I have an Oreck and it picks up everything. But you'll probably want to
see if they have a self propelled one. When I got mine, my health was
great. Now that I have CHF, I can't push it anymore and just use the
small one that came with it.

Carole

it's been so long since i've bought a vacuum, i don't know

Would a built-in suit your needs? My sister recently got a built-in
vac and it has made life much easier. Their's is also a multipet
household. Because of her lund damage and so on she was not able to
vacccum using a conventional system. The built in is light since you
only have to worry about the hose.

    Rose   @}>->--
    Being educated means that rather than fearing the unknown, one seeks to understand it. RB

    Please remove "Ima" to reply.

Our Dyson works well and one of the models has a special attachment
for pet hair.  Amazon often has reconditioned Dysons, so you can
avoid the ridiculous prices on the new ones.

OTOH, our Roomba is much cuter.  Roomba may not vacuum as
well as the Dyson, but he does it all on his own--and even knows
enough to head to his charging station when the battery needs
to be recharged.  I can hardly wait until his little sibling
Scooba goes on sale.  Scooba will vacuum and then wash,
rinse, and dry vinyl (or other washable) floors.

I have a kirby and love it!  It pulls/pushes itself.... I paid 800$ (I
haggled like you wouldn't believe)

The Dyson Animal is supposed to be good but I don't know if it propels
itself.

Hi!

I have a Sears with a HEPA filter. I like it. It works well enough. Still
get a smell of somewhat warm dusty air. But the powerhead attachment is
great on dog/cat hair.

It's a canister vac, so you are not pushing around the entire weight. But
this powerhead is heavier than my old Sears one. Must be a tradeoff.

As for changing attachments, I can still press down the little button which
secures most of the pieces when attached to the hose. The powerhead has a
small lever you have to step on to detach. Can't do it barefoot. It was
about $420.00 when I got it a few years ago.

Adelle

Many at the cat anecdotes group recommend the Hoover wind tunnel.  Quite a
few of us bought them at the same time and all liked them.  If I had the
money and several stories in the house I'd tend to look for one self
propelled for the main floor and one for any other floor.  Self propelled is
a tough trade off.  They are always so much heavier.  I did see a Hoover
wind tunnel at target a few days ago that had a special attachment for pet
hair on furniture.

Jo

I know I'm late to the party, but...

I had a really nice wind tunnel, AND a higher-end Dirt Devil. Both were
the HEPA variety self-propelled and all that jazz. Tish vacuums daily,
sometimes twice a day, due to our having four little furry beasts
running around with litter in their pockets and throwing handfuls of it
like confetti wherever they go. They also pull great chunks of fur out
of their hides and leave it around the house as offerings to Bast. I'd
had my vacuums for about a year, and Tish killed them in 6 months of
daily fur-gathering. They completely died. Animal fur is another deal
than anything else.

We seriously shopped for months, and eventually went to Sears and
shelled out $500 for the second-to-highest quality Dyson. Tish had
vacuumed immediately before we left, and then once again when we came
home with the old vacuum, as we wanted to do a test. She turned the
Dyson on and then realized it had a piece of tape on it still, so she
bent down and spent 45 seconds or so picking that off it. In that time
it was on, and sitting still in one spot on the floor. That canister
filled halfway with cat fur and crud it sucked out of that section of
floor. It was horrifying and disgusting. We'd shampooed our carpets with
a power shampooer that we rented only 3-4 weeks before, and  one pass
with the Dyson got them cleaner.

I was NOT thrilled about spending $500 on a damned vacuum. After I saw
what it does, I am convinced. And the filter never needs changing. You
clean it out. Also it's got the ability to dry-clean your carpets. And
it's got attachments that periscope up to the ceiling and do those too,
and easily. They're light and easy. Emptying it is gimp-friendly. I can
use the thing. It's light and comfortable to push. I'm totally
convinced. Completely sold. In fact, when we buy a house, if it has a
downstairs, I've already decided and told Tish we're buying a second one
so we have one for each floor rather than having to carry up and down.

The price no longer mattered. This thing will last. And never buying
filters or bags again makes me happy. Not only that but there's no dut
exposure when you empty it like the other bagless ones.

It simply rocks.

If you were closer you could come try ours. Since you're not, I'd say go
to Sears and try theirs, or to a specialty Dyson dealer to play with
them. You'll be in love.

Aim

I know I'm late to the party, but...

I had a really nice wind tunnel, AND a higher-end Dirt Devil. Both were
the HEPA variety self-propelled and all that jazz. Tish vacuums daily,
sometimes twice a day, due to our having four little furry beasts
running around with litter in their pockets and throwing handfuls of it
like confetti wherever they go. They also pull great chunks of fur out
of their hides and leave it around the house as offerings to Bast. I'd
had my vacuums for about a year, and Tish killed them in 6 months of
daily fur-gathering. They completely died. Animal fur is another deal
than anything else.

We seriously shopped for months, and eventually went to Sears and
shelled out $500 for the second-to-highest quality Dyson. Tish had
vacuumed immediately before we left, and then once again when we came
home with the old vacuum, as we wanted to do a test. She turned the
Dyson on and then realized it had a piece of tape on it still, so she
bent down and spent 45 seconds or so picking that off it. In that time
it was on, and sitting still in one spot on the floor. That canister
filled halfway with cat fur and crud it sucked out of that section of
floor. It was horrifying and disgusting. We'd shampooed our carpets with
a power shampooer that we rented only 3-4 weeks before, and  one pass
with the Dyson got them cleaner.

I was NOT thrilled about spending $500 on a damned vacuum. After I saw
what it does, I am convinced. And the filter never needs changing. You
clean it out. Also it's got the ability to dry-clean your carpets. And
it's got attachments that periscope up to the ceiling and do those too,
and easily. They're light and easy. Emptying it is gimp-friendly. I can
use the thing. It's light and comfortable to push. I'm totally
convinced. Completely sold. In fact, when we buy a house, if it has a
downstairs, I've already decided and told Tish we're buying a second one
so we have one for each floor rather than having to carry up and down.

The price no longer mattered. This thing will last. And never buying
filters or bags again makes me happy. Not only that but there's no dut
exposure when you empty it like the other bagless ones.

It simply rocks.

If you were closer you could come try ours. Since you're not, I'd say go
to Sears and try theirs, or to a specialty Dyson dealer to play with
them. You'll be in love.

Aim