Using a Blacklight (UV Light) to Detect Cat Urine Stains

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If your cat has marked in your hours you are probably dealing with a horrible stench that just won't go away. Cat urine odor is extremely pervasive, and can last for a long, long, time. Not only that, but when the odor starts to wear off your kitty may just decide to remark that spot to freshen up the smell.

Cat urine stains are usually easy enough to find if they are still wet. You can either sniff around for them or spot the wet spot to clean. If the cat urine has dried, though, it can be difficult if not impossible to locate exactly where the stain is to clean it. You can smell it and you may know the general area where the cat urine is, but pinpointing the exact location of the stain can be elusive. That means even if you clean a large area of your rug or furniture with cat urine odor removers you could still miss the stain entirely and be left with the lingering odor of cat urine.

We made the mistake of not getting our cat spayed when she was a tiny kitten, and as soon as she hit her first heat cycle she started marking things in our house. Her favorite place to mark was directly on our bed, but she had no qualms about marking elsewhere. We found stains on the carpet, furniture, books in our bookcase, any clothing that we had left on the floor. You name it our cat had probably peed on it.

We spent hours and hours trying to clean stains and eliminate odor but it just never seemed to go away. In fact, we finally wound up throwing away our expensive leather couch because we couldn't get the cat urine odor out of it.

Finally, though, we got a great tip that made cleaning up cat urine in our house and removing the odor much, much easier. You can actually use a blacklight to locate cat urine stains. Once you know precisely where the urine is it makes it much easier to clean the exact right spot and eliminate the cat urine odor.

All you need is a small, handheld blacklight. You can find them at some department stores or can order them online. They are usually around $10.00, which is a small investment for the peace of mind that you get knowing that you have gotten rid of the cat urine in your home. Next, you'll want to get an enzymatic cleaner specifically designed for cleaning cat urine. Other types of cleaners will remove the color and the odor, but they will leave behind crystals that your cat can still smell that may make her want to mark that spot again. Not only that, but if the crystals get wet the smell will come back. An enzymatic cleaner will dissolve the crystals along with removing the odor and color of the stain.

Once you have gathered your blacklight and cleaning supplies together, just wait until it gets dark, turn out the lights and start moving slowly through your home with the blacklight. Any spots that have been contaminated with cat urine will glow with a green color, making them easy to pinpoint and clean. You can either clean them as you go, or you can mark them to come back and clean once the lights are back on. The more thorough you are with your blacklight sweep of your house the more likely you will be to find all of the problem areas, so take your time when searching. Also be sure to remember that your cat is small and can worm their way into any number of places, so check every little nook and cranny where you think your cat may have been.


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