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"blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 24th 07, 01:20 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Mark_Galeck
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Posts: 12
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me

Hi, one of my 2 kitties is peeing on my bed sometimes. He isn't ill,
just nervous kind of guy. It's OK, I use tarp under the sheets and
wash the sheets. I want to make sure he doesn't do that elsewhere, on
carpets. So I bought the "blacklight/UV" light found in pet stores.
It does not seem to work!

After he pees on the sheets, I darken the room and use the light to
see how it works. Well, it does not - nothing shows up. Nothing
shows up when the urine is fresh. Nothing shows up when it's dried.
Nothing shows up even when it's night and everything is pitch black.
I tried 2 different brands, one of them really big, lots of
batteries. Nothing. I look really carefully and follow instructions
carefully. Make sure the batteries are new. Nothing, even when I can
see and smell the urine myself.

So of course this is never going to work on carpet or anywhere else.


What's going on? Why don't they work? Is there one urine detector
that really works? I have seen this thing AntiIckyPoo UV flashlight -
it does not use batteries, but extension cord and electricity from an
outlet, and is really expensive $70 (the lights found in pet stores
are $30 or less). Is this going to work?

Please give me recommendations. Thank you very much.

Mark Galeck

  #2  
Old September 24th 07, 02:31 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Mark_Galeck
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Posts: 12
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me


well thank you I appreciate your reply, but this item looks exactly
like the ones I bought... it's even smaller and free add-on... do
you know why this one would work and the others did not? Thank you
again, I know I am being picky, it's just that I tried others like
this one...

  #3  
Old September 24th 07, 03:06 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
cybercat
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Posts: 4,212
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me


"Mark_Galeck" wrote in message
ups.com...

well thank you I appreciate your reply, but this item looks exactly
like the ones I bought... it's even smaller and free add-on... do
you know why this one would work and the others did not? Thank you
again, I know I am being picky, it's just that I tried others like
this one...


Why on earth do you NEED a black light to see where pee is? Follow your
nose. Look for the wet spot.

:


  #4  
Old September 24th 07, 05:21 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Mark_Galeck
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Posts: 12
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me

On Sep 23, 7:06 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
"Mark_Galeck" wrote in message

ups.com...
Why on earth do you NEED a black light to see where pee is? Follow your
nose. Look for the wet spot.


Thank you for your advice. But if a cat pees while I am at work, by
the time I am back, there is no wet spot, there may be a vague smell,
and if so, I can't tell exactly where the smell is coming from. Human
noses are not good enough for that. If they were, blacklights would
not sell. Let me return an advice for you - if you have such a
wonderful directional nose, why don't you hire yourself as a dog
sniffing bags at the airport? Thanks.

  #5  
Old September 24th 07, 05:23 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
DougD
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Posts: 6
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me

In article . com, Mark_Galeck wrote:
Hi, one of my 2 kitties is peeing on my bed sometimes. He isn't ill,
just nervous kind of guy. It's OK, I use tarp under the sheets and
wash the sheets. I want to make sure he doesn't do that elsewhere, on
carpets. So I bought the "blacklight/UV" light found in pet stores.
It does not seem to work!

After he pees on the sheets, I darken the room and use the light to
see how it works. Well, it does not - nothing shows up. Nothing
shows up when the urine is fresh. Nothing shows up when it's dried.
Nothing shows up even when it's night and everything is pitch black.
I tried 2 different brands, one of them really big, lots of
batteries. Nothing. I look really carefully and follow instructions
carefully. Make sure the batteries are new. Nothing, even when I can
see and smell the urine myself.

So of course this is never going to work on carpet or anywhere else.


What's going on? Why don't they work? Is there one urine detector
that really works? I have seen this thing AntiIckyPoo UV flashlight -
it does not use batteries, but extension cord and electricity from an
outlet, and is really expensive $70 (the lights found in pet stores
are $30 or less). Is this going to work?


Not all blacklights are the same wavelength. Urine flouresceses at
a particular wavelength, and the black lights sold in party stores,
etc. is not the right wavelength. I don't have the particulars in front
of me which is the correct UV band to light up urine, sorry. I suspect
that if you can find a blacklight that is also used to check for counterfeit
money, it will probably also work for spotting stains, I believe that they
are in the same UV band. But please, I'm not guarantee'ing that, but
I am fairly sure about the party type lights not working as I have one
as well and it doesn't work on stains. Some gem/rock collecting folks
use these as well, might be somewhere to look for a supplier as they
will have blacklights in different bands. I believe the urine glows under
UB B type lights, the party ones are UV A.

$.02
d.

  #6  
Old September 24th 07, 05:36 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
cybercat
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Posts: 4,212
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me


"Mark_Galeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 23, 7:06 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
"Mark_Galeck" wrote in message

ups.com...
Why on earth do you NEED a black light to see where pee is? Follow your
nose. Look for the wet spot.


Thank you for your advice. But if a cat pees while I am at work, by
the time I am back, there is no wet spot


Wow. Are your cats really, really tiny?

Because when my cat gets mad at us and pees on the
carpet, there is a big wet spot. Even 24 hours later.


  #7  
Old September 24th 07, 05:37 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
cybercat
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,212
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me


"Mark_Galeck" wrote

Let me return an advice for you - if you have such a
wonderful directional nose, why don't you hire yourself as a dog
sniffing bags at the airport? Thanks.


How did you know what I do for a living? Are you stalking me?

Mark. :

:

Once a day, maybe while your coffee is brewing or your
mail is downloading or your wife is talking to you and you
are ignoring her, walk around the rug in your bare feet.

There's a really good chance the wet spot is cat urine.

Idiot.


  #8  
Old September 24th 07, 08:03 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Mark_Galeck
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Posts: 12
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me

Great! This may be what I needed. For some reason the wavelength is
wrong. Even the ones found in pet stores, could be wrong
wavelength.

In the meantime, being a guy, I went for "brute force" method (which
may be invalidated by your remark). I went to a big hardware store
and bought the biggest UV lamps I could find, 80 Watts total, much
bigger than anything sold in pet food stores, operated from an outlet,
so I also bought a long extension cord. This thing is so bright I
better don't walk around with naked skin or I might get sunburned or
something I pointed it at my Litter Robot drawer, with urine
clumps from 2 different cats (thinking that maybe my aforementioned
cat is weird and does not have that particular thing in the urine that
makes it show under UV).

NOPE. None of the clumps glow even the faintest. Everything else in
the bathroom glows like crazy (my bathroom is orderly, but, uhm, not
super-clean let's say), but the cat urine clumps - no.

OK then, DougD is really on to something and I need to find out the
proper wavelength. Quick research on the web finds that the "Urine-
off" brand UV light, does advertise that it has the proper wavelength,
OK I will try it.

Thanks Doug!


  #9  
Old September 24th 07, 11:30 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Jean B.
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Posts: 119
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me

Mark_Galeck wrote:
Great! This may be what I needed. For some reason the wavelength is
wrong. Even the ones found in pet stores, could be wrong
wavelength.

In the meantime, being a guy, I went for "brute force" method (which
may be invalidated by your remark). I went to a big hardware store
and bought the biggest UV lamps I could find, 80 Watts total, much
bigger than anything sold in pet food stores, operated from an outlet,
so I also bought a long extension cord. This thing is so bright I
better don't walk around with naked skin or I might get sunburned or
something I pointed it at my Litter Robot drawer, with urine
clumps from 2 different cats (thinking that maybe my aforementioned
cat is weird and does not have that particular thing in the urine that
makes it show under UV).

NOPE. None of the clumps glow even the faintest. Everything else in
the bathroom glows like crazy (my bathroom is orderly, but, uhm, not
super-clean let's say), but the cat urine clumps - no.

OK then, DougD is really on to something and I need to find out the
proper wavelength. Quick research on the web finds that the "Urine-
off" brand UV light, does advertise that it has the proper wavelength,
OK I will try it.

Thanks Doug!


This is a timely discussion for me, so thanks for starting the
thread. My one attempt to locate cat urine using a blacklight
was unsuccessful, and now I know why. I will also have to get
the above mentioned kind, which I suppose is not in pet
stores.... I can smell the cat pee, but I can't pinpoint it
precisely....

--
Jean B.
  #10  
Old September 25th 07, 05:15 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
DougD
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6
Default "blacklights" found in pet stores, don't work for me

In article . com, Mark_Galeck wrote:
Great! This may be what I needed. For some reason the wavelength is
wrong. Even the ones found in pet stores, could be wrong
wavelength.


NOPE. None of the clumps glow even the faintest. Everything else in
the bathroom glows like crazy (my bathroom is orderly, but, uhm, not
super-clean let's say), but the cat urine clumps - no.

OK then, DougD is really on to something and I need to find out the
proper wavelength. Quick research on the web finds that the "Urine-
off" brand UV light, does advertise that it has the proper wavelength,
OK I will try it.

Thanks Doug!


You're welcome. I'm kinda sheepish about this as I really should know the
wavelength as that's kinda the biz I'm in (no, I don't go around checking
for urine stains). I've been working with visible, IR and UV lasers for the
last 20 years, and I can pretty much name most visible wavelengths by
their number, but I'm kinda at a loss as to what's out there in UV lamps.
I'll try and poke around my resources a bit and see if I can't find the
right number. Whether or not that translates into a part number that
anyone can phone up a supplier for, well, that's a whole 'nother
challenge...

d.

 




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