Best Vacuum for LITTER

[waltercat]

Hey everyone, 

Since getting a cat (that refuses to use anything but clay litter), Litter has been my nemesis! It's tracked all over my condo and I sweep multiple times a day and just make a pile to vacuum/sweep up. Anyways, so i'm looking for a vacuum for general cleaning but mainly that is sucks up cat litter easily. Most reviews I read are about pet hair, but that's not my concern. My place is 700 Sq ft and all laminate flooring. 

Cost isn't too much of an issue as long as it picks up the darn litter (and I can catch it on sale!)

I've been looking into Dyson DC 50 Animal   - which I've read mixed reviews for picking up cat litter.

I've also been looking into the Shark  Navigator Lift Away Professional    - which I've read it's pretty good on litter. I always thought Shark vacuums were garbage, but this has outstanding reviews and is apparently comparable to Dyson. 

I'm open to other options. What have you guys found best for cat litter specifically? Thanks!

 

[Winchester]

You will pry my Dyson Animal vacuum out of my cold, dead hands. It's the best thing I've ever had for vacuuming cat litter. Bar none!

 

[catpack]

I second the Dyson! We have 2 at my house and it's also what we use for the rescue, so LOTS of litter has been sucked up!

 

[mani]

 
You will pry my Dyson Animal vacuum out of my cold, dead hands. It's the best thing I've ever had for vacuuming cat litter. Bar none!

     Same for me with my power drive Miele.... It's 10 years old so that model is not available now, but I swear by the manufacturer.

This is probably the most recent version: 
But they are horrendously expensive.

 

[jcat]

     Same for me with my power drive Miele.... It's 10 years old so that model is not available now, but I swear by the manufacturer.
This is probably the most recent version:  http://www.amazon.com/Miele-Complete-C3-Cat-Dog/dp/B00R43I490/ref=dp_ob_title_home
But they are horrendously expensive.

I'll second the vote for a Miele. We have a 16-year-old Miele Air Clean Plus that beats any other vacuum I've used, including a Dyson.

 

[jinxybean]

I'm very surprised how well the Shark Navigator Professional works!  My mom bought it for cat litter and pet hair for her hardwood floors and it picks up everything, plus it also does well on her area rugs.   What I really like about it is the ability to use it as an upright vacuum and convert it to a canister or portable hand-held as needed.  Since using hers, I think I'm going to get one for myself to use in the hardwood areas and throw rugs of my house (I have a Kirby for my carpeted areas).

I think it's a good choice!

 

[denice]

I thought about getting a Miele the last time I bought a vacuum.  To be honest it was considerably more than I wanted to spend, of course if it lasted 15+ years it would be worth it.  I have heard them referred to as the Rolls Royce of vacuum cleaners.

 

[swampwitch]

I recently bought some of those no-track mats to put in front of the litter boxes. It makes a HUGE difference! 

These are the ones I bought: http://www.petsmart.com/cat/mats-liners/whisker-city-cat-litter-mat-zid36-7219/cat-36-catid-200097, but I went by texture solely, it's soft and kind of spongy. I know for certain that one of my cats would not step on some of the other no-track mats, like the plastic grass ones.

 

[Miriette]

I've actually used both of those vacuums! My mom has a Dyson and I have the Shark Navigator. There were no cats at my parents' place so I'm not sure how great the Dyson would have been for picking up litter, but it did do a pretty good job with everything else including dog hair. I decided to go for a cheaper vacuum for myself and picked the Shark. Honestly I can't really tell a difference between the two when it comes to picking up hair, and the Shark does a great job picking up the litter my new buddy likes to vigorously shake around every time he exits the litter box. You probably wouldn't go wrong picking either one but the Shark is cheaper and I doubt there's a huge difference between the two.

 

[waltercat]

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all the suggestions and help! Sounds like you can't really go wrong with either, I'll eventually make a decision.  I may check out the Miele as well, and that litter mat! My cat literally just jumped off my couch and left a pile of litter next to me. 

 

[waltercat]

Thanks! We have a pretty crappy litter mat..which honestly I think he just jumps over. Will look into this as that's part of the problem!

 

[LTS3]

Is there a particular Dyson model that people here recommened? The Dyson Ball Multi Floor upright is on sale this week at Target and Best Buy, at least where I live. Is this a good vaccuum for litter and cat hair? Or is another model better? I need something that doesn't lose suction due to litter, litter dust, and cat hair. I currently have a Eureka Pet but the filter gets clogged all the time and loses all suction

Before that I had a Shark vacuum / steam mop but it didn't pick up litter very well (actually spread the litter around

) and didn't have a hose with attachments to get into small spaces.

 

[denice]

I think most people have the Dyson Animal.  I used to have the one that your talking about and it does a good job.  I think the main difference between the two is a turbine attachment for the hose to do furniture that comes with the Dyson Animal.

 

[kkoerner]

I have the Shark Navigator and love it.

 

[grizzlysapien]

I wonder if either Dyson, Shark or Miele would do any good for my case (although Shark isn't sent to Athens Greece as I saw on Amazon 

), with Grizzly being terrified of vacuum cleaners.. Does any of these release less noise, as opposed to "conventional" vacuum cleaners?

 

[Winchester]

I think the Dyson is noisy. What I usually do with our gang is put them in the bedroom (I don't have to shut the bedroom door because once I start the vacuum, they won't leave the bedroom). They'll hang out there and I go can through the house. When I'm ready to vacuum the bedroom, I'll shut the vacuum off and take them out to the living room. And then vacuum the bedroom.

Boo stays where he wants; he can't hear the vacuum anyway.

The cats will stay out of the way. We have the purple Animal Dyson (it's very old by now, not a newer model)  and they don't like the Purple Monster.

 

[grizzlysapien]

Yeah, I do the same thing with Grizzly. I confine him in my mother's bedroom but, just to be sure, I have to close the door as well.. Last time he heard the vacuum, he followed me around the house and BOOM - a nice looking bite on my calf.. So, I'm never doing the same mistake. It's just that I was wondering if these vacuums are less noisy so I could switch to one of these and stop being so worried of getting bitten again.

Seems like I won't! LOL 

I have a very old vacuum cleaner, but it is the real deal. It does excellent job with the hair and the litter, even if it wasn't designed for that particular purpose. It was actually designed to vacuum on carpets and wash them (multiple function, kind of). And you can hear it from Greece to the moon.. Yeah.. "noisy" is an understatement.. 

 

 

[Winchester]

I hear you. My mother had a cat who loved the vacuum cleaner and she loved to be vacuumed. When Mom took the vacuum out of the hall closet, that cat would walk over and rub all over the vacuum cleaner. And Mom would have to plug it in and vacuum the cat before she could clean the house. Cuddles was the kitty's name and she never needed any brushing....she got vacuumed regularly! As our Hydrox got older, he got to where he liked being vacuumed. And when I would get our vacuum out, he would hop up to the back of our sofa and walk over to me, so that I could gently vacuum him. It must have been the way the suction of the vacuum acted on his fur or something. He'd turn around for me so I could get his whole body, then I'd say, "All done!" and he'd jump down and go his merry way.

My gang? Hate the vacuum.  

 

[LTS3]

Which Dyson Animal? There are a few different models and my eyes glaze over looking at them and trying to figure out what the main differences are between them are.

I can get these Animals at a discount (at least half the retail price) after redeeming some reward points:

Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal Plus Allergy Upright Vacuum

Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal Upright Vacuum

Dyson DC47 Animal Canister

Dyson DC50 Animal Upright

I considered a Roomba for awhile but I can't see how a round Roomba can get to the dust bunnies and litter that live in the wall corners

 

[Winchester]

I can't say anything about the newer Dysons. Mine is not a ball. It's one of the really old ones, from many years ago. But it works. Honestly, it's the best vacuum I have ever used for litter. Or anything else, for that matter. It's heavy....or ours is heavy. 

This is our vacuum. See? Old. No ball. I asked Rick how old our Dyson was and he thinks it's a good ten years old. Long cord and I like that. Not a retractable cord and I like that because retractable cords tend to stop retracting after a while. Our house is fairly small. I can plug the cord into a socket in the bathroom and (almost) reach throughout the entire house. The hose is really long, too. I use it in the main part of the house, I use it in the basement, and I clean my cars with the Dyson.

I don't know about the newer ones, but we are on our third hose now for this one. The hoses don't last well, IMO; they get holes at the top. I would not recommend buying from Sears, but that's because we'd had a lot of issues when we've purchased anything from Sears. Your mileage may vary. I can't say much for Dyson's customer service either; we needed a new hose and they didn't want to sell us one. They wanted us to return the entire vacuum back to them for inspection and any "repairs". And they wanted to install the new hose. Um, no. We could do it ourselves. So they didn't want to sell us the hose. We bought it elsewhere and probably at a cheaper price. Dyson stuff is expensive, IMO.

We bought a Hoover Wind Tunnel a couple years ago, during the time we were having trouble with the Dyson's hose. Biggest vacuum mistake we ever made. That thing is horrible for picking up (or trying to pick up) cat litter. We've relegated it to the basement and I haven't used it in a long time.

When this one finally dies, we'll get another Dyson, even with the problems with Dyson's customer service.