CSI - SFBay

Last night my ex-bf's wife lent me a hand-held blacklight to discover where the dowager Princess had left her mark. I'd tried this technique in the past, with no success. But she assured me that, just like on TV, I'd be able to spot any variety of mammalian excretion.*

It turns out that a 12 volt black light with a 12" bulb DOES cast a strong enough glow to find the spots where the cat has been.

After surveying the damage, (dowager Princess was a Naughty! Girl! while I was gone) I attacked the spots with some Zero Odor, a patented infomercial spray that claims to eliminate all forms of animal odor residue. Then I came back downstairs to google the product to see if people are getting ripped off on their $20 bottles of cat-pee-scent-B-gone. Generally, anecdotal claims say this is the spray to use, better than Nature's Miracle, which apparently doesn't work as well.

I discovered 2 neat things along the way:
1) If you want to know the ingredients of a product that doesn't list them, look up the patent! The US Patent Office tells all. Why didn't I think of this myself starting 2 years ago???
2) High-traffic carpet cleaner from your local Home Despot is an effective cleaner. There was no fluorescing over the scene of my Grad-night turbulence, and no fluorescing over spots where I knew the cat had pooed previously.

*I did not tiptoe into my flatmate's room to check for evidence of nocturnal emissions, as my friend had suggested. Eww! Accidentally discovering the yellow glow coming from my trashcan of snotty facial tissues was traumatic enough.