Can someone please figure out the mystery of the Pink Tabby?

[FlannelShirt]

Starting one week ago, our cat has begun coming home pink. It’s actually even worse now, as he’s come back with what looks like extreme pink contorting on his cheeks.

He’s clearly found something he enjoys rubbing up on. What could our neighbours be doing? It isn’t stiff like if it were drying paint, for example. It’s not dried blood either. His fur is very fluffy and soft, no change in texture nor odour.

How is Benedict Cumbercat this morning, after another night on the pink tiles? Handsome boy. His regal stare suggests his pinkness is really none of our business.

OP do you live near any Bilberry bushes, you mention fields earlier, my dog gets stains like this because he likes to run through the bushes and at this time of year the bilberries can be quite soft.

I know that at this time of year kids are doing lots of chalking with games drawing etc so that would be my bet otherwise a shed he can access with some sort of paint or dye on the floor lovely pussy cat

I was skim reading and got very confused when I caught "Farmers supplement their diet with food" on your post @Sparrowball , wondering what the Farmer's main diet was if not food 🤣🤣🤣

dpony who is white has a pink face intermittently this summer.

I so want a dpony with a pink face. Not fair. <stamps foot>

Place marking to see the results of his wanderings. 😻

I think the PP who suggested he's been rolling on pink gravel may be right.

Or, he HAS been washed with a red sock... 😁

My husband has suggested it could be from anti-climb paint? He says, from experience, it can be hard to get off.

Wish I could read the full article, Brumas looks disgruntled and also a similar shade of pink 😆

He slept in all night, he likes his comfort! I did manage to somewhat capture his pink blusher this morning:

Oh my! 😻 < I’ve never used this emoji before but it seems apt for the occasion.

Here is the BBC version! news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4215890.stm

Ah, but he might have done.

Cats do as they please, as we all know.
😂

I expect cat would see anti climb paint as a personal challenge

Aww he sure is a beauty 😻

I nearly choked on my tea 🤣🤣🤣

Here's an archived version.
https://archive.ph/CEoDG

Hmm, the last time I saw a pink-tinged cat it was a lion with a huge food belly sleeping off a kill. Are all your neighbours accounted for?

What a beautiful picture, @FlannelShirt

This time of year, chalk is quite likely. Or he's found a little friend somewhere who likes colouring him in! 😂
Our ginger tom used to come home with black smudges all down his back. We worked out he'd been crawling underneath cars!

You can have mine if you like. He's a knobber tho, and comes with a vets bill, an attitude and is pretty pointless as ponies go. He's too small for adults to ride, and decks them anyway even if they are small enough. And he threatens to eat kids, except mine who are both too big for him.

I'll even throw in the fly mask.

I think that with a pink face he must secretly be a unicorn, though (perhaps with a retractable horn for modesty), so all of those problematic features pale into insignificance.

It's a deal. I'll trade him with my terrier (white, sometimes brown, occasionally from spilt coffee but mostly from fox poo or dead badger effusions.)

Blackberry bush. My dog went the same colour.

Thank you @PoliteOtter and @Sparrowball for the links!

@ReadWithScepticism Who could resist such a tempting offer 😄 I bet he’s an absolute character.

So chalk is the most popular culprit it seems! I’ll have a walk round later and see if I can spy any visible chalk artworks about. Granted I can’t peer into back gardens, but maybe the mystery can be solved. I also should try to see if the sheep are marked or not, but may not have the chance today with the weather being so stormy.

Gorgeous cat OP, I have a similar model! Has something embarrassed him perhaps ?

This is the best thing I have ever read on Mumsnet. Or possibly my life.