I have some prints (mostly color, few B&W) that my cat urinated on. Some have a yellow/white crusty residue. Others are wet/sticky. Many are stuck together. Some can be pulled apart, others are more tough and I don't want to risk ruining them.

What can be done to clean the photos? Once I clean them is there anything "left" that would leach out and damage other photos or items in my scrapbook (paper, adhesive, page, etc.)?

What about the odor???

Thanks for any help. I am just a regular mom so any suggestions for techincal solutions, please provide a bit of extra explanation. Thanks much!

Lynette in Idaho

This is a link to a problem of cat urine on paper. The abstract was written in Nov. of 2000 by Brenda Bernier. This may not be too much help as the abstract does not deal with specifics. Due to the age of the document the person you might not be able to reach the person at the given address at the end of the article.


http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/2000/1360.html

dc
Here is another article with some possible resources at the end.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/6662/photopre.htm#Clean

Here is the site for PEC 12 a cleaning product.
http://www.photosol.com/pec12.htm

Isn't there a photo cleaning solution that's been mentioned in the threads before?

bear in mind i have NO experience with urine problems, so this is total guesswork on my part.

but, i would find a couple of prints that you can afford to part with and simply try a bit of water. i wouldnt soak them and i'd be very hesitant about rubbing them at all, but a soft flow of water over the print surface might help.

also, water can usually be used to separate images that are stuck together, though again, i dont know about urine. i've done separatations before using an eye dropper and simply putting as little water as possible on and between the edges of the prints where they join. use tweezers and get ahold of one edge and lightly pull up on it to separate. as you pull, or between pulls, add a couple more drops of water to get down between the prints and just keep repeating this process of drops of water and tweezers. let the drops soak for a few seconds before using the tweezers to pull.

it also depends somewhat on if the prints are facing paper side to paper side, print side to print side or paper side to print side. the tendency where a paper side is one of the sides is to have tiny bits of the paper come off as you pull. in most cases i've found this acceptable providing not too much comes off and that i can also then remove the small bits by themselves.

print side to print side is usually the easiest and will often separate with no damage.

when done with the separation, BLOT, dont rub any excess water off. and it's often a good idea to put the prints between something that will soak up water and put a light weight on the top to keep the prints from curling. make sure that whatever blotter type you use isnt something that will bleed color or leave its own residue.