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All of us on this cat board have had to deal with cat hair in the house at one time or another. With 4 cats and now two dogs, it seems like I'm always fighting to keep the house fur free.
So how many vacuum cleaners have you gone through? Which ones have you tried and cast aside? What is the vacuum of your dreams and which one would you go so far as recommending to other pet owners?
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!
Oh hi, Ruby! What a great question. I'm here to answer it for you.
As an animal lover, I've come across the hair problem many times and have tried many different vacuums over the past 10 years, hoping to find one that will pass the cat hair and suction longevity test. (How's that for a fancy word?)
I've had Hoovers, Oreck, Kenmore, and one that was advertised on television a few years back which was bagless but I can't think of the name of it anymore. All of my old vacuums, (one or two years old), I would pass down to Pam when I gave up on it and replaced it with another one which was hopefully better than the last. I probably went through one vacuum a year looking for one that could tackle all of the fur as well as keep the suction. I even have a Roomba which now sets unused since it's so hard to clean after it does it's job.
So after trying practically every vacuum on the market, I found one that I really wanted to try. It was supposedly designed for animal hair and promised to keep it's suction forever. But the price was way beyond my small budget. After drooling over it for a few months, I decided to check them out on eBay. Lo and behold, I found just what I wanted, a brand new one still sealed in it's factory box, being sold by a pawn shop which was located in Minnesota and it still had the same warranty. It was half the price of a store bought one. And it was a 'Buy it Now' kind of deal. So no bidding, I bought it and it was delivered within a couple of days. It was just as it promised. Great condition from the pawn shop and a wonderful vacuum cleaner. I got it in early 2005 and it works as great now as it always has. It picks up all of the dog and cat hair. Cleans bare floors as well as carpets without even changing the settings. This is especially great for a dog like Gypsy, who seems to be shedding almost constantly.
It's bagless and is so easy to empty. Put a grocery plastic bag under it and press the button. Bam! The bottom opens and the contents go into the grocery bag. You'd never believe all of the hair that is in that bag. And it never loses it's suction! It's a Dyson Animal 14.
So that's my commercial for the day. Do you have a vacuum to sell to us?
Dyson DC14 Animal Vacuum
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!
Oh hi, Ruby! What a great question. I'm here to answer it for you...
I currently have a Featherlight Dirt Devil (bag kind) that is a few years old. Works pretty well because...
As you may recall from previous posts on cleaning a while back, the best invention known to mankind who have petkind in their house is the "Fuller Electrostatic Sweeper" cordless vacuum (box on a sitck kind). Since getting that 5 years ago, it has dramatically changed my cleaning w/the cats. I use it every afternoon for the high traffic (sand and fur) areas for about 10 minutes and when I pull out the big vacuum every few days, it is not nearly the job it used to be...
I have never violently recommended anything to anyone as I do this Electolux to pet owners (costs about $50). 10 minutes a day cuts cleaning down dramatically...
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Tammy
as I do this Electolux
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Er, I mean Electrostatic...
About a year ago, a friend's kid was hawking the Rainbow $2K vacuums... They sent him around to all of us to hone his selling skills... I forgot he was coming and he called and said he was on his way... I hadn't vacuumed in a good week or so. Pulled out the Fuller Electrostatic Sweeper and ran it over the living room carpet for about 5 minutes until the knock on the door... He did his demo and to this day says he has never seen a cleaner carpet -- couldn't pull dirt up. Swears I did a full cleaning of it before he came over. Didn't believe I used the "cheap" box on a stick for a couple passes over carpet that hadn't been vacuumed for over a week...
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Tammy
Oh hi, Tammy. Yes, I do remember you recommending the Fuller Electrostatic Sweeper and I bought one on eBay. It's still used to do quick clean up jobs when you don't want to waste time pulling out the 'big guy'. And it does do a great job but it would never take care of all of the hair that I have in this house, with 4 cats and now two dogs added. I paid about $40 for it and think that it can't be beat for small jobs.
As for the Rainbow, I bought one of those in the late 70s or early 80s. It worked great and cost a fortune. I know it was at least a thousand then. But it was just too much trouble filling it up with water, then dragging it around, then emptying the water and cleaning it up. That was a whole 'nuther job. We had a couple of small dogs at that time. I remember it picking up fleas and drowning them on the spot. After using it for about a year, I gave it to my sister and bought something small and lightweight. I was glad to get rid of that monster vacuum.
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!
oh hi Ruby! I'd love to answer your question!
I had an Eureka hepa upright I bought in 2001? that was good on basic carpet but the brush was the worst thing ever. A thin little layer of wimpy nylon bristles that couldn't pull a single cat hair off the back of the couch where Lizzy likes to sleep. They stopped making the replacement hepa filters for it in 2003 or 2004 which didn't really surprise me because the only place I ever saw it for sale was Kmart. They couldn't have made many.
This year for Christmas I got a Eureka The Boss smartvac. It was a # 2 choice in Consumer Reports a year or two ago. $159 with free shipping from Target and less than half the price of their first pick. I'm really happy with it. If not properly adjusted it will suck the carpet so hard it's hard to move.
Over the July 4th holiday we refinished the hardwood floors in the living room, entry way and hallways so I'm using a basic broom everyday now.
Hubby's cousin has the basic Dyson and a large dog and it's a bust. They have vaccumed just so my kid can crawl on the floor and we came up covered in dog fur. Yuck!
We got a Miele (don't ask me how to pronounce it) a few years ago. It is a canister, but light and powerful. Only have one cat to vac up hair (Smig is in the garage, comes in to visit), but the winter in this house is a mess. Our main source of heat is a wood stove, and tracking in all the wood, carrying it, etc leaves alot of wood chips all over the floor. Blew out a hoover upright in one season. So far this one is doing good.
What's a vaccuum cleaner??
Hardwood floors here ... just brooms and mops for me!
Snow
With 21 cats and a furry dog I have been through to many vacuums to count. Currently I have gone to the dirt devil as it is cheap and is good and lasts better than some of the more expensive ones. And when it chokes and dies, I don't feel so guilty about killing it. To help make it live longer, I rake (with a garden rake, no less) my carpets of fur before sweeping and that helps.
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Tessa Onyx, Foudini, Charlee, Spottie, ShyRaven, Buddy, Tuxie, Widdle Attila Sipowitz, Lizzie, Minnie, ET, Mylo, Penny (We be house cats at last), and Salem, Wicca and Marmalade (We iz also house cats, we guess)and the 5 porch kits also Riley da goggie and Buddha da baby hamster too
Tabitha and Samantha..always in our hearts
I rake (with a garden rake, no less) my carpets of fur before sweeping and that helps.
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Have you seen the rubbery brooms? Have short rubbery teeth... I saw them in an infomercial sweep up a lot of hair easily on carpet...
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Tammy
>>I rake (with a garden rake, no less) my carpets of fur before sweeping and that helps.
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>>Have you seen the rubbery brooms? Have short rubbery teeth... I saw them in an infomercial sweep up a lot of hair easily on carpet...
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I saw them at HyVee (do you remember that store, Tammy?) for $10. I bought it, used it a time or two, and now it just hangs in the garage. Guess it didn't work as good as the informercial advertised..
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!
Younkers, HyVee, Drug Town... I'll be home in November... Will have to make a Drug Town run for Dad's Sterzings chips (another item I only see back home)...
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Tammy
>>Younkers, HyVee, Drug Town... I'll be home in November... Will have to make a Drug Town run for Dad's Sterzings chips (another item I only see back home)...
Hmmmm, I've never heard of the Dad's Sterzings chips. I'll have to look for them the next time I go to HyVee which is just a couple of blocks away from me.
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!
They're a potato chip, but they are thicker cut or something -- pretty good. I wish they had them around here. I would assume HyVee has them -- but I know Drug Town carries them...
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Tammy
I just caught something in your post... They're not "Dad's Sterzing's Chips..." They're Sterzing's Potato Chips I pick up for MY Dad, LOL...
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Tammy
>>I just caught something in your post... They're not "Dad's Sterzing's Chips..." They're Sterzing's Potato Chips I pick up for MY Dad, LOL...
They could have been Dad's Sterzings Chips that he munches on when he drinks Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer.
Hardly ever go to Drug Town. I know that I've seen them in Des Moines though. I just go to the pharmacy in HyVee if I have a prescription to be filled.
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!
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