The 8 best vacuums for pet owners in 2025

The pet parent contract comes with certain terms and conditions, including a tolerance for omnipresent pet hair. You also sign up for a lot of stains, paranoia about your pet’s activities when you’re not home, and the slim (but never zero) chance that you’ll come home to an accident on the floor. The best pet vacuum cleaner can help alleviate these problems. How do I know? Because I spent years testing vacuum cleaners in my own apartment (not in a laboratory), cleaning up after my own cats.

While every pet owner needs a vacuum to ease the pet hair situation, some vacuums can take on even more pet-related responsibilities. There are robot vacuums that can avoid pet waste, robot vacuums equipped with live pet cameras, and a robot vacuum that comes with its own portable carpet cleaner. Now we just need Roborock to extend the capabilities of the Saros Z70’s robotic arm to cleaning pet toys. Cordless hand vacuums have their own advantageous flexibility, such as the ability to switch by hand and extend cleaning to furry furniture and stairs. I use both types of vacuums daily and have written a comprehensive buying guide for anyone stuck between a robot vacuum and a stick vacuum.

Black Friday is definitely one of the best times of the year to buy a vacuum cleaner. While all of my favorite stick and robot vacuums have already been on sale at some point in 2025, Black Friday vacuum deals are usually the most drastic discounts of the year. Expensive, high-powered flagship vacuums as well as already budget-friendly vacuums could easily be cut in half in November.

So, which vacuum cleaner would be most useful in your home? I’m continually testing the best robot vacuums and cordless stick vacuums in my two-cat apartment, and I’m ready to name the best vacuums for pet owners by the end of 2025.

How to choose a robot vacuum cleaner for pet hair

For a full breakdown of these features, check out my guide to everything you need to know before buying a robot vacuum..

Suction power and brush rolls

I recommend vacuums with a suction power of at least 6,000 Pa for effective pet hair pickup, although homes with thick carpet and more than two pets should consider a suction power of at least 12,000 Pa. But the brush roll system is almost just as important when choosing a vacuum for pet hair. In my tests, vacuums with dual brush rolls are much more efficient.

I also recommend keeping a good cordless stick vacuum on hand – stick vacuums are simply more powerful than robot vacuums in general. Shark, Dyson, and Dreame all make powerful stick vacuums with enough power to remove pet hair.

Automatic drain

Pet parents should definitely opt for a self-emptying robot vacuum: so much vacuumed hair will lead to a full trash can faster and you won’t want to empty it yourself every day. Even with daily use, a self-emptying robot vacuum can last between one and three months before you need to empty the trash.

Cleaning

If hardwood or tile floors are prevalent in your home, the best robot vacuum and mop combo for pet hair will be able to disinfect the floor while cleaning, then wash its own mops to rinse away any lingering hair. The mop is also much more likely to effectively wipe up other tiny pet-related debris, like pet dander and cat litter dust, which are too small to be inhaled by a vacuum’s suction power.

Intelligent mapping

Some rooms or certain areas on the floor in these rooms become hairier than others. A smart mapping robot vacuum learns the layout of your home and can navigate to specific areas on command, which you can queue up directly from the app. In my opinion, smart mapping is the most interesting robot vacuum feature and should be a benchmark even when shopping for a cheap model – cleaning performance is a moot point if the vacuum can’t get where it needs to go in the first place.

Avoidance of small obstacles

Some advanced robot vacuums use cameras and 3D sensors to identify small obstacles in the cleaning path ahead of them. If successful, these vacuums avoid eating most pet toys, cords, laundry, socks or shoes, avoid getting into pet bowls, and even avoid pet waste.

Other robot vacuums I’ve tested recently

I’ve tested several other top robot vacuums in the past that didn’t make the most recent list on this list. Some, like the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, Roborock Qrevo Master, Narwal Freo Most recently, I was impressed by the Roomba Plus 505 Combo, Plus 405 Combo, and Narwal Freo Z10 Ultra, but ultimately they just weren’t the most well-rounded vacuums in their price range.

Vacuum cleaners I’m testing soon

The next vacuum cleaners planned for home testing are the Shark Stratos 2-in-1 NeverTouch, Roborock H60 Hub Ultra, and possibly the Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai. I’ll get my hands on it as soon as possible and update my top picks for pet owners accordingly.