The 3 best vacuum attachments for pet hair – I'm a home tech pro and these must-have tools will help you expertly tackle fur with ease

Any pet owner knows all-too-well the struggles of keeping on top of fur. Our cats and dogs shed seemingly all day long, leaving us to vacuum more often than many of us would like.

At Homes & Gardens, we've tested 60 vacuum cleaners of all types – be it cordless, upright, canister or robot – to uncover the most effective ways of dealing with pet hair. As a home tech editor, I've thoroughly tested 19 of these myself, many of them in a local pet shelter to see exactly how they handle high volumes of fur.

Thanks to our mission to find the best vacuum for pet hair, we now know exactly which vacuum attachments are essential for pet owners.

The best vacuum attachments for pet hair

If any of the terms I mention in this article are unfamiliar, my vacuum jargon buster (which opens in a pop up window to allow for simultaneous browsing) or overview of what all the vacuum attachments do will help.

1. Motorized, anti-tangle brushroll

The most important vacuum attachment for any pet owner is a floorhead with a motorized brushroll. It's what pulls hair from any surface into the vacuum cleaner. When vacuuming smooth surfaces and hard floors (anything from tile to laminate to hardwood), this isn't as important as hair can often be picked up from suction alone, but if your home has any carpets, rugs and soft furniture – that fur is always getting stuck to – this vacuum attachment is a must.

Vacuuming pet hair the right way also means making sure the motorized brushroll is anti-tangle. Many of us know the struggles of removing or cutting wrapped hair out of a vacuum floorhead, so an anti-tangle brushroll minimizes or even completely eliminates how often you're doing so. Plus, if you, or anybody you live with, has long hair, it'll be able to handle that too.

We've spent 100s of hours testing floorheads from brands who promise anti-tangle cleaning to then discover they don't live up to their claims. But there are a few that do, and if you're in the market, these are the floorheads from the main brands that you can count on to deal with fur expertly.

• The Dyson Motorbar works like an absolute dream. Not only is it an outstanding multi-surface floorhead, but it's able to dig hair, dust and all other dirt from carpets like it's nothing. It uses 43 de-tangling vanes that clear hair out of the brushroll as it spins. Most of the best Dyson vacuums come with this attachment, or you can buy it separately if your cordless model is an older one.
• The Miele TurboTeQ floorhead is compatible with any bagged or bagless Miele canister vacuum and, from first-hand experience, it's amazing. It completely banishes hair from even the most stubborn carpet, along with any other mess you throw at it. The best Miele vacuums have massive suction too, and they're our top pick for a canister pet hair vacuum.
• The Shark DuoClean PowerFins floorhead is included in most cordless models of the best Shark vacuums. The floorhead uses dual rollers, one soft and one bristle, to deal with different floor types and avoid anything getting stuck.
• If you have a eufy robot vacuum, you can invest in a replacement rubber roller brush for different eufy models to better deal with hair around the house. Our Head of Solved and cat owner Punteha van Terheyden swapped her brushroll to a Rubber Roller Brush for the X10 Pro Omni. It transformed how well the robot could clean pet hair. Before, it was getting wrapped with hair after every use and needed manual snipping out with scissors. After the swap, many months of daily vacuuming saw zero hair or fur tangled in the brushroll.

2. Small hair tool

Many of the best upright vacuums and best cordless vacuums come with an attachment that's similar to the motorized floorhead but smaller, designed to pull fur out of furniture and pet beds.

Often, these are designed exclusively for dealing with pet hair, unlike the floorhead which is designed for pet hair and all other household messes. So, this smaller tool can often do a better job, even if the cleaning is more focused as it covers less ground with each pass.

It can be called a hair tool, hair screw tool, pet power tool – or any number of hair or pet-related term. Here are two of our favorites.

• The Shark POWERDETECT upright vacuum is available in a TruePet package that comes with a HairPro Self-Cleaning Pet Power Brush which, on test, was perfect for digging cat hair out of a sofa and cat bed.
• I've used the Dyson Hair Screw Tool a fair few times to get hair out of furniture and my mattress and, like most of Dyson's attachments, I can't fault it. It's compatible with every cordless vacuum since the Dyson V8.

3. Grooming tool

You could also consider a grooming tool to avoid (or at least minimize) pet hair from spreading around the house. These kits are essentially brushes that you attach to your vacuum cleaner and groom your dogs with, removing any loose hairs that would otherwise shed. These go straight into your vacuum's bin or bag.

We haven't had the chance to get our hands on one of these kits yet, but you can buy Dyson's Pet Grooming Kit for just $69.99, and it works with every cordless Dyson vacuum since the Dyson V7 on medium and long-haired dogs.

Next, learn how often you should vacuum when you have pets to really stay on top of the shedding.