach areas and removing all traces of pet hair from your home.

As pet hair comes with allergenic pet dander and odors, look for vacuums with dust-free or self-emptying, as well as a tight seal around the dustbin.

Pet hair vacuums aside, find out more insight in our guide on how to choose the right vacuum cleaner for your home. Factors like having kids, flooring types, the size of your home and how many levels there are should all be considered when choosing the right one.

How we test vacuum cleaners for pet hair

We have an in-depth article detailing our vacuum testing methodology, but briefly, when it comes to pet hair vacuums, we test them in our homes, in our test center, and in a local pet shelter for high-volume pet hair and mess testing.

It's important to us that we test these appliances on actual pet hair. That's why we test vacuums in a local pet shelter that is absolutely full of cat and dog hair, on carpets, thick rugs, entrance mats and hard floors, and work with expert vacuum testers who have pets in their homes and can commit to prolonged testing for real-world results.

We also assess how well each vacuum can capture odors, so that our furry friends' smells aren't re-released back into our homes. We evaluate HEPA filter performance and test each vacuum attachment to see how well it can pick up fur from furniture.

For more general household messes, we test each vacuum in our test center on carpet, linoleum and wood flooring. Our pantry tests include vacuuming set amounts of flour and sugar, which is a common kitchen spill but also substitutes well for dust and dead skin. We also test our vacuums on cereal and lentils, which shows how well the appliances pick up, crush or ping away larger debris.

Crucially, we've also tested these vacuums in homes with pets, so we know exactly how well each vacuum can pick up pet fur, how the pets reacted, and how well they remove any lingering pet smells.

We test the vacuum cleaners for a number of weeks (sometimes months) so we get a feel for the longevity and durability of each model. In some instances, we are also fortunate enough to keep the vacuum cleaners after writing up the review, so we can continue to learn about them and share our findings with you by updating our reviews and buying guides, such as this.

In every test we look out for factors such as maneuverability, run-time, smart features, emptying of the dust bin (or bag), and general controls so you know exactly what you are getting for your money. We compare the vacuums we test against predecessors, and assess their test results against the price to see if it's worth the spend.

We also take into account how heavy they are and note physical fatigue or discomfort from using them.

Meet our expert testers

Dan Fauzi

I am Homes & Gardens' home tech editor, covering everything from vacuums and floor care to sound and air purifiers. I've spent 100+ hours testing 19 vacuums for H&G both at home and in our test center, including the Dyson V12 Detect Slim and V15 Detect.

Alex David

Alex is our expert Head of eCommerce and has more than five years of experience as a product tester. He's especially knowledgeable with vacuum cleaners, and has spent hundreds of hours testing 30 vacuums of all types.

Jaclyn Turner

Previously the US eCommerce editor for Homes & Gardens, Jaclyn is well-informed on products for the home. She's been testing vacuums for four years and has now reviewed more than 16 vacuums, including the best vacuum for pet hair, the Dyson V15 Detect.

Camryn Rabideau

Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer and product reviewer who has expertly tested more than 50 vacuum cleaners. She tested the Shark Stratos Upright from her small homestead in Rhode Island with two dogs and a cat.

Punteha van Terheyden

Punteha is a senior editor at Homes & Gardens, with 17 years of consumer journalism and editing experience. She has a young daughter and two cats in her busy, small home. She has disabilities and chronic pain that limit her grip strength, ability to stand, and propensity for arduous housework. That's why robot vacuums have proven to be life-changing, reducing her household's need for canister vacuum usage by up to 90%. She has robustly tested six robot vacuums for several months in her home, including four of the latest eufy robots and combination vacuums, and two SwitchBot systems, some of which have built-in mop, cordless and handheld functionality.

FAQs

What's the best cordless vacuum for pet hair?

The Dyson V15 Detect is one of the best cordless vacuum cleaners on the market, and it's particularly adept at picking up pet hair, dust and dander. The V15 Detect comes equipped with a Piezo sensor, which is powerful enough to locate and capture particles and pathogens as small as 10 microns for a quick deep clean. There's also an anti-tangle conical bar brush to save you from picking out the pet hairs with your fingers. Retailing for around $800, the V15 Detect is expensive, but it's the best in the business.

What's the best robot vacuum for pet hair?

The best robot vacuum for pet hair is without a doubt the eufy S1 Pro Omni as delved into above. But a cheaper alternative is the iRobot Roomba j9+, which not only has good pickup performance, an auto-emptying bin so you can basically set it and forget it, and amazing navigating skills, but it also has features designed specifically for pet parents, including the ability to avoid pet accidents, pet toys, food bowls, cords, and many others.

What's the best vacuum for picking up pet hair on a couch?

For removing pet hair from a couch or other upholstery, you're looking for one of the best vacuum attachments for pet hair, like a mini upholstery tool that makes it easy to vacuum across delicate fabrics.

The best Dyson vacuums, like the V15 Detect, V12 Detect Slim and Ball Animal 2, tend to come with these attachments. Most cordless and handheld vacuum styles will be sufficient for removing pet hair and dander from upholstery.

Which is the best vacuum for picking up pet hair from the car?

For removing pet hair from places like the car, we recommend one of the best handheld vacuums, such as the Brigii Cordless Handheld and the BISSELL Pet Hair Eraser Lithium Ion Hand Vacuum, which has a built-in hair tool attachment that's easy to slide across upholstered seats.

Do HEPA filters help to pick up pet hair and dander?

When sucking up dust and pet hair, it’s often not what you can see that causes irritation and allergic reactions, but the microscopic dust that you can’t.

Pet dander, for example, are microscopic skin cells shed from animals that cause reactions in people with allergies.

The best HEPA vacuums are designed and rated to prevent these particles from escaping the vacuum cleaner, sealing in the dirt that’s collected. This is very important in a pet vacuum cleaner, particularly if anyone in the house (or a regular visitor) has sensitivities to your animals.

Is a bagless or bagged vacuum better for picking up pet hair?

As discussed above, a vacuum cleaner with HEPA filters is what you need if you suffer from allergies, keeping the microscopic irritants sealed inside the dust bin. However, the big issue is what happens when you empty a vacuum.

For bagless cleaners, emptying has to be done with care, as opening the bin can create a cloud of dust, releasing smaller particles back into the air, causing issues for those with allergies.

Bagged vacuum cleaners have an extra level of protection, as the bags act as both additional filters to prevent particle escape, but you also remove and throw away the dirt without exposing it to fresh air. Look for a cleaner that has self-sealing bags for the best results.

As such, bagged vacuum cleaners are often easier to deal with for households where members are very sensitive to allergens.

That doesn’t make bagless cleaners a poor choice, though: just be careful how and where you empty the vacuum’s bin. To prevent the spreading of allergens, a vacuum bin should be ejected either down, directly into a larger internal bin or, for additional safety, emptied in the same way into an outside bin.

Best vacuum for pet hair – Glossary

Here are some helpful terms to know for pet hair vacuums, but our dedicated vacuum jargon buster goes into more detail.

• Floorhead: The main vacuum cleaner attachment for floor cleaning (i.e. not the crevice tool, dusting brush etc). Some vacuums have separate floorheads for hard floors and carpets.
• Brushroll: Rotating cylinders within the floorhead (and occasionally in smaller, motorized attachments). They can be soft, fluffy rollers for hard floors or bristled to dig deep into carpets. Many vacuums from brands like Shark and Dyson will have two brushrolls in their main floorhead.
• Wand/hose: Long tube connecting the vacuum cleaner to the floorhead or any attachments (see here for what all the vacuum cleaner attachments do, like the crevice tool or dusting brush).
• Filter: Responsible for trapping the debris and particles as air passes through. Vacuums can have pre-motor filters and post-motor filters, to trap debris of different sizes at different points along the airflow.
• HEPA filter: Filter type that's able to capture at least 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns. It's a necessity in a pet hair vacuum as it's able to trap allergenic particles like pet dander (and household allergens like dust and pollen).
• Motor: The core component of a vacuum cleaner (it's also referred to as a suction motor). This is what converts the electrical power into mechanical power to create suction and airflow.
• Bagged/bagless: Some vacuums, typically older ones, use vacuum bags that you dispose of once full. Most vacuums are now bagless and have a dustbin that you conveniently empty when needed, without the need to buy additional bags. Bagged vacuums still have their advantages however, like dust-free emptying, complete odor and particle capture, and less filter maintenance.
• Detection: Some vacuums are able to 'detect' the type of flooring, how dusty/dirty the floor is, whether you're vacuuming edges, or which direction you're vacuuming. They can then automatically adjust suction power, as vacuuming carpet, edges and dust-heavy floors requires extra power, while vacuuming a fairly clean wooden floor doesn't require as much – saving energy or battery life.
• Power/air watts: A vacuum cleaner's power is best measured via air watts, reflecting the airflow and suction power in real terms. It's calculated by multiplying the airflow (in cubic metres per second) by the suction pressure (in pascals), accounting for variables like blockages or different-sized openings (from different vacuum attachments, for example).
• FluffyOptic (Dyson): The most advanced floorhead in Dyson's latest vacuums (the Gen5detect, V15 Detect and V12 Detect Slim) designed primarily for hard floors. It features a green laser that reveals hidden dust that the naked eye can't see.
• DuoClean PowerFins (Shark): Floorhead featured in many of Shark's vacuums. 'While a soft front roller pulls in particles, PowerFins deliver nonstop contact to pick up more in every pass.'
• QuadClean (Shark): Shark floorhead that can adapt to different floor types and dust levels.

It's crucial to bear in mind that these are just the best vacuums for pet hair; other vacuums have different qualities that are worth considering. We've also covered the best vacuums for hardwood floors and the best Dyson alternatives (for affordable quality).