How to Use a UV Light to See Pet Urine Stains on Carpet

Using a UV Light to Find and Clean Dog Urine

2/17/2021

text by Vicki Sign up here to join our weekly email newsletter! 

As all pet parents know, it is not unusual for their furry friend to have an accident or two in the house.

Steph had it easy with greyhound #1, Mac, who only ever had one accident in the house, but greyhound #2 is an entirely different story!

Lots of accidents, lots of messes to clean up!

Steph already had a ONEPWR Spotless GO Portable Carpet Cleaner to pick up spills, but has needed to add a few more tools and supplies to deal with Tosh's frequent mishaps!

Materials/Tools:

UV Black Light Flashlight, Super Bright 100 LED Pet Dog Cat Urine Detector light Flashlight for Pet Urine Stains, Professional Blacklight Flashlight with UV Sunglasses (Amazon)
Hoover PowerDash Pet Compact Carpet Cleaner Machine (Amazon)
Hoover Paws & Claws Deep Cleaning Carpet Shampoo with Stain guard, Concentrated Machine Cleaner Solution for Pets (Amazon)
Hoover ONEPWR Evolve Pet Cordless Small Upright Vacuum Cleaner, Lightweight Stick Vac (Amazon)
Rocco & Roxie Supply Professional Strength Stain and Odor Eliminator, Enzyme-Powered Pet Odor and Stain Remover for Dogs and Cat Urine, Spot Carpet Cleaner for Small Animal (Amazon)
ANGRY ORANGE Ready-to-Use Citrus Pet Odor Eliminator Pet Spray - Urine Remover and Carpet Deodorizer for Dogs and Cats (Amazon)

UV flashlight can shine a light on pet stains on the carpet.

Steph has always been very diligent about cleaning up the messes with the ONEPWR Spotless GO Portable Carpet Cleaner. But even with that, we could sometimes still detect an odor. At my suggestion, Steph purchased a UV flashlight so we could "see" the problem areas and concentrate the cleaning on those spots.

Steph tried Rocco and Roxie stain and odor eliminator as well as Angry Orange on the carpet.

Prior to purchasing a carpet cleaner, Steph tried these products to help neutralize the pet odors.

We purchased a Hoover corded carpet cleaner.

Steph had the battery powered Hoover ONEPWR vacuum but decided to invest in a Hoover corded carpet cleaner to be able to deep clean the spots.

The freshly vacuumed carpet shows no signs of doggie urine stains.

To the naked eye, the carpet shows no signs of doggie urine stains.

How to see and clean pet urine from carpets.

BUT, illuminated by a UV flashlight, the staining is apparent! Yikes, it is everywhere!

Behind the scenes filming the carpet cleaning video.

Just for fun: here's a little behind the scenes while we were filming. Yep, the doggies were at our feet the entire time! So helpful!

Before we used the UV light, Steph vacuumed the carpet.

While I held the light, Steph used the carpet cleaner on the now visible urine spots. The carpet cleaner took care of any lingering odor, but do to damage done to the carpet from the urine, the stains are still visible under UV light. The carpet is clean and odor free, but the carpet damage can't be undone.

This is Tosh a brindle retired racing greyhound. She's new to home life.

Look at that face! She is still learning how to communicate with her human when she needs to go out. She'll get there.

This is Mac, a retired greyhound who used to go by the name of LK's Freestar.

"Don't blame me, I didn't do it."

It's really gross to think about all the pee that has been on that carpet, but with the UV flashlight and cleaning tools and products, the damage can be mitigated. Steph's been able to manage any lingering doggie smell by immediately cleaning up the messes.

The UV light has been extremely helpful in knowing where to concentrate the carpet cleaning.

Be sure to follow all safety precautions when using a UV light. The goggles are a must. Don't shine the light into anyone's eyes, pets included.

Please note: This is not a sponsored post.

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don't claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP!