Best Canister Vacuum Cleaners For Pet Hair in 2022.

Best Canister Vacuum cleaners for Pet Hair. 2022 Canadian Models:

So you have pets. You love your pets, unconditionally. But you're starting to see hairballs flying around the floor like its tumbleweed season in the Mojave desert. Or it may not even be that bad. Maybe you have pets and kids and want to make sure you keep the house as clean as possible for them.

But then you start looking around to see what's good and you realize there is no one size fits all solution. Every house is different; every pet sheds differently, and everyone pushes a product they carry. And to top it off, most of the articles you write about this stuff is written by bloggers. Not vacuum cleaner manufacturers. Not vacuum cleaner service people, not vacuum cleaner dealers. Bloggers. Oh, and there is always a link to some amazon product page for you to purchase their recommended vacuum. But then what happens when you need service or parts? Which you will. Is the blogger going to fix it?

Anyway, enough about that. Are we writing this purely from the goodness of our hearts? No. Well, kinda.

Are we not hoping you would consider purchasing from us? Sure we are.

But at least we have over 20 years of experience selling and servicing every product we offer here. That's 20 years worth of vacuum stories. And we are there for you when you need accessories, parts, warranty works and service.

So let's get to it.

So you ask: What are the best vacuums for Pet Hair?

We would answer that with another question: Pet hair on what? And how much pet hair?

Here are some of the most common scenarios. Although the examples we have used here are based on real people with real stories, they are meant to paint a quick picture of the range of applications every model is suitable for. Your case may be a bit different but you get the idea.

You only have Bare Floors and low amount of pet hair:

Meet John and Mary, a young couple, living in a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Calgary with Buddy, their hypoallergenic poodle. They have Laminate and ceramic flooring throughout the apartment with an entry matt at the front door and a small rug under the coffee table.

Best Vacuum in this Category:

•  Miele Complete C3 LE. 

This is a light but compact model and has a 3.5-litre dust bag, hence the low capacity for pet hair. This model comes with a combination floor tool. This tool is good on bare floors and really low pile, flat rugs, like an entry mat. This type of floor tool doesn't have a rotating brush roll, and that is why it is not suitable for picking up pet hair from rugs and carpets. A brush roll is not needed on Bare floors; hence this model is perfect for someone with mostly bare floors.

You have mostly bare floors but there is lots of pet hair:

Susan lives in a three-bedroom townhouse in Toronto with Max, her 3-year-old German Shepherd, who constantly sheds throughout the year. She has Bare floors, Laminate and ceramic throughout the house and No rugs or carpets.

Best Vacuums in this category:

Henry HVR160. Bagged Canister. CAD $399.

Hetty HET160. Bagged Canister. CAD $399.

Henry Allergy HVA160. Bagged Canister. CAD $549.

All these models have a very large 6-litre cloth dust bag that can handle a lot of dirt and pet hair. You can also use these models without a bag, but it is advised not to since the extra exposure to dust can shorten the life of the motor. Plus, its easier to dispose of dirt with a bag. All these models are also equipped with a Combination Floor Tool, which is best for bare floors and flat, low pile rugs. This type of floor tool doesn't have a rotating brush roll, and that is why it is not suitable for picking up pet hair from rugs and carpets. A brush roll is not needed on Bare floors; hence this model is perfect for someone with mostly bare floors.

The Herny Allergy HVA160 comes with an upgraded HEPA filter, which makes it perfect for people who have allergies to pet hair and pet dander.

You have some bare floors and some Low to medium pile area rugs with a low amount of pet hair.

Justine lives in a detached house in Montreal with her two Siamese cats Max and Molly. They are known to be low shedding cats. Justine has hardwood floors and ceramic throughout the house as well as area rugs in the living room, dining room and the hallway leading to the bedrooms. She also has runners on the stairs.

Best vacuum in this category:

Miele Compact C2 Totalcare. Bagged Canister. 

Miele CX1 Blizzard Totalcare. Bagless Canister. 

Henry HVX160. Bagged Canister. 

The Miele Compact C2 Totalcare is especially suitable in this range of applications because not only it comes with a dedicated bare floor tool, a dedicated carpet tool, it also comes with a small Hand Turbo Brush which is perfect for removing pet hair from furniture upholstery and runners on stairs. It is also very handy with Cat towers.

All these models, however, get a dedicated carpet tool that is Air-driven, which means the brush rolls rotate by the suction of the vacuum. The higher the suction setting, the faster the brush rolls. This, in comparison with an Electric Powerhead, is not a super-powerful carpet tool, hence its perfect for low to medium pile rugs with not too much pet hair.

You have some bare floors, some area rugs, as well as wall to wall carpets with low to moderate amount of pet hair.

Charles and Nancy live in a detached house in Vancouver. They have a four-bedroom house, two teenage kids and Joe the Beagle. Joe's smooth, dense double coat gets heavier during the winter and sheds in the summer. They also shed moderately throughout the year. They have hardwood floors, ceramic and tile along with some area rugs on the main floor and wall to wall carpets upstairs.

Here are the best vacuums in this range of application:

Miele Complete C3 Excellence. Bagged Canister. 

Miele Classic C1 Cat and Dog. Bagged Canister. 

Miele Compact C2 Cat and Dog. Bagged Canister. 

All of these models here come with a dedicated bare floor tool as well as an Electric Powerhead as a dedicated carpet tool. An Electric powerhead has brush rollers that spin with power derived from an electric motor inside the Powerhead. The spinning brush rolls cause agitation on carpets, which helps deep clean the carpets and is especially helpful in removing pet hair and pet dander.

With the models in this category, the Classic C1 Cat and Dog and the Complete C3 Excellence have 4.5-litre dust bags versus the Compact c2 Cat and dog with a 3.5-litre dust bag.

You have Bare Floors, all different piles of Area Rugs and Wall to Wall Carpets, and Lots of Pet Hair.

Nicole and Al live in a big country house in the rural suburbs of Quebec city. They have Golden a Retriever, two cats and a rabbit. The poor rabbit is not the issue here, but Georgie, the Golden Retriever and the cats shed a lot of hair all year round. Nicole and Al have old hardwood floors, tiles, some fine Persian rugs, some typical area rugs (no too thick) and plush carpets in the living room and some of the bedrooms.

Best Vacuums in this category:

Miele Complete C3 Cat and Dog. Bagged Canister

Miele Complete C3 Powerplus. Bagged Canister

The reason these two models make a perfect choice in applications like this is that the powerheads that come as a standard carpet tool with these models are extremely powerful. These Powerheads have large brush rolls and short bristles, which means they can beat or agitate the carpets aggressively to remove the finest dust and pet dander thoroughly. And most important of all, these Powerheads have 5 adjustable height settings, which means you can adjust how close to the carpet piles you would like the Powerhead to run. Therefore, on fine Persian Rugs or Oriental rugs, where you want the least amount of agitation, you can increase the height to level 5 and on a plush wall to wall carpet, you can bring the height level down to 3 or 2 for a deeper clean.

Both of these models also come with a dedicated bare floor tool for all the hardwood and ceramic.

You have Bare Floors, Area Rugs, Wall to Wall Carpets and Lots of Pet Hair.

The Ultimate Canister Vacuum For Pet Hair on Bare Floor, Rugs or Carpets.

Maria lives in St Johns, New Brunswick. She lives in a 3 bedroom house with bare floors, Area rugs and she has wall to wall carpets in the basement and all the bedroom. She has 2 Labrador Retriever and a German Shepherd puppy, and 3 Cats. She has three kids between the ages of 2 and 7, and the dogs shed constantly. She said to me once; sometimes, when she brushes the labs, there is enough hair to make a whole new puppy out of it.

The Ultimate Vacuum cleaner for pet hair is

Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat and Dog, but with a twist.

The Miele Blizzard is a Bagless vacuum that comes with a dedicated bare floor tool, a dedicated carpet tool (electric Powerhead) and a mini Hand Turbo brush.

The most important feature of this model, which makes it suitable for someone like Maria, is the fact that this model is bagless. With that much pet hair, Maria will be filling up bags so quickly she would have to change bags twice every time she vacuums. That is just insane. Economically and every other way you think about it.

This model also comes with a Hand Turbo Brush which is perfect for removing pet hair from furniture, upholstery and beds.

But how about the twist? Well, the only thing to improve on this model is the Powerhead. Miele has given this model a standard powerhead, which is not as powerful as the other two powerheads available from Miele, and it doesn't have the height adjustability feature of the other powerheads. So, if you want the absolute, undisputed, ultimate vacuum that can deal with any variety of floor types and any amount of pet hair, get the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat and Dog and upgrade to one of the powerheads below:

Miele SEB228 Electro Plus Electric Powerhead.

Miele SEB236 Electro Premium Electric Powerhead. 

We hope you find this article useful. If you ever have any questions or comments you can send us an email to sales@vacuumwarehouse.ca.