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Wilbur the cat is usually a rather elegant grey, black and white creature so his human family were, to say the least, a little taken aback when she arrived back home bright blue.

Concern that Wilbur might have been the target of an unkind paint attack turned to relief when it turned out that she had gatecrashed a neighbour’s gender reveal party and rolled around in blue dye.

Sophie Jenkin, a GP admin worker, said the family, who live in a Cornish village, had just finished watching an England World Cup game when Wilbur (female despite her name) appeared.

“We were all cheering and celebrating and then my brother said: ‘Sophie, why is your cat blue?’ I thought: ‘Oh my God, someone’s thrown paint at her.’

“I took a picture and put it on the Heamoor Facebook page because someone must have known what’s happened. It was tongue-in-cheek – ‘Does anyone know what’s happened to my cat?’ Some people were laughing but some were commenting that it could be toxic and I got a bit worried.”

Happily, a neighbour, Hollie Jenkinson, revealed that she had held a gender reveal party and used cornflower with blue dye in it. Jenkin thinks Wilbur didn’t get it on her face because she likes to roll around on her back.

“And she does a weird thing with her head when she’s rolling so it must have missed her face. We have not stopped laughing since. It’s so funny.”

Removing the dye turned out to be a bit of a chore. “I had to keep washing and washing her. The blue wouldn’t come out. She’s still got a tiny stain but she’s OK.”

Jenkinson, who held the gender reveal party, said: “We thought it would be a great idea to do a gender reveal for our children in our garden. It consisted of the children kicking footballs containing blue cornstarch. It all went really well and my children were really excited to find out what we’re having.

“A few hours later, I received a message from a family member with a screenshot from the Heamoor page where a woman was asking why her cat was blue. I realised that her cat must have been rolling around in the leftover cornstarch in my garden.

“It seems to have entertained so many people and this has definitely brought the neighbours on the street closer.”

Izzy Hocking, the senior veterinary engagement manager at the charity Cats Protection, said: “While it must have been quite alarming for Wilbur’s owners to see him come home bright blue, corn starch coloured with standard food dye is unlikely to cause significant harm in most cases.

“Importantly, they did exactly the right thing by identifying what the substance was and washing it off straight away to prevent him from grooming himself and potentially ingesting it.

“If pet owners ever find themselves in a similar situation, the best approach is to identify what product or dye has been used if possible, wrap their pet in a towel to prevent licking and contact their vet for advice. It’s always worth seeking veterinary guidance whenever a pet has been exposed to an unfamiliar substance.”