Maine Coon Colors and Patterns
Maine Coons come in almost every color and pattern a cat can have: black, blue, red, cream and white, in solid, tabby, tortoiseshell, smoke and with-white versions. This guide explains how Maine Coon color works, the patterns you will see, and the colors Kats Kits has raised.
Colors at Kats Kits
Orange and Red Maine Coons
Red, ginger and cream tabbies
Black and Smoke Maine Coons
Solid black and black smoke
Blue and Silver Maine Coons
Blue, blue tabby and silver
Tortie and Calico Maine Coons
Tortoiseshell, torbie and calico
Polydactyl Maine Coons
Maine Coons with extra toes
How Maine Coon Color Works
Every cat color starts from just two pigments: black and red. A handful of genes then change how they show:
- Dilution softens black to blue and red to cream.
- Tabby or solid: one gene decides whether a cat shows tabby stripes or is a solid color like a solid black. Red cats nearly always show stripes either way.
- The X chromosome carries the red gene, which is why orange cats are mostly male and torties are almost always female.
- Silver takes the warm color out of the undercoat, giving silver tabbies, smokes and shaded cats.
- White can cover the whole cat, or appear in patches as a bicolor or calico.
Maine Coon Patterns
| Pattern | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Solid | One color all over, with no markings |
| Classic tabby | Bold swirls on the sides, often called a bullseye or marble |
| Mackerel tabby | Narrow stripes down the sides, like a fish skeleton |
| Tortoiseshell | Patches of black and red, or blue and cream |
| Torbie | A tortoiseshell with tabby markings |
| Calico | A tortoiseshell with clear areas of white |
| Smoke | Colored tips over a white undercoat |
| Shaded and silver | A white undercoat with color on the outer part of each hair |
| Bicolor (with white) | Any color or pattern with white on the chest, paws or face |
Eye Colors
Maine Coons have gold, copper or green eyes, in every shade between. Blue eyes, or one blue and one gold, only occur in white cats or cats with a lot of white. All kittens are born with blue eyes, and the adult color settles in over the first few months.
Colors Maine Coons Do Not Come In
The breed standards do not accept chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, fawn or pointed colors like a Siamese. A kitten sold as a Maine Coon in one of those colors is not a purebred Maine Coon, whatever the advertisement says. It is one of the checks worth making when you buy a Maine Coon kitten.
Does Color Change Personality?
Orange cats are said to be laid-back and torties to have attitude, but there is no reliable evidence that color decides temperament. A kitten's personality comes from its parents and from how it is raised. Every Kats Kits kitten grows up in Kat's home, handled every day, and goes home at ten weeks used to people and family life. Read about Maine Coon personality.
Maine Coon Color Questions
How much is a Maine Coon kitten from Kats Kits?
$700 for a pet kitten, male or female. Travel, if your kitten is coming to you, is quoted separately.
What colors do Maine Coon cats come in?
Almost every color and pattern: black, blue, red, cream and white, in solid, tabby, tortoiseshell, smoke, shaded and with-white versions. The breed standards do not accept chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, fawn or pointed colors like a Siamese.
What is the most common Maine Coon color?
Brown tabby, the classic wild look of black stripes on a warm brown coat, is the color most people picture, and it turns up in many litters.
What is the rarest Maine Coon color?
There is no official ranking. Colors that need the same recessive gene from both parents, such as solid blue, cream or a true solid black, turn up less often, but how common a color is in a litter depends on the parents.
Can you tell a kitten's adult color at ten weeks?
Mostly. The base color is set at birth, but tabby markings can soften, a smoke undercoat can show more as the coat grows, and the full adult coat takes two years or more to come in.
Looking for a Particular Color?
Tell Kat which color you have in mind. Call (651) 463-4780 or email katskitscattery@aol.com.