Help: health+behav group dead?

"Bastette" wrote in message ...

I wanted to ask a question on the health+behav group but there
are no articles. Has everyone left that group?

Maybe someone here can help me. I'm looking for a product, so
I'm not whether people outside this country can help, but here
goes: I need a UV light. (Or is it a black light? Are they the
same thing?) What I need is a light that shows cat pee in the
dark.

Can anyone recommend a reliable brand? If it's something I
can buy in a retail store, so much the better - I'd rather
not wait for mail order if I don't absolutely have to. (I
think Joy is the closest to me, geographically - do you know
of any good brands available locally?)
snip
Anyone have advice related to:

* UV/black lights that show cat pee in the dark?
* Other products besides Nature's Miracle that might undo the odor?

Not looking for any other advice, thanks.

--
Joyce

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not familiar with brands, but you might also look under the name "Wood's
Lamp." The names Wood's lamp and UV light seem to be used interchangeably.
In fact, Wood's lamps are often used by vets to help diagnose ringworm. As
with so many things, there is a wide variation in price, and the cheaper
ones often are not effective.

The health+behav group still exists, but it is not very active. I think the
"beginning of the end" came a few years ago when one woman continually
posted negative messages and then would always say "It's usenet...get used
to it" if anyone complained. However, there are still a few knowledgeable
people who will respond when questions are posted.

MaryL

On Sunday, May 6, 2012 4:13:53 AM UTC-6, Storrmmee wrote:
the zero odor i mention is like fabreeze on steriods, costs more also, but
tiger was allergic to the faabreeze and not to the zero odor, also you use
less, Lee

I swear by Zero Odor. Works great on the foam bed toppers too. I hope it isn't "memory foam" though. That stuff should never be gotten *wet* wet. I order online, get the box of 6 spray bottles for $45 (or something like that), and those last me at least 6 months.

I also use something made by Bissell called ewwww. Got it at PetSmart too. That works for cat pee (Leonidas apparently hates the MiL's old pillows on the couch, so I am always washing them, then spraying some ewww on the actually sofa - which can't *be* washed - works pretty well).

We also use Febreze (anti-allergen). Everyone I know is allergic to my cats, so that helps them when they visit me grin.

Maybe someone here can help me. I'm looking for a product, so
I'm not whether people outside this country can help, but here
goes: I need a UV light. (Or is it a black light? Are they the
same thing?) What I need is a light that shows cat pee in the
dark.

A friend of mine bought a really neat torch on EBay a few years ago.
Concentric circles of LEDs. The middle was a laser pointer LED,
around that was a ring of six UV LEDs intended for examining
security codes on merchandise, and around that was a ring of white
LEDS you could use as an ordinary torch.

I didn't get to use the other parts for real, but our cats said the
red dot was great.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin

"Smokie Darling (Annie)" wrote:

On Sunday, May 6, 2012 4:13:53 AM UTC-6, Storrmmee wrote:
the zero odor i mention is like fabreeze on steriods, costs more also, but
tiger was allergic to the faabreeze and not to the zero odor, also you use
less, Lee

I swear by Zero Odor. Works great on the foam bed toppers too. I hope it isn't "memory foam" though. That stuff should never be gotten *wet* wet.

I think it might be, but I'm not sure. A friend gave it to me a few years
ago - it was pristine at the time. The foam is about 3 or 4 inches thick
and very soft and dense. So it might just be a high quality foam. I can ask
her, but she probably won't remember by now.

If it is memory foam, does that mean you shouldn't use Febreeze on it? I
already have, and it doesn't seem to have had any bad effects.

But Zero Odor also works well for cat urine? Right now, my house smells
like a combination of cat pee and Nature's Miracle.

I also use something made by Bissell called ewwww.

LOL.

Got it at PetSmart too. That works for cat pee (Leonidas apparently hates the MiL's old pillows on the couch, so I am always washing them, then spraying some ewww on the actually sofa - which can't *be* washed - works pretty well).

I'll check that out, too.

Thanks!
--
Joyce

If you can't operate your turn signal, what makes you think you can
drive the rest of the car? -- bumper sticker

MaryL wrote:

The health+behav group still exists, but it is not very active. I think the
"beginning of the end" came a few years ago when one woman continually
posted negative messages and then would always say "It's usenet...get used
to it" if anyone complained. However, there are still a few knowledgeable
people who will respond when questions are posted.

Oh, that's a good idea - it didn't occur to me that I could just post
my question and someone would still see it, even if there haven't been
any posts for a while.

I just subscribed to that group for the first time since I started
using the eternal-september news server. Whenever I subscribe to a new
newsgroup at e-s, it gives me *all* the posts it has archived for that
group since about 2009! So I expected a lot of old posts, but I got
zero. That's why I thought the group was completely dead. Hmm, I wonder
why they didn't have any old posts archived?

OK, donning my flame-proof suit...

Thanks,
--
Joyce

If you can't operate your turn signal, what makes you think you can
drive the rest of the car? -- bumper sticker

MLB wrote:

On 05/05/2012 06:15 PM, Bastette wrote:
I wanted to ask a question on the health+behav group but there
are no articles. Has everyone left that group?

Maybe someone here can help me. I'm looking for a product, so
I'm not whether people outside this country can help, but here
goes: I need a UV light. (Or is it a black light? Are they the
same thing?) What I need is a light that shows cat pee in the
dark.

I bought one a few years ago, when Smudge was accidentally
trapped in my car overnight (because I didn't see her jump
in), and she peed on the car floor. The following night, I
brought the light out to the car, but it didn't show me
anything. And yet, I could smell the pee, so evidently that
light was useless. So I need something better than that.

Can anyone recommend a reliable brand? If it's something I
can buy in a retail store, so much the better - I'd rather
not wait for mail order if I don't absolutely have to. (I
think Joy is the closest to me, geographically - do you know
of any good brands available locally?)

I've already bought a big honking bottle of Nature's Miracle
and have dumped a bunch of it (twice) on the place where the
pee was. However, days later, it still smells of pee. I'm not
sure what that indicates. I didn't get all the pee areas?
(That's what the light would help with.) The pee soaked through
the carpet and into the wood floor? (From what I've heard,
that would be a disaster.) Nature's Miracle isn't so miraculous?
I couldn't have bought a more appropriate kind, as this one is
meant to deal with feline urine.

Anyone have advice related to:

* UV/black lights that show cat pee in the dark?
* Other products besides Nature's Miracle that might undo the odor?

Not looking for any other advice, thanks.




I bought one at Foster Smith a few years ago. Check out "pet supply
stores" on the "puter./ MLB

I hope this wasn't a product called "Stink-free", or "No-stink", or
something like that. The blacklight comes with a bottle of their odor
remover. I had a terrible experience with that stuff about 4 years ago,
when poor Smudge got stuck in my car overnight (it was an accident,
I didn't see her jump in). Next morning I found her in there. Luckily
this was in late November and it wasn't too hot in the car. It was
also nighttime for most of her time stuck in there. However, the car
smelled strongly of cat pee.

I was going on a trip the next day to meet some friends at a cabin in
the mountains. So I needed to get rid of the cat pee smell ASAP. I went
to the local pet store to buy some odor remover and a blacklight. I found
the "No-stink" stuff, which had both things in one product.

Unfortunately, the blacklight didn't work at all, so I had to find the
pee by smell. Then I dumped the odor remover on the floor of the car,
where the smell was strongest.

Next day, I packed up my car and got in to drive off to the mountains.
AAAAGH! The car smelled like I had fallen into a vat of cheap perfume.
I had to drive the entire 3-hour trip with the windows wide open, and
after a couple of hours, my throat got scratchy and irritated. I stopped
once or twice to try to wash the stuff out of the rug, which helped
slightly but was still very unpleasant. Also, it's a lot colder in the
mountains than it is here by the Bay, but I kept all the windows wide
open anyway.

I'll never by "No-stink" or whatever it was called again! Hope you had
better luck with whichever product you used.

--
Joyce

If you can't operate your turn signal, what makes you think you can
drive the rest of the car? -- bumper sticker

On 05/06/2012 06:03 PM, Bastette wrote:
MLB wrote:

On 05/05/2012 06:15 PM, Bastette wrote:
I wanted to ask a question on the health+behav group but there
are no articles. Has everyone left that group?

Maybe someone here can help me. I'm looking for a product, so
I'm not whether people outside this country can help, but here
goes: I need a UV light. (Or is it a black light? Are they the
same thing?) What I need is a light that shows cat pee in the
dark.

I bought one a few years ago, when Smudge was accidentally
trapped in my car overnight (because I didn't see her jump
in), and she peed on the car floor. The following night, I
brought the light out to the car, but it didn't show me
anything. And yet, I could smell the pee, so evidently that
light was useless. So I need something better than that.

Can anyone recommend a reliable brand? If it's something I
can buy in a retail store, so much the better - I'd rather
not wait for mail order if I don't absolutely have to. (I
think Joy is the closest to me, geographically - do you know
of any good brands available locally?)

I've already bought a big honking bottle of Nature's Miracle
and have dumped a bunch of it (twice) on the place where the
pee was. However, days later, it still smells of pee. I'm not
sure what that indicates. I didn't get all the pee areas?
(That's what the light would help with.) The pee soaked through
the carpet and into the wood floor? (From what I've heard,
that would be a disaster.) Nature's Miracle isn't so miraculous?
I couldn't have bought a more appropriate kind, as this one is
meant to deal with feline urine.

Anyone have advice related to:

* UV/black lights that show cat pee in the dark?
* Other products besides Nature's Miracle that might undo the odor?

Not looking for any other advice, thanks.




I bought one at Foster Smith a few years ago. Check out "pet supply
stores" on the "puter./ MLB

I hope this wasn't a product called "Stink-free", or "No-stink", or
something like that. The blacklight comes with a bottle of their odor
remover. I had a terrible experience with that stuff about 4 years ago,
when poor Smudge got stuck in my car overnight (it was an accident,
I didn't see her jump in). Next morning I found her in there. Luckily
this was in late November and it wasn't too hot in the car. It was
also nighttime for most of her time stuck in there. However, the car
smelled strongly of cat pee.

I was going on a trip the next day to meet some friends at a cabin in
the mountains. So I needed to get rid of the cat pee smell ASAP. I went
to the local pet store to buy some odor remover and a blacklight. I found
the "No-stink" stuff, which had both things in one product.

Unfortunately, the blacklight didn't work at all, so I had to find the
pee by smell. Then I dumped the odor remover on the floor of the car,
where the smell was strongest.

Next day, I packed up my car and got in to drive off to the mountains.
AAAAGH! The car smelled like I had fallen into a vat of cheap perfume.
I had to drive the entire 3-hour trip with the windows wide open, and
after a couple of hours, my throat got scratchy and irritated. I stopped
once or twice to try to wash the stuff out of the rug, which helped
slightly but was still very unpleasant. Also, it's a lot colder in the
mountains than it is here by the Bay, but I kept all the windows wide
open anyway.

I'll never by "No-stink" or whatever it was called again! Hope you had
better luck with whichever product you used.



FYI I have never had to use anything. I gave it to my son who had
acquired a new puppy. Best wishes. MLB

These are great ideas, thank you!

Joyce

Storrmmee wrote:

you want a black light, the kind that you see in poster shops if that helps,

now as to the floor, if you have carpetting the chances its in the padding
is the culprit, so you are really going to have to soak it, if you can get a
needle and syringe like a diabetic uses to inject the cleaning agent into
the carpet it might help... also you can try injecting a strong perfume into
the area to at least mask the odor... and for my money zero odor is one of
the best products out there to kill an odor outright.

hth Lee

On Sunday, May 6, 2012 5:35:45 PM UTC-6, Bastette wrote:
"Smokie Darling (Annie)" wrote:
I swear by Zero Odor. Works great on the foam bed toppers too. I hope it isn't "memory foam" though. That stuff should never be gotten *wet* wet.

I think it might be, but I'm not sure. A friend gave it to me a few years
ago - it was pristine at the time. The foam is about 3 or 4 inches thick
and very soft and dense. So it might just be a high quality foam. I can ask
her, but she probably won't remember by now.

I know you said you don't have a mattress pad over it, but have you considered putting an extra flat sheet on it? We did that before I got my mattress pad. It isn't perfect, but it does help sweat/odor from 'seeping'.

If it is memory foam, does that mean you shouldn't use Febreeze on it? I
already have, and it doesn't seem to have had any bad effects.

When you press your hand into it, does it hold the shape of your hand with individual fingers, momentarily? That's memory foam. If it compresses, then comes back "quickly" it's high quality foam. Are the "bubbles" in it very, very small? Memory foam.

"*wet* wet" is more than spraying with Febreze or any other aeorosol type sprayer. Memory foam can't be saturated or put into a dryer, it degrades the product (and will eventually flatten it out). I learned the dryer thing by mistake blush, with a $100 pillow. I used to put my regular pillows into the dryer every week, to keep mites and dander to a minimum.

But Zero Odor also works well for cat urine? Right now, my house smells
like a combination of cat pee and Nature's Miracle.

Oh yeah. Works *great* on cat pee smell. Sort of smells a bit like bleach, without burning the eyes smile.


I also use something made by Bissell called ewwww.

LOL.

Perfect name. It has a more "pleasant" smell than Nature's Miracle.

MaryL wrote:

You have received a number of helpful answers for a UV light (Wood's lamp).
In addition, it might be a good idea to ask your vet. I am suggesting that
because some UV lights will pick up *everything*--even specs of dust will
show up. You are interested in one that will make a distinction and
identify urine, not every spec of dust in the room.

Ask my vet - what a concept! I didn't think of that. Thanks for
suggesting it.

--
Joyce

A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going
somewhere. -- Groucho Marx