The Maine Coon guide · Kats Kits
What Does a Maine Coon Look Like?
A Maine Coon looks like what it is: a big, weatherproof farm cat from New England. Expect a long, solid body, a shaggy coat that is longer underneath than on top, a ruff around the chest, tall ears with tufts at the tips and a long, plumed tail.
Here is the breed's look from head to tail, following the breed standard in plain words, then colors, how kittens change as they grow and the question of short-haired Maine Coons.
What Are the Main Characteristics of a Maine Coon?
If you only remember a handful of traits, make it these:
- Size and length. A large, long cat. Grown males usually weigh 13 to 18 pounds and females 8 to 12, and many measure 30 to 40 inches from nose to tail tip.
- Ears. Large, tall and tufted, set high on the head.
- Muzzle. Square and strong, never pointed.
- Coat. Shaggy, silky and uneven in length, with a ruff at the chest.
- Tail. Long, full and flowing.
- Paws. Big and round, with tufts of fur between the toes.
Almost all of this traces back to the breed's life as a cold-climate farm cat. Why it grew so large is covered in why Maine Coons are so big.
What Does a Maine Coon's Head Look Like?
The head is slightly longer than it is wide, with high cheekbones and a muzzle that is square at the front, so the face looks strong and boxy rather than round or wedge-shaped. The chin is firm and lines up with the nose and upper lip. In profile, the nose has a gentle dip rather than running straight down from the forehead.
Males usually have broader, heavier heads than females, and the whole face looks wider once the ruff and cheek fur grow in. An adult in full coat can look almost lion-like.
What Are Lynx Tips and Ear Furnishings?
They are the two kinds of ear tuft that give the Maine Coon its wild look. Lynx tips are tufts of fur that sprout from the very point of the ear, like a lynx's. Furnishings are the long tufts that grow from inside the ear and fan out past the edges, and they are thought to help keep out cold air and snow.
The ears themselves are large, wide at the base and tapering to a point, set high on the head and well apart. Tuft size varies a lot: some Maine Coons have long, dramatic lynx tips and others only a wisp, and both are normal. Kittens often show their tufts early, which is part of why young Maine Coons seem to be all ears.
What Color Eyes Do Maine Coons Have?
Usually green, gold, green-gold or copper. The eyes are large, expressive and set wide apart, with a slight slant toward the outer base of the ear. Eye color in a Maine Coon is not tied to coat color, so a red cat can have green eyes and a black cat gold ones.
Blue eyes, or one blue and one gold, occur only in white Maine Coons and cats with a lot of white in the coat. All kittens are born with blue eyes, though, and the adult color settles in over the first few months, so a young kitten's eyes are no guide to what they will become.
What Does a Maine Coon's Body Look Like?
Long, muscular and rectangular, with a broad chest. Picture a brick rather than a ball: seen from the side, a Maine Coon should look longer than it is tall, with its weight carried evenly from front to back.
- Legs. Substantial and wide-set, of medium length, so the cat stands square and solid.
- Paws. Large and round, with long tufts of fur between the toes that work like snowshoes. Some Maine Coons have extra toes, which make the front paws broad and mitten-like; see polydactyl Maine Coons.
- Tail. Long, wide at the base and tapering, covered in long, flowing fur. It is about as long as the body from shoulder blade to rump, or longer, and the cat wraps it around itself to sleep.
Despite the size, a good Maine Coon looks balanced: no one part, whether head, legs or tail, should look out of scale with the rest.
What Is a Maine Coon's Coat Like?
Shaggy, heavy and uneven, which is exactly how it should be. The fur is short on the head and shoulders, grows longer down the back and sides, and is longest on the belly and the britches, the fluffy fur on the back of the hind legs. A ruff, a frill of longer fur around the neck and chest, frames the face and is usually fuller in males and in winter.
The texture is silky rather than cottony, with a glossy, water-resistant top coat over a soft undercoat, and it falls smoothly instead of standing out like a powder puff. A well-kept Maine Coon looks natural and a little untidy, not sculpted. The coat thins in spring and thickens again in fall, so the same cat can look quite different in July and January. Care is covered in Maine Coon shedding and grooming.
What Colors Can a Maine Coon Be?
Almost any. Brown tabby is the classic and the color most people picture, but Maine Coons come in solids, tabbies, tortoiseshells, smokes and shaded coats, and all of these with white. A smoke coat is dark on top with a pale undercoat that shows when the cat moves.
The Maine Coon colors guide explains how color and pattern combine. For a closer look, see orange, black and smoke, blue and tortoiseshell Maine Coons.
What Do Maine Coon Kittens Look Like?
Like most kittens at first, then more and more like a Maine Coon in miniature, with ears and paws that seem a size too big. Ages here are rough, and kittens vary:
| Age | What you see |
|---|---|
| Birth | Eyes closed, ears folded flat and a short, fine coat. The eyes usually open at one to two weeks, and at this stage a Maine Coon looks much like any other kitten. |
| 10 weeks | A soft, fluffy kitten coat, ears that look too big for the head and are often already tufted, broad paws and a long tail. The eyes may still be changing from kitten blue. This is the age Kats Kits kittens go home. |
| 6 months | Leggy and lanky, like a teenager. The kitten fluff is giving way to a longer, silkier coat, and the ears and paws still look oversized. |
| 1 year | Close to adult height but slim, with a modest ruff and tail. The heavy chest, full ruff and adult coat often take another two years or more to arrive. |
Weights and the month-by-month detail are in Maine Coon kitten growth stages, and the kittens ready for new homes now are on the available kittens page.
Are There Short-Haired Maine Coon Cats?
Not as a recognized type. The breed standard describes a long, shaggy coat on every Maine Coon, and none of the main registries recognizes a short-haired version. Long hair in cats is recessive, which means two long-haired parents have long-haired kittens, so two purebred Maine Coons should not produce a truly short-haired kitten.
Coat length does vary, though, and a few things can make a real Maine Coon look short-haired:
- Age. Kittens and young cats have a shorter coat than they will as adults.
- Season. The summer coat is much shorter and lighter, and the ruff can almost disappear.
- Lines. Some lines carry a sleeker, less profuse coat than others.
- Clipping. A Maine Coon shaved for mats or given a lion cut looks short-haired until the coat grows back.
A cat sold or rehomed as a "short-haired Maine Coon" is usually a mix, or a domestic shorthair with a big frame. It may be a lovely cat, but it is not a purebred Maine Coon.
Does Looking Like a Maine Coon Make a Cat a Maine Coon?
No. A purebred Maine Coon shows most of the traits on this page, but the reverse does not hold. Plenty of large, long-haired cats have tufted ears, a ruff and a bushy tail without any Maine Coon ancestry, and many Maine Coon mixes look the part. Only pedigree papers from a recognized registry prove that a cat is a Maine Coon.
If you are trying to work out what your own cat is, the guide to telling if your cat is a Maine Coon has a checklist, a comparison with look-alike breeds and what DNA tests can and cannot tell you.
Quick Answers
Can a Maine Coon have blue eyes?
Yes, but only if it is white or has a lot of white in its coat. Other Maine Coons have green, gold, green-gold or copper eyes.
Do Maine Coons have a mane?
Many do. The ruff, a thick frill of fur around the neck and chest, gives grown males especially a lion-like look, and it is fullest in winter.
Why does my Maine Coon look smaller in summer?
Because it has shed its winter coat. The summer coat is shorter and lighter, with a thinner ruff, and the full coat comes back as the weather cools.
What is the M on a Maine Coon's forehead?
It is the tabby M, a marking found on tabby cats of every breed, not just Maine Coons. You will see it on brown, red, blue and silver tabby Maine Coons.
Are all Maine Coons tabby?
No. Brown tabby is the classic look, but Maine Coons also come in solid colors, smokes, tortoiseshells and shaded coats, with or without white.
How long is a Maine Coon's tail?
About as long as the body from shoulder blade to rump, and often longer. It is wide at the base, tapers toward the tip and is covered in long, flowing fur.
