I need to buy a vacuum, at last. I have lived in places without carpet for many years, but this new place does have carpet… and I have 5 cats. It’s like having two carpets, after a while. I have a ShopVac, but that is just not the way to go. I need a real vacuum, strong enough to extricate cat hair from pile carpeting, but I can’t spend a ton of money. Couple hundred at the VERY most…
Can folks tell me about their vacuums: brand, model, perfomance, and price? Other cat owners especially.
I have two cats (one ling hair and one short hair) who shed constantly. I finally broke down and bought a real canister vaccuum and it’s amazing. Waaaaay better than the upright I was trying to get by with.
I got mine from Sears (this one, I think - look! It’s on sale! I think it was when I bought mine too.) because they have a reputation for good vaccuums and most of their canister models come with this little attachtment called a “Power Mate Jr” which is basically a little rotating brush attatchment (like a smaller floor vaccuum attatchment) that you can use on furniture. It works great on the white cat hair that clings to my black sofa…
We have three cats and have an upright bagless from Bissell.
I think this is it. I’ve been extremely happy so far. It has a nice hose and attachments to go with it such as a long, narrow piece and a brush that works well on furniture and curtains. As you can see, it’s also under $100.
Good luck.
Our **evil kitten-sucker-upper ** is a Hoover Bagless. All the attachments, but you don’t have to worry about getting the right size bag. Nice *good * vacuum; but buy extra belts for it and remember to empty the dust bin before every use. 4 cat household.
A shop vac? Horrors! For furry carpets, you need something with good suction AND a rotating brush. I have a Hoover upright - can’t remember the model but it’s not a top-of-the-line nor a bottom-of-the-barrel. I think it’s about 14.5 horsepower. It cost me about $170 about 6 years ago.
If you’re only vacuuming carpets and rugs, then an upright is the way to go. If you’ve got to vacuum wood floors, then you need a canister. The uprights will tell you that you can use the attachments to vacuum wood floors. They are lying. Well, you can, but it doesn’t work. If you are dead set against an upright, you can get a canister but you need one with a full-power head. Not one of those little wimpy things about 3" wide.
I actually have two vacuums - the Hoover, above; and a little Eureka canister (without a rotating head) that I use for my wood floors and kitchen. It was about $45 at Wal-Mart and is shockingly powerful. But it is no good on carpets.
Signed, Person with Six Cats and Numerous Foster Kittens to Clean Up After
I have a Dirt Devil bagless, with a HEPA filter. I really love it! It’s very efficient, the HEPA filter works well, and no bags to worry about. I’ve had it serviced once in 5 years, and the service included new belts, new filters (it actually has two different filters) and a thorough oiling, and cost 70 bucks. The whole vacuum ran us about $150.00, and came with a Dirt Devil hand vac that I wouldn’t give you $2.00 for. I also have a Black and Decker Stick Shark bagless, and I like that, too, but mostly use it for my hard floors and upstairs work. It’s more powerful than it looks, but I wouldn’t think it would be powerful enough to use as a main vacuum, especially with 5 cats.
3 cat, 3 dog household here. We currently have a Hoover Windtunnel bagless. We buy a new vacuum every couple years, they get a lot of use. It still is hair city around here, no matter what we do, but it can make the place look presentable. Far and away, though, our best investment is a carpet shampooer. We have a Hoover, and a smaller Bissel for spot cleaning. I don’t know how much this stuff cost, we don’t buy expensive vacuum cleaners cause we blow through them so fast.
The carpet shampooer is mostly for the dogs (one is very old) - do your cats puke a lot? You might be able to get by with just a small one, like our Bissel spot cleaner - $29.99 at Wal Mart. If your cats are not pukers, you probably don’t need a cleaner. We just have so many animals a carpet cleaner is a necessity, but the one dog is responsible for 95% of the accidents. Tiny little hairball pukes really aren’t a problem.
I have the same vacuum as tremorviolet. It works really well on my stupid carpet to get the cat hair up (2 long hair, 1 shorthair). I bought it to replace my Hoover bagless upright. That vacuum was terrible (I would say it sucked, but it didn’t- heh heh) It broke belts all the time, I had to dump it after every room I cleaned and was a general P.I.T.A. I am SO happy with my new powerful suction cannister vac. YAY!
I have the same vacuum as tremorviolet and LVgeogeek too! 3 cats in this house. The canister AND the beater brush AND the junior beater brush AND the HEPA filter is the ultimate in cat hair vacuuming luxury!
No offense, but I’ve always wondered… What’s the good of having a HEPA filter without a bag? When you open the bin and toss it in the garbage, doesn’t that release allergens (i.e., dust, cat hair)? Maybe I’m ignorant because I’ve always been a bag lady myself and I really like the anti-allergen bags that don’t release all kinds of dust when you take them out of the vacuum.
I know it’s not about a vacuum, but I’ve recently found the joy that is Arm & Hammer Pet Hair Release powder stuff.
I have a black valvetish couch, and three mostly-white cats. Fun, huh? No amount of vacuuming with the brush attatchement could get all that damned hair off the couch.
So I go to the store and figure, hell, why not? It’s $3 and smells clean. Worth a shot.
Get home, sprinkle it on the couch, wait 15 minutes like the container says, and holy crap! The cat hair came off lke crazy. I was in awe. Plus, it makes my couch (and carpets) smell nice and fresh, which is a big plus since I smoke. Also gets rid of pet odors, which is good because I have a cat that likes to poop next to the bedroom litter box (I have two, since my girl kitty hates the other cats, and sometimes needs to be isolated before she has a heart attack).
As for vacuums, I have a Dirt Devil “fatherlight bagless 12 amp.” It was about $100, and I love bagless. First vacuum I ever bought. *sniffle
I have to second the Dyson.
We have a Dyson Radix Cyclone, probably more than you want to spend but worth every penny. It was $850 here in NZ but will probably much less if you are in the US. We have two small dogs and a cat and it gets every bit of pet hair with little effort and just a dream to use.
