what is a good vacum cleaner for cat owners?

I have the Dyson ball DC25 Animal vacuum. LOVE it. It picks up so much and never gets clogged. Sometimes MY hair will build up on the roller brush - I shed worse than my pets - but none of the cat hair ever gets stuck. I spent about $500 on it back in 2008.

I agree. We bought our Dyson Animal (purple) back around the early-to-mid 2000s and it's the best vacuum we've ever had. It was a little pricey, but it was worth every penny in our minds. We have six cats and it does a beautiful job.

Dyson - no need to say more. Unfortunately I don't own one but would sure love one.

I have the top of the line Oreck ($700+) and never a problem of any kind. It's quiet (doesn't scare the cats) and light weight, comes with a separate vac for all the other things a vac is needed for. Also has a 21yr guaranty that provides free cleaning at the shop twice a year.

I need to check the name of mine, I forget. It's aimed for pet hair.. works GREAT on carpet, but does a crappy job on hardwood floors. Wanted to give you the name to stay away from.

I had a Dyson, although not a upright, and sold it to my parents as I wasn't impressed for the price after using it for a while (brush was air powered and wussy IMO, but I forget the model number). I had bought a Eureka Capture+ Pet Lover back in the day just on a trial basis to see if I'd prefer an upright, and I liked it much better and it did a better job at a much lower price. I'm sure there is similar and/or better stuff out now inexpensively. Important is just a good wand attachment, I prefer uprights, and its nice to have HEPA filtration so it picks up those allergens and doesn't just blow them right back out the exhaust into the air. Most of Dyson's patents have run out, so you can get the same tech from mainstream competitors for cheap now.

I mainly use 500 series Roombas though, as I'm too lazy to vacuum. Considering they run every three days or so, IMO I get a better result than I do vacuuming simply because its more frequent than I'd be willing to do it by hand. Most of my house is tile though, and for tile or hardwood they work great, on carpet the battery limits how many rooms one can do.

When you think you've found a few in your price range w/ the features you want, I would recommend plugging it into Amazon.com. Its a great place for reviews. I'd just recommend not getting too hung up on price, as you hit diminishing returns pretty quickly on these, and in my experience a $800 vacuum is not even twice as effective as a $200 vacuum.

I have six cats and a Bissell Pet Hair Eraser upright vacuum - and I think it does an absolutely fantastic job. It's also noisy and heavy, but since it does the job so well, I'm ok with that.

I would love, love, love to get a couple of Roomba's... but I haven't yet been able to justify dropping that much money to replace perfectly good equipment I already own.

When the Bissell dies, however...

AC

I have a Dyson Animal upright. I love it. I've had it since 2009 I think, maybe 2008. And it works like a charm. It really gets out the cat dander from down deep in furniture and rugs, unlike a lot of vacuums that just suck up the surface stuff.

I have a Dyson DC 25 Ball All Floors that I paid $399 for last summer. Best investment I ever made! I have four cats of my own and usually a foster or two and a variety of flooring types in my home - wall to wall carpet, area rugs, hardwood, tile - and this thing does an amazing job picking up the hair and dander. No problems with clogging.

This. I would love one too!

That's just a cutesy thing they do on commercials to impress people. . .ANY vacuum could pick up a bowling ball if the seal around the ball was tight enough. You could suck on a straw and pick up a bowling ball if the seal was tight enough. So that means nothing. Whenever you see a likely looking model, run it through Google and read the reviews (not just Amazon, although they do have the most reviews).

I have a Kirby and it works great, but I know you could get one just as good for a lot less. Dang home salesmen!

Oh, and look in the manual that came with your vacuum, see if there's a troubleshooting section in there (or Google "*brand and model* troubleshooting"). There might be a filter that needs clearing out or a tube that got clogged or something.

I love the Shark Navigator, picks up more cat hair then I could imagine. WE have three long haired cats.

Someone here recommended it, and I couldn't find any bad reviews on it.

Leslie

Yup, like on the Eureka there's a HEPA and pre-filter that should be cleaned from time to time, and there is an obvious bagless container that pops out to empty.

Some people miss that above that container is a little swirly thing with a guard on it, and that can often get clogged w/ hair and cause the 'low performance' light to come on.

A more useful test for me would not be a bowling ball test, but to see if the vacuum attachment could pick up Wesley! Get the dirt... right from the source, heheh.

But speaking of attachments, there are some that have little motorized brush attachments and these are a REALLY nice feature, as it makes it so much easier to clean the car, around the litterbox, and on furniture.

I have a Dyson, too. I've had it for quite a while, 7 years, approximately. It works well. I have nothing to complain about regarding it. It's a regular one (pre "ball"), not an "animal" model.

I got it at Target. It came with a deal, a gift card for $100 at Target.


Robin

I have the same thing and it does a pretty decent job. But I'm neurotic about getting rid of animal hair and litter box odor anyway I want Roombas and will buy a couple when the budget is right. My only problem with the Roomba is that one of my dogs might kill it

I've owned a Dyson Animal (DC-17 purple) since 2008 and it still runs just as amazingly well as the day I got it! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! I was given mine as a present, but if I had to go out tomorrow and buy a new vacuum, I would say the Dyson's are worth every single penny and I would definitely get another one!!

For reference, I have 3 dogs and 3 cats....of those, 2 dogs and 1 cat are long-haired. (I also have asthma/allergies and notice a significant improvement on those issues when I use my vacuum!)

Then I must have gotten mine at the end of 2007, because I had mine before you.

So 3 1/2 years and still going strong. I really love the turbine furniture tool. And it's so easy to empty the canister. One hand is all that is needed. Hold the bottom in a plastic trash bag and press a button. No mess or dust flying everywhere.

I have the shark navigator..I like it bacause its light. I've had better suction with ALOT heavier vacs. For the price I like it.