Cat urine glows under a black light. The smell of cat urine is strong and unpleasant, but the stains can sometimes be hard to find! And its urine glows very brightly under ultraviolet light. Read on to discover why.
Cats can easily be trained to use a litter box because they are generally clean animals and prefer keeping their bathroom contained and separate from their living spaces. However, sometimes, cats can have accidents in the house. It could be that their litter box is too dirty for their taste, they have health problems, or they simply made a mistake.
Whatever the reason, the scent of a cat’s urine can really stink up the place, especially if you can’t find the stain to properly clean it up and neutralize the odor. So, if you’re smelling cat urine in your home, you are probably wondering how to find the stain so you can get rid of the smell once and for all. We have the solution for you: a black light!
Cat urine, in particular, glows very brightly under ultraviolet light. Urine glows under a black light primarily because it contains the element phosphorus. Urine also contains broken-down blood proteins that glow under a black light.
Unleashed has fundamentally altered the chemistry of the original urine deposit so that no urine odors can be produced. Think of it this way: phosphorous is used in LEDs and fluorescent light bulbs to cause them to glow and produce light.
While appearing more purple than black, black lights are commonly used to detect anything from forgeries to improper food handling, and now urine smell and odor. The secret is in the urine itself. When you shine a black light on a cat urine stain it will appear as a green or yellow spot.
Uniqueness of Cat Urine
Did you know that cat urine is about 95 percent water? That’s right, water. And unless there’s a urinary tract infection, there are no bacteria — except what’s picked up from the surrounding skin and fur as your pet urinates.
So what gives cat urine its distinctive odor? Normal cat urine will have a distinctive, pungent, and acidic scent. A couple of components contribute to feline urine odor.
First, cat urine tends to be more concentrated than human urine — and even dog urine. Like other species’ urine, cat urine contains urea, ammonia, uric acid, and creatinine.
These are natural waste products of protein breakdown. Bacteria in the environment break urea down into ammonia, so if you don’t scoop the litter box daily, you may detect a strong ammonia smell.
What makes cat urine different from human or dog urine is the presence of a sulfur-containing amino acid called felinine, which is unique to domestic cats and their close relatives (e.g., bobcats and lynx). Felinine itself is odorless, but it breaks down into highly volatile compounds with disgusting odors.
While felinine is found in the urine of all pet cats, it’s present at much higher concentrations in the urine of intact (unneutered) males.
How Does a Black Light Find and Highlight Urine Stains?
The wavelengths that black lights emit interact with the phosphorus and proteins in urine, making them glow under the light. Any cat urine stains in your home that have not been cleaned with a bio-enzyme cleaner likely harbor phosphorus and/or protein even long after they have dried up. Therefore, black lights can usually pick up old cat urine stains when you’re hunting for them.
The longer the wavelengths that a black light emits, the more powerful and effective it will be when looking for urine stains.
How does Blacklight Work?
Black lights work by picking up and illuminating items that fluoresce. These items contain exposed phosphorus atoms that reflect short-wavelength UV light back to our eyes. For instance, paper shines under a black light because of the fluorescent chemicals added as a whitener. In the same way, many bodily fluids will fluoresce and show up under a black light, including pet urine!
Because blacklights work well at illuminating urine accidents, pet parents have started to use them instead of their noses.
How to Locate Cat Urine with a UV light
- Purchase or borrow a UV light between 365 and 385 nm.
- Wait until evening and get the room as dark as possible.
- Go to the area where you suspect the urine is located and turn on the UV light.
- Look for a glowing yellow or neon green spot.
- Sweep the light back and forth, checking various surfaces.
- Mark the edges of the stain so you’ll know where to find it.
- Cleaning the Spot
- Try to find and clean the stain as soon as you can.
- Saturate the stain with soapy water if it’s possible.
- Blot away the stain with a damp cloth.
- Spray the area with an enzyme cleaner and let it sit for 20 minutes.
Conclusion
Unless your cat is urinating outside of the litter box — which suggests a problem in and of itself — it’ll be challenging for you to check the color and clarity of your cat’s urine and possibly the odor. That’s because today’s litter and litter boxes do an excellent job of concealing sight and smell.
Normal cat urine should be clear and pale yellow to amber in color. Any color change — which you would notice if your cat urinates on the floor or in a sink — should be reported to your veterinarian.
