Roomba
Belle sheds year-round. I mean, this dog really sheds. There is dog hair everywhere, and since I’m a bit of a neat freak, it can really bug me!
I have always done my best to vacuum the floors regularly and brush Belle to remove any loose hair, but she has such sensitive skin those specialized brushes for removing loose dog hair make her yelp. I tried a grooming glove. It worked pretty well, but I left them outside under the carport one day and they got stolen. I know, I know, who would steal dog grooming gloves??
Now I have a regular human hair brush for her. It doesn’t hurt her skin when I brush her, but it doesn’t work too well either. Bathing helps to remove a lot of the hair (I remove huge clumps of hair from the bath tub drain). But no matter what I do, there seem to always be little clumps of Belle fur rolling around my hardwood floors.
Review of the Roomba for Pet Hair
For someone who likes a clean house, but doesn’t always have the time to clean as well as I would like, the Roomba is a blessing. I have hardwood floors and it works very well on them. I have gotten where I turn it on in the morning and close my office door to keep the noise out while it runs. It runs while I am working and puts itself back on the charger when it is done. I love that I can get two things done at once!
I run it every three days just to keep up with the dog hair. It really has made a difference. I think of it as kind of maintenance for the floors. When I really want to clean, which involves moving furniture to vacuum around, I still use my traditional vacuum. But I haven’t done that in a while and the floors still look pretty good.
PROS
- works great on hardwood floors and area rugs
- helps maintain a clean floor
- can be programmed
- runs while you’re doing something else
- gets underneath things
I have only had two problems with my Roomba. It sometimes gets caught up on the floor air conditioner vents, and sometimes the dog hair gets so wrapped up in the spinning brush that it clogs it up and keeps it from spinning well. Using a pair of tweezers, I can get the clumped up hair out and the Roomba will work fine again. You have to clean the brushes every time you use the Roomba, but a pair of tweezers will really help when the hair gets in hard-to-reach parts of the machine. As for the floor vents, I just have to move it off of them when it gets stuck. The benefits are much greater than the problems.
CONS
- pet hair really gets into the moving parts
- sometimes gets stuck on electric cords or curtains
- battery doesn’t last long enough for whole house
I love my Roomba and run it almost every other day now to keep up with the dog hair in the house. It make a big difference.