Maine Coon Cat Colors

Above: Daydream van Siduroy a Black Tabby Classic with White, for me one of the nicer Maine Coon cat colors. This fine cat lives with Dani and Rick at cattery Yeri Shaes in the Netherlands. The photograph is by Dani and is copyright Dani.

You don't want me to list all the Maine Coon cat colors with photographs do you? That would be a bit tricky as the cat associations allow a very wide range of colors for the purebred Maine Coon breed. It is almost limitless. However....

Gloria Stephens in her book Legacy of the Cat says that the Maine Coon colours are:

• Traditional color: Black, chocolate, cinnamon, blue, lilac, fawn, red, cream and white.
• Sepia and mink color: seal, chocolate, cinnamon, blue, lilac, fawn, red and cream.
• Pointed color: seal, chocolate, cinnamon, blue, lilac, fawn, red and cream.
• Pattern: solid colour, tortoiseshell, agouti tabby, mackerel tabby, spotted tabby, classic tabby, silver, tipped colour and parti-colour.

The Maine Coon is recognised in all colours and divisions of the traditional category. Early Maine Coons were brown tabbies. Patterns and colours were added as the breed developed.

These three are probably siblings.
Two have a very unusual coat pattern with a dark mask over the face
while the third is a grey tabby. All three are tabbies, however.

The range of colors does depend a bit on the association though, as there are some restrictions. For example although the CFA list over three pages the various colors and patterns, they do say that in competition a cat will be disqualified if there is evidence of white lockets (small patch of white in the chest), white buttons or white spots. The same fate awaits cats with signs of hybridization (crossing/mating with another cat breed) that results in the Himalayan pattern (pointed), the all over ticked coat of the Abyssinian and chocolate or lavender colors. Other than that for the CFA anything pretty much goes and you can see the entire list if you click on this link.

Here are the CFA colors. It is a very long list which I have presented poorly but completely!

Brown tabby, brown patched tabby, silver tabby, silver patched tabby, red tabby, blue-silver tabby, blue-silver patched tabby, blue patched tabby, cream tabby, cream silver tabby, cameo tabby, brown tabby and white, brown patched tabby and white, silver patched tabby and white, red tabby and white, tabby and white, patched tabby and white, black and white, blue and white, red and white, cream and white, tortoiseshell, blue-cream, calico, dilute calico, tortoiseshell and white, blue-cream and white, chinchilla silver, chinchilla blue silver, shaded blue silver, shell cameo, shaded cameo, shell cream, shaded cream, shell tortoiseshell, shaded tortoiseshell, shell blue-cream, shaded blue-cream, black smoke, blue smoke, cameo smoke, cream smoke, tortie smoke, blue-cream smoke, chinchilla silver and white, shaded silver and white, chinchilla blue silver and white, shaded blue silver and white, shell cameo and white, shaded cameo and white, shell cream and white, shaded cream and white, shell tortoiseshell and white, shaded tortoiseshell and white, shell calico, shaded calico, shell blue-cream and white, shaded blue-cream and white, shell dilute calico, shaded dilute calico, black smoke and white, blue smoke and white, cameo smoke and white, cream smoke and white, tortoiseshell smoke and white, blue-cream smoke and white, calico smoke, dilute calico smoke, OMCCC - other Maine Coon cat colours.

As for TICA all colors are acceptable with a penalty in competition of a cat that has lockets (as for the CFA). They also say the cats with "particolors should have white feet. Particolors as I understand it and as listed by the Maine Coon Breeders and Cat Fanciers Association are cats with these colors: Tortoiseshell, Calico (Tortoiseshell and white), Blue/cream calico, Blue/cream, Blue/cream white and the Van pattern.

The combined set of colors could be bracketed as per the Maine Coon Breeders and Cat Fanciers Association:

Solid, Parti Colors, Bi-Colors, Tabbies, Tabbies with White, Shaded, Shaded with White

The GCCF recognizes over 60 Maine Coon Cat Colors. All colors come with or without white. For example, a black Maine Coon with white would be bicolor and a Tuxedo possibly (if the white was down the chest). The GCCF Standard of Points states that the colors include: solids, tortoiseshell, tabby mackerel and classic tabby patterns - without and with silver, shaded coats and smoke coats, particolor and bicolor,

I don't have access (because of copyright laws) to photos of all the colors but I can do three things:

1. Show a slide show of some great champion Maine Coon cats in a variety of coat colors.
2. Links to some other pages on this site about cat coats generally.
3. Links to the relevant pages of the cat associations or clubs with their list of colors and pictures.

Some Maine Coon Cat Colors - Slide Show:

The original slide show is busted because Google stopped running the software. Below is a substitute which shows some Maine Coons:

Links to pages on cat coats:

• Black
• Tabby
• Torbie
• Dilution
• Black Tortoiseshell
• Tortie Torbie and white
• Tabby and White
• White
• Solid and White (bicolor)

Clubs - relevant pages on Maine Coon Cat Colors:

• [UK] The Maine Coon Cat Club - this is the UK club affiliated to the GCCF. Click Maine Coon Cat Colors for their gallery of colors.
• [USA] Maine Coon Breeders and Fanciers Assocation. Their list of colors

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Go to Maine Coon Cats on the main website

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