“I haven’t stopped laughing since Wilbur came home”Olivier Vergnault Senior Reporter and Alex Driscoll Breaking News reporter

12:49, 02 Jul 2026

Wilbur the tabby cat from Heamoor in Penzance came home blue (Image: Sophie Jenkin)

A pet owner says she hasn’t been able to stop laughing since her cat returned home – dyed blue.

Sophie Jenkin, from Heamoor in Penzance, Cornwall, was initially startled when Wilbur, her two-year-old tabby cat, appeared earlier this week sporting a rather lovely – albeit unusual and unexpected – shade of cyan.

“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 admitted she was initially worried that neighbourhood children might have been mistreating pets by hurling paint at them.

However, her concerns were alleviated when she posted an anxious, yet light-hearted, picture of her blue cat on Facebook yesterday (Wednesday, July 1) – and the mystery was solved, reports Cornwall Live.

Wilbur the tabby cat from Heamoor in Penzance came home blue (Image: Sophie Jenkin)

“We thought something nasty had happened at first or kids were abusing cats in the neighbourhood,” the mother-of-one explained. “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 said: “I haven’t stopped laughing. I woke up in my sleep laughing. The comments on Facebook made laugh so much too.”

The baby gender reveal party blue dye which Wilbur rolled in (Image: Hollie Jenkinson)

The pet owner, who also has a five-year-old staffie named Woody, revealed she bathed Wilbur after reading comments suggesting the blue dye might be toxic, but was reassured by Hollie Jenkinson, her neighbour who hosted the baby gender reveal, that it was simply corn starch.

Sophie said: “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 had her charming blue-rinse appearance washed away and has returned to her usual self.

Hollie also found the sight of blue Wilbur absolutely hilarious. She said: “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 corn starch. It all went really well, and my children were really excited.

Wilbur the tabby cat from Heamoor in Penzance came home blue – but has since been washed and is back to her normal colour (Image: Sophie Jenkin)

“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, and she 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.”