UV for Cat Pee?

Greetings,

I am the owner of a super-cool cat with one dreaded flaw. She's a leaker.

The pungent stench hangs subtly in the air. The damage is done…. but where?

I'm tired of my old cat **** hunting tactics of the "wet sock" (aka the soaker) or "nose sweeping" the carpet, (side effects may include headache, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting). Both lack dignity, sophistication, and efficacy.

I want to get "CSI" with this whole problem. I've got a multi-pocketed vest, fake ID, and yellow goggles, but need an appropriate UV light to complete the ensemble.

Is there a particular UV wavelength that is optimized for "kitty **** searching" or will any decent UV pocket light "show me the mess"?

Are there any capable lights under $50?



Well under $50?



TR (Breathless in Seattle)

Ooh, great thread. My wife and I took in a pregnant cat, and now we're having little surprises left for us by one of them. (It turned out to be the litter we used, which the kitten apparently didn't like.)

So I'd like to find all the little piddle puddles and clean them up... what a great excuse to add another light to the collection...

Here is one product for this purpose:
http://www.baneclene.com/catalog/ultra_violet_light.html

I think it uses longwave UV; I don't know that this is reproducible from an LED...?

I don't know if cat pee can be seen with an UV light, but if you're searching a great and cheap UV light here you are :

http://cgi.ebay.ch/Inova-X5-Ultra-V...temZ8797292475QQcategoryZ106987QQcmdZViewItem

It's an Inova X5 with UV LEDs. Inova has one of the best quality/price ratio in the flashlight industry. I have got an X5 with white LEDs and have to say, it's a wonderfull light.

By the way CSI (Grissom) uses an UV X5 too LOL !!!

Regards,

Yves

Friends, go here ...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008434W/?tag=cpf0b6-20
15 bux and works well. Just remember that WET cat pee wont light up real well.

Drdark might have your best bet but if you want even cheaper.
Try the chinese lights at Lighthound
http://www.lighthound.com/sales/multi-led_flashlights.htm
The uv stuff is towards the bottom.

or from Dae at http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/ultra-violet-torch-p-344.html

There is a review here,
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/102649

The Inova is a far better light, but these are under 8 bucks and seem to have reasonably good build quality. I just got the couple I ordered from Dae a few days ago. Delivery took about a week and a half and there were no extra charges for the $30 bucks of misc flashlights I ordered.

Joel

We have 6-LED 380nm flashlights not _too_ far above $50 Contrast is considerably better for urine using 380nm wavelength than 395-400nm, but with enought power and yellow goggles, any of the UV lights should work well for cat pee. Human urine works better at 390nm and below. Cat urine and vomit can be seen at 395nm and below. You'll probably be able to tell the difference between deliberate sprays and accidents based on the spray patterns!

Piers

Quote: "Just remember that WET cat pee wont light up real well."

Dr. Dark, Looks like a better tool for "Dry Hunting".

The light you recommended from Amazon appears to be made specifically for pet urine finding. Unfortunately, they do not list the emitted UV wavelengths. The LED lights that I have looked at regrettably also do not mention UV wavelengths.

I was leaning towards the Amazon "stink finder", but the build quality and form factor are not there. The Lighthound light is half the price and much cooler, but will these LED hand torches light up dry kitty pee?

TR

xenopus,

You posted while I was still writing my first reply. Thank you for the very detailed and helpful data.

As an experiment, I'll probably try one of the cheapies from lighthound. If it doesn't cut it, I'll check out your website.

Thanks again,

TR

The post of xenopus seems to mirror some of my experience. I have an InReTech dropin for a M/\G 3D that is ~400 nm. While cat Pee is definately visible with it, it is faint and you have to be thinking about what you're looking for or you may not see it. It works for me but I think 400nm is a little long for practicality.

Piers,

"We have 6-LED 380nm flashlights not _too_ far above $50 "

I just checked your website and the price list does not include the 6 LED light you mentioned. The website shows a pic of a Mini-Mag w/6 LEDs saying "coming soon". What is the current pricing and availability?

"You'll probably be able to tell the difference between deliberate sprays and accidents based on the spray patterns!"

Ah ha! Deliberate!!! All right you flea-bitten furbag. Paws against the wall. Now where did I put my kitty paw cuffs?

Sub U, thanks for the added info.

TR

pizzaman said:

Piers,

"We have 6-LED 380nm flashlights not _too_ far above $50 "

I just checked your website and the price list does not include the 6 LED light you mentioned. The website shows a pic of a Mini-Mag w/6 LEDs saying "coming soon". What is the current pricing and availability?
...TR

Click to expand...

Sorry -- That was fixed and seems to have reverted... They are available on the Inspection page (for 380nm) and Forensics (for 365nm), and Crime Scene (465nm). The 380nm is $69.

I'll try to fix that later today

Piers

We have 2 cats and fortunately they've never had issues with pee. However they do puke from time to time and we also have a toddler who recently was potty trained.

The key is contrast rather than brightness. With dark adapted eyes you really don't need much of a source.

Both human pee and cat vomit show up really well with the McGizmo A19. I also have a 5mm UV with metal can I got from AW for about $6 and planted into a Photon - it works well though far dimmer than the A19 UV. Watch out for the run of the mill 5 mm UV - I have some and they tend to "wash out" the stain = might be ok with amber goggles but with what I have the brighness is too high and the contrast too low.

Boy, do I know this one.

We have four cats and have had others enter our home through a pet door. Needless to say, we have many 'stains' scattered around the house.

Initially, I used a small, keychain UV light to find the stains...not too effective tho'. Then we bought a container of urine remover that included a fluorescent tube-type UV light.

What a difference! The thing puts out enough light to illuminate an entire room with UV.

All I can say is e-e-e-w-w-w!!! Never realized the totality of the damage these animals had done around our home. For the most part, the stains were confined to carpet and drapes. But the interesting thing is what else shows up under this thing.

Cleaning the kitchen became a much more precise endeavor. You see, all those unseen bits of organic material strewn around your kitchen can be seen under UV. That's right...clean a counter under normal light, then come back at night to look with UV. I guarantee you will have missed some major residue of all the foods you've handled there...you will be surprised.

Anyway, I strongly recommend a fluorescent style light. You won't have to guess about where the organic crap is in your house. The only problem will be trying to forget all the stains you can't do anything about.

If your cat(s) starts having accidents suddenly have their kidneys checked. It could be a symptom of serious kidney problems.

I've been thinking about getting one of these UV "pee" lights, but after reading metalhed's post, I think ignorance may be preferable to the paranoia I would likely develop.:huh:

Might take a look here. They have a flourescent light with a pretty good enzyme cleaner for when you find what you're looking for...

50 DOLLARS? FOR A CAT?
Do you really need a cat that bad?

A fluorescent blacklight emits a lot of UV at exactly 365nm and is better than all but the most expensive LED-based UV lights. You can get a battery powered fluorescent UV blacklight at Wal-Mart for $10.00. They also carry them at Spencer's Gifts and other similarly themed stores.

We have a Cat, and the daughter decided that the outdoor cat that just showed up should be allowed in. BADDDDDD idea!!!
It literally became a pissing contest in just under a day. Once one tagged something the other had to tag it and something else immeditaly. One would have thought that they would run dry.

We solved that problem once and for all, Click click BANG now we have only one cat. It took several weeks of serious search and cleaning till the indoor cat went back to just using the box. If we did not need a cat to keep the mouse and vole population down from coming in, we would not have a cat, but living on the edge of a large wetlands, (nee Swamp) the first year in the house we killed 36 mice and vole. Since we got the cat. the traps are empty and we have not seen a single dropping in the house.

We got one of the flouresent lights and some cleaner spray from the same people who do the dead body clean up. spray, work into lather with a brush let dry vacuum up dried suds. no smell no stain.

You shot the other cat?!

vetkaw63 said:

50 DOLLARS? FOR A CAT?
Do you really need a cat that bad?

Click to expand...

How about $25 for just the light- I could use one of those but I bet they can be found cheaper.
http://urine-offstore.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=8

$50 is cheap. I think I have spent over $15,000 on vet bills since the late 1980's and usually have 6-7 of the critters. Maybe my vet knows how to get me to pay? Worth every penny to me, however, as are the flashlights I am spending so much on. Hope I won't have $15,000 in flashlights after 15 years of collecting.

Steve