Attending a party without being invited, much less revealing one’s gender, might be seen as a faux pas, but one cat paid the ultimate price after returning home coloured in blue, having gatecrashed a neighbour’s baby bash.
When Wilbur, Sophie Jenkin’s two-year-old tabby cat, showed up earlier this week in a beautiful shade of cyan, she was first surprised.
‘I haven’t stopped laughing since Wilbur came home blue,’ the 32–year–old said.
‘Wilbur is actually a girl, but we thought it was a boy, so we named her Wilbur. But it’s a girl, and it’s now blue.’
The admin worker in a local GP surgery said at first she was concerned local kids may have been messing about, abusing pets by throwing paint at them, but her worries were put to rest when she shared a concerned, yet tongue–in–cheek, post of her blue cat on Facebook on Wednesday – and the explanation became clear.
‘We thought something nasty had happened at first or kids were abusing cats in the neighbourhood,’ the mum–of–one added.
‘I put a picture of Wilbur on Facebook, and it turned out a lady who lives a few doors down had a gender reveal party. I guess it’s a boy.’
Sophie, who lives in Heamoor, Penzance, added: ‘I haven’t stopped laughing. I woke up in my sleep laughing. The comments on Facebook made me laugh so much too.’
The pet owner, who also has a five–year–old staffie called Woody, said she cleaned Wilbur after reading comments that the blue dye may be hazardous, but she was convinced by Hollie Jenkinson, her neighbour who planned the baby gender reveal, that it was simply corn starch.
Sophie added: ‘It’s hilarious. It’s so funny. Everyone at home and at work is cracked up. But all was well in the end. England won the football, my cat was blue, and everyone found it funny.’
Wilbur has since been washed off her delightful blue–rinse look and is back to her normal self.
Hollie also thought seeing blue Wilbur was amusing.
She explained: ‘We thought that it would be a great idea to do a gender reveal for our children in our garden, which consisted of the children kicking footballs containing blue cornstarch. It all went really well, and my children were really excited.
‘A few hours later I received a message from a family member with a screenshot from a Heamoor community page where a woman, who turned out to be one of my neighbours, was asking why her cat was blue.
‘I immediately burst into laughter when I realised that her cat must have been rolling around in the leftover cornstarch in my garden.
‘I’m so glad that she found the funny side of it, and it made the whole situation so much more hilarious. Luckily, after bathing her cat multiple times, the cat is no longer blue.
‘It seemed to have entertained so many people, and it has certainly made my gender reveal more memorable.’
Perhaps we should expect to see this cat again, standing as the green candidate for Manchester Mayor? Paw thing.
I’m also relieved that the cat is doing OK, and I guess it provided everyone with a brief moment of celebrity on social media.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 