In addition to buying one of the best vacuums for pet hair, you might also want to consider investing in one of the best air purifiers for pets to ensure that you’re breathing in clean, quality air—particularly if you have an especially furry pet. Because while our four legged friends add joy to our lives, they come with some less impressive side effects like excessive shedding and pet dander wafting through the air.
The best air purifiers for pets deodorize pet odors while pulling out dander from your air.
Illustration: Forbes / Photo: Retailers
Pet dander in particular can be tricky for people with sensitivities, says Evan Li, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the section of Immunology, Allergy & Rheumatology at Baylor College of Medicine. “Pet dander can be very small in size and become aerosolized with activities such as fluffing pillows or using the vacuum,” he explains. “This can present a hazard to those with respiratory conditions such as asthma, COPD and allergies. An air purifier can extract these airborne allergens and provides improved overall air quality.” While an air purifier won’t eliminate all allergens your pet presents—even something as simple as a dog collar or dog bed can be a hotbed of allergy-provoking dander—it can help.
Of course, not all air purifiers are created equal. You’ll want to consider factors like the type of filter the purifier uses, the size of the room where you’ll use the purifier and, of course, your budget. We like the affordable Levoit CoreP350 Air Purifier for its custom filter that deodorizes pet odors while pulling out dander from your air. However, there are plenty of other great air purifiers for pet dander on the market. Here are the best air purifiers for pets on the market in 2023.
Best Overall Air Purifier For Pets: Levoit CoreP350 Air Purifier
Best Air Purifier For Dog Hair: Coway Airmega 400S
Best Air Purifier For Cat Hair: Winix HR900 Pet Air Purifier
Best Air Purifier For Pet Odor: RabbitAir MinusA2 Air Purifier
Best Air Purifier For Pet Hair And Dust: Bissell Air400 Air Purifier
Best Air Purifier For Allergies And Asthma: Alen BreatheSmart 75i
Best Large Room Air Purifier For Pets: Honeywell HPA300 HEPA Air Purifier
Best Smart Air Purifier For Pets: Dyson TP07 Purifying Fan
Levoit’s Core P350 was specially designed with pets in mind. The purifier has a custom HEPA filter that tackles things like litter box odors and general eau de pet by as much as 92%, while also pulling pet dander from your air. A non-woven pre-filter goes to work trapping larger floating particles like pet fur to remove gunk that would otherwise hang out on your furniture and floors. There’s also a whisper-quiet sleep mode and pet lock to keep your furry friend from messing with the controls. Designed for rooms up to 210 square feet, this purifier works for most bedrooms and home offices. And, at less than $130, the Core P350 has a price tag most pet owners can feel good about.
Dog hair requires some serious energy to suck up, and the Coway Airmega has plenty. This powerful air purifier can tackle spaces up to 1,560 square feet in 30 minutes, making it a great choice for your living room or entire floor of your home. A pre-filter helps pull dog hair out of your hair, while the deodorizing filter gets rid of pet smells. The HEPA filter tackles up to 99.99% of particles as small as 0.01 microns, including pet dander. This purifier is app-enabled, so you can monitor things like your indoor air quality, schedule when you want your want your purifier to run and adjust the speed from anywhere you have cell service. Flip between smart, eco and sleep modes to find the fan speed and energy level that’s right for any given moment.
The Winix HR900 boasts a whopping five filtration stages to pull fine cat hair out of your hair and capture it, so you can breathe easier. The purifier includes a washable advanced odor control carbon filter to pull out odors like the litter box, while a HEPA filter snags pet dander and allergens as small as 0.3 microns. Plasma wave technology helps break apart tiny gunk in your air, including odors, allergens and pollutants on a molecular level. This filter can tackle spaces up to 300 square feet, making it a great option for your bedroom or home office.
RabbitAir’s Minus A2 features a sleek panel design that can perch on a desk or be mounted on a wall. But this purifier is more than just good looks. It features a unique odor-removing filter that targets and traps odors from pets, so your home can smell fresh. There’s also a specially designed filter to remove pet dander and pet allergens, to help people in your home with sensitivities. Enjoy an impressive six stages of air purification and deodorizing for coverage in rooms up to 815 square feet. Worth noting: With a coverage area that broad, you can place this purifier just about anywhere in your home.
Pets have a funny way of tracking in dirt and dust, and those particles can end up circulating in your air. This Bissell purifier offers three-stage filtration to tackle just about anything that lands in your home. A pre-filter captures pet air, an activated carbon filter tackles odors and a HEPA filter takes out 99.97% particles as small as 0.3 microns. The Air400 features an automatic CirQulate System to sense what’s going on in your area, report it to you and respond by adjusting the fan speed as needed. This purifier is best for rooms up to 432 square feet, making it a good option for bedrooms, dining rooms and living rooms.
It’s not uncommon to deal with allergies and asthma when you have a sensitivity to pet dander, and you want a device that can handle all your needs. The purifier’s HEPA filter snags airborne particles as small as 01. micron, tackling pet hair, dander, mold, pollen and more allergens that could trigger your symptoms. The BreatheSmart 75i features a laser sensor to detect airborne particles like pet hair and self-adjusts to speed up or slow down the fan. It also tackles up to 1,300 square feet of space. While an air purifier with this level of capacity has to be sizable, Alen gives you the choice of six different finishes so you can match your device to your decor.
Got some serious square footage to purify? The Honeywell HPA300 HEPA Air Purifier covers an impressive 2,250 square feet of space every hour, allowing you to have fresh, clean air in more than one room in your house at a time. If you plan to use it in a smaller space, the purifier will do nearly five air exchanges per hour in rooms up to 465 square feet. Flip through three air cleaning modes, including Turbo Clean which quickly snatches pet hair, odors and dander from your breathing space. The purifier’s HEPA filter captures up to 99.97% of particles that are 0.3 microns and up.
Dyson’s TP07 is unlike other fans on the market thanks to its unique shape and technology. The TP07 uses intelligent sensing to detect and react to your air quality, delivering crisp air in the process. The machine syncs up with the MyDyson app, so you can control the action from anywhere. The TP07 uses two stages of purification to capture 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns or larger and keep them there, so you don’t have to stress about your purifier shooting pet dander back out. While the air purifier can double as a fan, it also has a backwards airflow mode to give you clean air without a breeze.