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Molly Higgins
Gear
Cordless, handheld, robot, and traditional—we tested them all to find the vacuum that’s fantastic for fur.
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Best Overall
Dyson Gen5 Detect
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Best Inexpensive Cordless
Ryobi 18V One+ HP Stick Vacuum
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Best Handheld
Dyson Humdinger
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Best Cheap Handheld
Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus
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Having pets is one of the best things in life. A cute little guy who’s forced to live with (and love) me? Sign me up. One downside, though, is the constant shedding. Fur is particularly tough to clean up. If it’s short and coarse, like my cat Basil’s, it gets easily embedded in fabrics and carpet; if it’s long and fluffy like my cat Clover’s, it flies away to accumulate in hard-to-reach corners. But whatever your situation, there’s a vac for that!
The technology has improved by leaps and bounds in the past two decades, and vacuums come in all shapes and sizes. I and a few of my pet-owning colleagues have tested a ton of vacuums—from traditional corded models to cordless, handheld, robotic, and even 2-in-1 vac/mop combos—to find out which ones are best at sucking up fur and dander.
We recommend our favorites here, but we’re continually testing more, so check back often. And be sure to check out our related guides, like the Best Hand Vacuums, Best Dyson Vacuums, and Best Robot Vacuums.
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How We Tested
I tested these pet hair vacuums for a week if not more (I’ve been using both the Dyson cordless and handheld for months now), and I’ve used them on nearly every surface in my house—including the cat trees and behind my two cats’ litter box. When testing began, I lived in a large house with three cats and a dog (more hair in a larger area), and for the latter half of testing, I lived with two cats in a small apartment (slightly less hair in a smaller area with less places for hair to hide).
I also tested every attachment on problem areas like carpeted stairs, crevices of air vents, a high-pile rug, and hardwood floors. Not all pet hair vacuums are created alike, and they vary quite a bit in their effectiveness on different surfaces and with different attachments. I set these up, charged ’em, and vacuumed with them until they died, noting run time, power, effectiveness, and ease of emptying the bin and cleaning the filter.
What to Look For
It seems like a lot of brands will slap the words “pet hair” onto a product and market it as such without really specifying why or how it’s effective for pet hair. Of course, I tested those to see if they put their metaphorical vac mouths where their money was. On the flip side, I also tested some that were well rated for overall efficacy but not marketed toward pets—like the Roborock Saros 10R, a pricey robovac that uses AI mapping and can identify pets nearby and quiet its motor.
Speaking of, vacuums and pets are inherently antithetical. Vacuums are a necessary evil to combat pet hair, but your pets will likely be scared of them. If my cat Basil had opposable thumbs, I know he’d be leaving hate comments on this article. Aside from the robovac picks (which for some reason my cats don’t mind), my cat Basil had a mild cardiac event each time I tested the other vacs on this list. So along with effectiveness and suction, I also took into consideration loudness, as well as how easy the product is to handle.
Generally though, when shopping for a pet hair vacuum, look for suction power, bin capacity, attachments, and type of bristle or motor bar—figure out what’s going to be doing the actual picking up of dust, dander, and pet hair. I found that conical bars like the ones on certain Dyson models work well to not get tangled, and dual brushes like on the Ryobi work together to effectively pick up more. Also read reviews from real people with real, furry pets, but know that no two pets are alike. Take into consideration what kind of shedder you live with, and what type of space needs cleaning; a robovac may not be best for a house with multiple flights of carpeted stairs.
Honorable Mention
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Tineco Go Pet Cordless Vacuum for $350: As when I tested the Tineco Go Mini for my handheld vacuums guide, I was a bit underwhelmed by this vacuum specifically for pets. It’s not bad, but it’s also not outstanding. Like the Ryobi, it has a slot for easy brush removal if hair gets stuck around the bars, which is a helpful thing to have when you’re dealing with pet (and human) hair. The lever and the angle of the lid for emptying are counterintuitive, and the first few times I emptied it, the debris went everywhere. It’s hard to distinguish between eco and power modes, and the vac blinked red and the brush stopped rotating when transitioning between surfaces. (It especially had a hard time on my thin runner rug.) I’d have to turn it off and let it rest before restarting. It felt a bit heavier and clunkier than others as well. But, it does have handy lights to illuminate debris and comes with attachments to make handheld cleaning a breeze. I could probably overlook those faults, but with such amazing cordless vacs to compare it to, it just wasn’t as good.
Not Recommended
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Eufy RoboVac 11S Max for $200: Our esteemed competitors at places like The Strategist and Wirecutter loved this cheap robovac, so I bought one for myself before moving into my new apartment with two cats. And I have to say, I don't agree with them. Yes, this robovac is significantly cheaper than most others and has generally good ratings, but I have nothing nice to say about it besides that it is able to go under furniture and suck up pet hair I otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Its navigation system is random, it doesn't have an app (but it does come with a remote control to direct it to a specific spot or schedule cleanings), it’s loud, and it tends to be attracted to cords. (If there is even one cord around, it will somehow directly go to it and spin on a never-ending loop. Don’t even talk to me about the afternoon it got ahold of a stringed cat toy.) It has extreme difficulty traversing even minor height differences, like the small panel of wood between the hallway and bathroom door. It has a toxic love affair with the bathmat and has nearly created a bald spot in the pile from continuous sucking. But most of all, it is needlessly hard to empty the bin, and nearly impossible to detangle all of the hair and fur from the bar or spinning brush beneath. There’s gross hair that will probably still be wrapped around the mechanism until the day I am put into the ground. This cursed thing will outlive us all, I fear.
Correction: 3/14/25, 3:41 pm EST: An earlier iteration of this piece erroneously linked Ryobi's stick vacuum bare tool and kit to thePBLSV716model, not thePBLS719. The copy has been changed to reflect this.
Molly Higgins is WIRED's Commerce Production and Operations Coordinator. She tests mattresses, sleep gear, cat gadgets, and helps oversee our coupon program. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from UCLA and an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She was previously the associate ... Read more
TopicsShoppinghouseholdvacuumrobot vacuumsmart homebuying guidescleaningpets
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