HELP! Tabby cat's black stripes have suddenly gone red!

[quazi]

The title pretty much speaks for itself. Anyone any experience of this please? Seems to have happened virtually overnight. (And no, he isn't washing with henna.) Seriously though, wondering if this is a bizarre symptom of something more sinister.

Brush him! My black cat's hair used to take on a red hue, but it was just the old dead hairs bleaching out. A quick brush and she was right as rain again.

Is he getting on in years? It only started happening with my cat once she got past the age of ten or so, mainly because she couldn't groom herself as well as when she was a youngster.

Yes, he's twelve and a half, and he is brushed regularly so I don't think it's that. It really does seem to have happened in the last couple of days. Really peculiar. Will go and brush him again now out of interest!