The best vacuums for pet hair, tried and tested

While furry friends are welcome in our homes, the fluff and smells cats and dogs deposit aren’t. Pet hair can be fiendishly difficult to banish, so we’ve tried and tested the best vacuum cleaners designed to get rid of it. In a hotly contested market, any vacuum that sucks up hair and dirt could call itself a pet vacuum. We’ve only included vacuums with a smell-reducing filter, specialised hair-collecting attachments and decent suction power.

There are pet versions of the best cordless vacuums, upright vacuums, cylinder vacuums and even robot vacuum cleaners. Our Telegraph Recommended experts, one of whom owns two dogs and four long-haired cats, tried them all and narrowed the field down to a top 12. You can read our reviews below, followed by the answers to some frequently asked questions. If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at our top five:

Which are the best vacuum cleaners for pet hair? At a glance

How to choose the best vacuum for pet hair

A good filter is key. That “pet smell” in houses comes from dander: microscopic particles of skin, saliva, sweat and other proteins, which can be as small as two microns (two thousandths of a millimetre). Dander can hang in the air for long periods of time, before settling into the fibres of carpets and upholstery.

When deciding what to buy, the acronym to look out for here is HEPA: a high-efficiency particulate absorbing filter. This is designed to trap 99.95 per cent of particles down to 0.3 microns in size, which includes pet dander as well as pollen, dust and many microorganisms, bacteria and some viruses.

“HEPA filters provide the best method of filtration,” says Katerina Petrova of the Happy House cleaning company. “You can find both bagged or bagless models, and the prices range from cheap to considerably more expensive. Good examples of this type of vacuum come from Miele, Shark and Dyson.”

How we test vacuums for pet hair