Vacuum

[LadyOnslaught]

Does anyone have any good vacuums that they recommend for pet hair? I think ours has decided it is done with pet hair duty so we have a nasty hairy carpet right now. A little over a year ago my mom bought us one but it wasn't very expensive nor made for pet hair.

Also, what do you use for bunny stuff on the carpet (hay, poop)?

 

[pinksalamander]

We have a Dyson which is specially for Pet Hair. The colours are probably different but it is red yellow and purple.

You can see the 'animal' one here. Ours is ancient though!

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

 

[LadyOnslaught]

I've heard of those...they're so expensive though. Do they last? It woud be hard to spend that much money but then if it lasts a long time then it may be worth it.

 

[spoh]

I have a Kenmore Progressive Upright( not bagless), it's not specifically for pet hair but I have two bloodhounds, 1 cat and 1 bunny and I love it. They make the same thing in bagless but I clean houses and have used many many bagless vacuums and have never found one that I like so I choose the bag.



Joy

 

[Bunnicula]

I can't speak to whether on not the Dysons last...but they do suck!!!

I was in your same situation back in May. My plan was to go to Sears and get one of their Kenmores that was a best buy in Consumer Reports. While I was there, so was another couple who had animals. The one saleslady who claimed to be a Dyson owner herself gave a demo. It was on sale...but still a lot...for a vacuum?!?!

She allowed me to handle it. I was amazed at how easily it handled. So...I spent the $500. Couldn't believe I did it...but I DO NOT regret it. I have the Ultimate Animal (purple). It has handled the hair of 10 cats & 4 buns quite well.

The version I got came with a bunch of attachments. I have found them invaluable. And I think it is more economical to get it with the attachments right away as they are a bit pricey individually.

It has clogged on me 2x due to hay. But the clogs have been amazingly easy to clean. I've also taken it apart to clear some gunk that got on the rollers. Again, very easy to do. I would highly recommend spending the money.

To clean up bunny hay, I use a dustpan & brush followed by a sweep with an "All Around". It is the tiniest shop vac they make, but a powerful 7.0 amps. If I had to do that again, I'd probably buy a bit bigger Shop Vac because this one's hose clogs easily due to the little lip at the insert. But it is very heavy duty, small, and light. And when not clogged, it sucks like crazy. Pipkin likes to stand on his hind legs and help push it around the room

Sorry my post is so long... Hope the info is helpful.
~Mary Ellen

 

[drunkenbunnyhugger]

We have the purple Dyson Animal for most house stuff, and it stands up well to our dog, 2 cats & 2 rabbits. We've had it for a few years (sorry dont remember exactly how long), and we have never had a problem. Any clog cleans out easily. (i even use it to clean up spilled cat litter!).

I use a shop vac though for heavy duty hay/poo messes in the bunny room though, as it has a bigger hose and can accomadate more hay at once, clogs less, and simply stays upstairs just for their use (Rather than me lugging the dyson up and down all the time). the shop vac is from a home improvement store i think a few years ago.

I highly recommend the Dyson though, especially for overall house cleaning with multiple pets & pet hair.

 

[LadyOnslaught]

Thank you for the replies. I will have to look at the Dyson then. I had thought about it but they're just so expensive but if they're worth it then that's different .

 

[RexyRex]

We own the Purple Dyson too, it's held up really well with 2 dogs and3 bunnies. But, I also use a shop vac for the hay/wood pellets/bunny poo messes. I actually clogged my Dyson's hose with hay before I got my shop vac.

 

[Mom of Joy and Love]

Love our Dyson. Picks up everything and no bags to buy or waste.
We added an attachment with a long hose and various wands to vacumn the upper areas and behind our bunnies condo. Also great on our wood floors.

 

[gwhoosh]

I recently bought this one http://www.eureka.com/products/upright/2996avz/2996avz.jsp

Like, really recently. I haven't had a chance to try it on the rabbit area, but my test run in the living room went really really well. It sucked up, like, carpet. Not just dust, but I opened it up and there was like, loose strains of carpet in it, haha. It handled really well, I just had to steer, it basically went on its own. And the attachment hose is pretty wide, so I hope that'll mean it will get hay pretty well... Still have to try.

It's got 12 amp and I think it only cost $50

When I get around to cleaning around the cage, I can let you know how it goes if you haven't gotten one by then

 

[cmh9023]

The purple Dyson is really awesome. It was really expensive, but I have to say it was absolutely worth it. I've seen promotions where if you buy it at Target, you get a $100 Target gift card. I wish I would have waited for that. I saw a TV ad the other day for a new Bissel pet hair vac. I don't know anything about it, but it might be worth checking into.

 

[pinksalamander]

LadyOnslaught wrote:

I've heard of those...they're so expensive though. Do they last? It woud be hard to spend that much money but then if it lasts a long time then it may be worth it.

We have had ours for a little over 10 years. It still has the same suction as it did on the first day!

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

 

[LadyOnslaught]

I went out at lunch and bought a Dyson. I can't remember which one, it has purple on it and is one for animals. I'm looking forward to using it.

 

[Bunnicula]

Question for those of you who use shop vacs...do you have any trouble with the hose clogging when you vac up hay? Mine tends to do that - esp with long strands of timothy. I thought it was the hose, which has a little "lip" on the part that inserts into the vac. So...I tried my hose from our big shop vac (which we actually keep in the basement and prepared for wet suction). But that hose didn't quite fit. I rigged it up using duct tape...great suction...but it still clogged near the vac opening. I am wondering if it would work more efficiently with a larger vac? Any thoughts?

 

[Mom of Joy and Love]

We always rake the rug and sweep the area first to remove the hay, which does have a tendency to clog hoses. That just takes a couple of minutes and makes the vacumning a lot easier and safer.
Once I used a small Shop Vac w/o raking the hay first. The hose clogged so badly that in trying to clear it I damaged the hose. Ever since I've made sure to get up the hay first.
We use the Purple Dyson now and love it.

 

[RexyRex]

Bunnicula-

I had that happen to me only once before, I had to take the hose outside and run water through it to clear it! The hose that you are using, is it a very long one? My shop vac came with a short hose and a long hose and I clogged up the long hose. I think its because it has such a long way to travel so it loses a little bit of suction. I've since switched to the shorter hose and haven't had a problem!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I got the DysonDC16 Handheld for Christmas. With all the coupons and discounts, I paid less than a $100 for it. Because it is a cordless rechargeable unit, I can clean the bunnies cages of hair, pellets,dust and poops everyday with no effort. It can handle the small bits of hay, but I do sweep up the large hay before I vacuum.

For thebasement rabbit run, I have a large and powerful shopvac.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Wow, you guys, I want a Dyson, bad! They sound awesome and just as they advertise them!

I do have a shop vac for hay, poops, etc. So the poor vacuum doesn't have to deal with it, the thing gets clogged, lol.

Best of luck with your new Dyson, whoohoo! Let us know how you like/love it!

 

[missyscove]

We have a Dyson too. I'm not sure how long we've had it but certainly at least 5 years. It's held up well to the golden retriever fur and cage cleaning. I use it to get up hay and even poops (don't tell my mom)
I'd say it's well worth the money.
Ours is a yellow one. Back when we got it it was the yellow or the purple. They were the same except the purple was $100 more and had more attachments so we went with the yellow one as we didn't need all the attachments.
Sometimes the joints of the hose will clog with hay, but they pop out in seconds so it's easy to remove the clog.

 

[Bunnicula]

RexyRex wrote:

Bunnicula-

I had that happen to me only once before, I had to take the hose outside and run water through it to clear it! The hose that you are using, is it a very long one? My shop vac came with a short hose and a long hose and I clogged up the long hose. I think its because it has such a long way to travel so it loses a little bit of suction. I've since switched to the shorter hose and haven't had a problem!

Good thought. The hose is kinda long. I'm going to the hardware store this weekend to find a short one. That probably is the issue. Thanks!