TIFU by turning my donkey pink.

I ordered the fly cream in Fall, as to be ready by Spring. I live in Kansas; we get flies like Louisiana gets mosquitos. I like to be prepared, because spring comes suddenly and when it is 90F after a week of -30, the flies have arrieved.

The cream was placed with the rest of the donkey supplies; out in our non-insulated barn. Mental box checked.

Spring came. I used up the last of my almost empty fly cream.

We had a heavy rain, so Carrot had to have new cream applied now that she has sun dried. Poor girl had a carpet of flies on her back.

No biggy. She is trained to relax and enjoy having fly cream applied with lots of love, a few low sugar treats, and scratchies.

When I picked up the cream, the plastic cup of cream was warmer than usual since it is simply so hot today.

As I go to stick a litteral stick into it, I am surprised to see bright pink. Barbie car hot pink.

My first thought was mayyyyyybe there was a chemical reaction from the heat; maybe there was just a layer of pink.

In went the stick. It was pink all the way thew!

I check the lable and yep, it is supposed to be pink!

A quick research (safety first!) shows me that they make pink fly cream for people who need to visualize the cream. Say, someone with 25 goats would want to make sure they got all goats, maybe there's a wound you want to see at a distance and know there is cream tk keep the flies off.

Anywho.

Same chemical mix, and she needs releif asap.

I grab a nice one and a half by quarter inch scrap of wood. I snap the end to make a comb and scratch that against some old bricks to soften the comb. Then I use the flat side to scoop up some cream.

I had to use a lot of positive reinforcement, patience (aka being more stubborn than a donkey,) and give her time and trust training. Because you think I am surprised by suddenly having pink cream? Carrot does NOT like sudden change.

Letting her sniff it at a distance at her leasure, she soon decided for herself that it was fly cream.

On it goes using the stick the gently scratch her and spread it like one would soft butter on toast. She loves the attention and how it feels. She gave some approval snorts so I took off her safety haulter (if she is on the haulter, she is safe. She could still run away from the color pink far enough that she could stop at a distance she felt safe from seeing something new before returning.)

Oh, and she isn't your usual brown, barely any fur at all, Shrek-looking donkey.

She is white with brown spots. Now she is pink.

She loved her new brush I got to distribute the fly cream the rest of the way.

The pink dye did indeed help me make sure I did not miss a single area.

She's going to be pink from now on.

TL;DR: I bought fly cream for my fluffy mini spotted donkey not knowing that some versions come with pink dye. The dye has no effect on her or the flies, so she is now pink.