Having a male cat, I'm always afraid that he might spray somewhere, and I wouldn't be able to find it. Fortunately, we haven't had this problem. He is neutered, so I'm not expecting it to happen. However, we have quite a few stray cats outside who HAVE marked up our porch and items we've had out there. Chairs, car seats, even our kids' toys have been marked. Those items, while not super easy to clean animal urine/spray out of, they are still cleanable. The porch and the outside of the house, on the other hand? Not so easy to clean if you don't know exactly where they sprayed! Enter this handy little UV light. It illuminates where the animals marked so that you know where they have been.
It's a small flashlight with 12 (very) bright light bulbs. Since it is UV, it emits a bluish light. Upon shining the light on a spot that an animal has marked, it turns the area a yellowish color. Unfortunately for where I used it, the carpeting made it incredibly hard to actually see where there was urine.
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| Top of the UV light |
It has with 3 AAA batteries included, though I recommend putting new, better quality batteries in. If not, then you may have the same experience I had- flickering, varying strength of the bulbs, etc. Once I put new batteries in, it shone nice and bright. Still wasn't able to capture a picture of it, but it was definitely brighter.
I tried it on my front porch, and saw quite a bit of spots where the local strays have marked- my 'Welcome' mat, right under my mailbox, my husband's chair, random places on the floor and the wall of the porch. I then walked around the perimeter of my house, and noticed spots on the side of the house and on the sidewalk leading to the back. When I stepped onto the back porch, I saw just as many, if not MORE, spots back there. I also saw a large spot on the back door.
A friend of mine mentioned trying it inside the house for human urine as well. Since we bedshare with Gianna, and I know she's wet my bed a few times, I gave it a try. Nothing showed up. However, I do use my carpet shampooer when she's had an accident, so that might be why. The one room that REALLY lit up, was the bathroom. My son still has not perfected his aim, and we have lots of proof of that on the walls. Shining the UV light on those marks was repulsive! I knew it was gross, I just didn't realize HOW much he's missed the toilet. Unfortunately, we have textured walls, so cleaning them is kind of out of the question.
I've also used it on the carpets just to see what they look like. If you live in an apartment, or anywhere that others may have lived prior to you, I suggest NOT using the light! While I couldn't see anything on the carpet under a regular light, there was a lot to see with the UV light. It really made me wonder what exactly that could possibly be on my carpets. Although I'm sure I don't honestly want to know.
Overall, I really do like this light. Some of our outside toys that were sprayed came clean because I knew exactly where to focus the majority of the cleaning. No nasty cat spray smell lingered. If you have pets that like to mark their territory, this would come in very handy. You can purchase your own handy UV light by going HERE.
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
THANK YOU! Just popped over to Amazon and got one. Hope this helps - I'm sick of scrubbing the entire area every time.
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