7 Best Canister Vacuums for Pet Hair in 2024: Reviews & Top Picks

Having a pet is one of life’s joys, but there are some drawbacks that we can’t ignore. If you’ve ever gone out for the day and had to stop to pick pet hair off your clothes, you know it can get everywhere! A good vacuum can solve this problem, particularly when it’s shedding season or you’ve just brushed your cat. Vacuums made for pet hair vary wildly in quality, function, and price, so we’ve scoured the reviews and dug into the specifications to bring you eight of the best canister vacuums for pet hair. Canister vacuums aren’t for everyone, but the compact design and power can make short work of pesky pet hairs. Read on to discover our top picks and find which one fits your fuzz-busting needs best.

A Quick Comparison of Our Winners for 2024

The 8 Best Canister Vacuums for Pet Hair

1. XPOWER B-2 “Pro-At-Home” Pet Dryer & Vacuum– Best Overall

If you need a vacuum to suck up pet hair after a grooming session, the XPOWER B-2 “Pro-At-Home” Pet Dryer & Vacuum has everything you need. This ingenious dryer combines a powerful, multi-speed blow dryer with a vacuum to quickly remove any excess fluff on the floor.

The quiet motor and four styling nozzles that come with the XPOWER make it ideal for large and small pets, but the vacuum’s capacity isn’t listed, and some customers mentioned that it’s not as big as a dedicated vacuum. Despite that, we found the features and excellent price point of this all-in-one to be the perfect product for pet owners who groom at home, which is why we placed the X-POWER B-2 “Pro–At–Home” Pet Dryer & Vacuum as our best overall canister vacuum for pet hair.

 

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2. Eureka WhirlWind Bagless Canister Vacuum Cleaner– Best Value

The Eureka WhirlWind Bagless Canister Vacuum Cleaner is a more traditional canister vacuum that pairs a lightweight body with a generous three-liter capacity to make removing a larger amount of pet hair a breeze. The automatic cord rewind also makes storing the little unit away easier on your back, and the suction is powerful enough to work well on all types of flooring.

No extra accessories or fittings come with the Eureka Whirlwind, but that’s to be expected with its great affordability. One downside to this vacuum is that the floor brush can get clogged with excess hair, so you may have to clean it more often after a particularly big brushing session or during shedding season. However, we felt that the excellent performance and price of the Eureka WhirlWind earned it our pick for the best canister vacuum for pet hair for the money.

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3. Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog Bagless Canister Vacuum – Premium Choice

The Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog Bagless Canister Vacuum is the premium choice on our list, as its price is the highest by quite a lot! However, Miele has been making vacuums for decades, and each comes with a guarantee of at least 20 years of service. The Miele Blizzard was created for pet owners, including a specialized pet hair attachment as part of the four extra nozzles the vacuum is packed with. This vacuum isn’t the lightest, with some reviews saying it’s a little cumbersome to move around. However, with its lifetime HEPA filter and powerful suction, it is absolutely worth the money!

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4. Ovente Electric Bagless Lightweight Canister Vacuum Cleaner

The Ovente Electric Bagless Lightweight Canister Vacuum Cleaner is another very reasonably priced vacuum that pairs functionality with simplicity. It comes with an automatic cable winder and step-button to turn the vacuum on and off, making it great for those who have their hands full. Some customers said this model wasn’t the greatest on carpets, which may be because it doesn’t come with a spinning brush attachment.

However, it comes with a crevice tool and brush nozzle, which will work in a pinch. An LED light will alert you when the canister needs emptying, but there aren’t many detachable parts, which makes it a bit tricky to clean. Despite that, the Ovente Canister Vacuum Cleaner is another excellent buy for the price.

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5. Kenmore 600 Series Friendly Lightweight Bagged Canister Vacuum

 

The Kenmore 600 Series Friendly Lightweight Bagged Canister Vacuum is a pet hair champion, combining powerful suction with a regular head that can vacuum any floor and a specialized tool just for pet hair. The lightweight frame of the Kenmore 600 makes it easy to maneuver around the home, and the triple filter means even the tiniest of hairs and dust gets caught and safely trapped.

There’s no capacity listed for this unit, so it’s difficult to tell how often it’ll have to be emptied. While the Kenmore 600 is on the expensive side, the multitude of attachments you get (including a crevice tool and upholstery brush) make it worth the extra cash.

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6. Oreck Ultimate Handheld Bagged Canister Vacuum Bundle

If portability is your main focus when looking for a pet hair vacuum, the Oreck Ultimate Handheld Bagged Canister Vacuum Bundle is what you need. Powerful carpet and upholstery tools make this little carry-along vacuum a convenient way to rid your home of hair, and the reviews stated the bags inside are easy to change when filled.

The Oreck Vacuum comes with a shoulder strap and six attachments, but the shoulder strap is not as strong as it could be. An extending hose makes reaching under sofas and into cracks easier, but it can be stiff and may need wearing in. Make sure to attach the nozzles securely with this model, as some customers thought the attachments were a little unstable.

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7. BISSELL Zing Lightweight, Bagless Canister Vacuum

The BISSELL Zing Lightweight, Bagless Canister Vacuum is the least expensive vacuum we’ve reviewed today and is a very viable option for those looking for power without a high price tag. The BISSELL vacuum has an easy-emptying dirt cup to make throwing hair away less of a chore, and it’s a lightweight model with excellent maneuverability. It isn’t as effective on the carpet as it is on hard flooring, and it’s loud on the highest setting. The cord is also not as long as it is on other models, but it’s not heavy to move around. You can feel good about your purchase, too, since Bissel donates part of its sales to a charity that helps homeless pets!

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8. Shark CZ351 Pet Canister Vacuum

The Shark CZ351 Pet Canister Vacuum is another affordable model with a large capacity and great extras. The Shark features an LED display to switch easily between cleaning modes and a self-cleaning brush roll that’s excellent for clearing pet hair. A HEPA filter keeps your home free of flying fuzz, which was rated to trap 99.9% of dust and dander.

However, some users said that emptying the canister can be tricky due to hair getting caught in the end and falling out when opened. The Shark CZ351 is lightweight and fitted with LED headlights to highlight stray hairs, but the unit can feel cumbersome to maneuver and isn’t as effective on the carpet as on the hardwood.

 

Buyer’s Guide: Choosing the Best Canister Vacuums for Pet Hair

When deciding on the right pet hair vacuum for you, there are several factors to consider. Features such as whether the canister needs a bag, how maneuverable the unit is, and the price can all make a difference to the end-user experience, so take a look below to see how we judged our best picks.

Bag or No Bag

Some of the models on our list require bags that fit inside the canisters as an extra layer of protection, and some suck pet hair and dirt right into the canister. Both designs are emptied the same way, but bags are usually sealed and thrown away rather than dumped and re-fitted like plain canisters are. If you’re conscious of the environment, you may wish to use a canister-only vacuum to reduce waste, but many vacuum bags are now recyclable. If the bag is ill-fitting or the canister is poorly designed, it can be more difficult to empty, so keep that in mind as you select a vacuum for your home.

Capacity

If you have a small home and a small cat to vacuum up after, you won’t need a vacuum with a huge capacity. On the other hand, you’ll need the largest possible canister to vacuum all the fur from two giant dogs in a big house! The capacity of the vacuum you need is a personal choice, so think about how much your pet sheds, how large your home is, and how often you vacuum the floor. Larger capacity vacuums are usually heavier, and they’ll take up more storage space.

Maneuverability and Extras

Many vacuums on our list came with handy gadgets to make cleaning up after your pet even easier. Extra hand-held tools and brushes are particularly useful when vacuuming up pet hair day-to-day, as smaller brushes can work well on soft furnishings, and some are specially designed to work on couches. A couple of the vacuums we reviewed had attachments designed to effectively pull up pet hair in hard-to-reach places;  if you have mobility limitations or you have a home with nooks and crannies, these add-ons can make all the difference!

Filters

Lastly, the type of filter should factor into your choice, as all filters are not the same. Air filtration can be reusable to a certain degree, disposable, or even lifetime guaranteed. Looking at the type and design of the filter used in the vacuum you’re interested in can help you project long-term maintenance costs (if they’re disposable) and can give you an insight into how easy the unit is to clean. Some vacuums only take their own brand of filter, which can often be pricy!

Conclusion

Pet hair vacuums come in all shapes and sizes, but the best overall vacuum from our reviews is the XPOWER B-2 “Pro-At-Home” Pet Dryer & Vacuum for its versatility, ease of use, and convenient size. For excellent value and easy emptying, the Eureka WhirlWind Bagless Canister Vacuum Cleaner is ideal. Lastly, for luxury and high performance, our best premium canister vacuum goes to the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog Bagless Canister Vacuum for combining style with longevity.

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Featured Image Credit to monticello, Shutterstock