Maine Coon colors

Maine Coon cats are very popular all over the world. The reason is obvious - unusual large sizes, exquisite “tassels” on the ears and a variety of original colors. It is enough for a professional to look at the shade and pattern of the animal’s hair, eye color to tell a lot about him.

Maine Coons have several varieties of color, however, all this diversity comes down to only 2 genetic colors - black and red. The remaining colors are bred by breeders and are based on these two natural colors. At the same time, modern science believes that Maine Coons are derived naturally. Living on farms, eating large rodents and crossing in a limited population, these animals acquired large sizes and characteristic features of the breed.

The need to mimic with the surrounding nature led to the peculiarities of coloring. Today, felinology calls Taska color "black marble". That is, this particular color is natural. With the time of distribution and demand of the breed around the world, new colors appeared. For the convenience of breeders, a single international classification of colors has been adopted. It is based on 3 components:

• coat color;
• the presence of a pattern on the wool - usually these are stripes that can sometimes turn into curls;
• the presence of spots, their sizes and shades.

Let us consider in more detail what types of colors of Maine Coons are.

The color of the tabby is present in all Maine Coons (but not in all it is pronounced). This is because such a color is laid genetically - the hair of the animal is zoned, that is, striped.In some literature you can find the name "tabby" - in the English manner.

The color of the “tabby” can have several variations - depending on how the dark and light sections of hairs alternate and fold into wool. For example, continuous parallel stripes are a sign of a tiger tabby. If the strips are intermittent, the color is called "spotted." By "classic" is meant a marble pattern (stains).

A variety of this type of color can be considered "ticking". The latter involves ticking (that is, the presence of strips) throughout the body of the animal, however, the pattern is not pronounced. Sometimes only these bands appear on the forehead, breast, and legs of the animal. Cats with a ticking pattern are often found among Abyssinian cats, ticked Maine Coon is a rarity, which is why it is so appreciated.

Among individuals with a “tabby” color, black cats can be distinguished. This is not a mistake - the black color underneath always has residual stripes (“tabby”). They are especially noticeable in kittens. It seems that a thin black veil is thrown over the fur with a pattern. As the individual grows older, the pattern appears less and less, the hair becomes a noble black color. However, the latter is largely the merit of the Maine Coon owner.

Cats with this color have no pattern (or are characterized by a “shadow”, that is, a not very pronounced pattern). For solid, the full color of the animal's hair along the entire length is inherent. However, sometimes an individual has a lighter shade undercoat. Other spots are defective. Solid can be red, black, white, cream and blue.

It’s interesting that In itself, a red tint is one of the most common among Maine Coons. However, the pattern on such wool appears brighter. In other words, in the specialized market you can often find red variations of “tabby”, spotted red Maine Coons, while these same red cats, but of solid bloom, are a real rarity.

Widespread in the West were blue solid. In our country, they are sometimes mistakenly called gray, however, the difference between blue, smoky and silver cats is enormous. The enthusiasm of the connoisseurs is caused by the “blue smoke” color, in which Maine does not have a pronounced pattern, however, its fur includes several color variations - from silver to graphite.

It is worth mentioning separately about white solidity. In any case, the white color of the Maine coat is not the color, but the absence of pigment. Snow-white kittens can sometimes have darker spots on the face, disappearing as the animal grows. White Maine Coons are unpretentious in leaving, however, they may be deaf. That is why it is better to get them from reputable and experienced breeders.

Because of the fear of deafness of the animal, many people choose not white, but cream cats. This color is the result of lightening classic red. The result is a cream-ginger animal. However, to achieve a pure solid is problematic, stripes or a classic pattern manifest themselves (usually on the muzzle, breast, legs).

Maine Coon with a tortoise color is a three-color Maine Coon that has a picturesque appearance. Based on the shade that prevails, maine coons of tortoise color are divided into:

• “Torbi” (the color consists of black and red);
• "Torti" (they are joined by a clarified cream shade).

Haze or silver may also be present. Interestingly, female individuals are usually born tortoiseshell. The chance of a male being born is 1: 1000.Tortoise color can be supplemented with white spots that have clearly defined outlines. This color is called "calico" (in translation - a flap, chintz).

Smoky Maine Coons are very popular and look very impressive. With this color, each cat's hair has a white base and a tip with pigment. Moreover, the color can have different intensities from darker smoky to very light silver. For example, black smoke cats have a pronounced shade of hair. The color intensity depends on what part of the individual's hair is dyed:

• if half the hair is dyed, then this is “ordinary smoke”;
• when dyeing 1/4 of the hair, it is considered that this is “shaded smoke”;
• hair dyed 1/8 part, before us is the Maine Coon color "chinchilla."

Separately, in this group, Maines with an exquisite silver color are distinguished. It can be so light and light that it is easy to confuse such individuals with whites, especially in childhood. Traditionally, kittens are distinguished by the color of the iris. Snow-white animals have blue eyes, while silver ones are green-eyed beauties.

As the individual grows, the hair darkens somewhat, and the “tobie” pattern becomes more pronounced on it. Maine Coons of the “marble on silver” color are considered to be of great value.. They have a light silver color with a darker spiral pattern, as if imitating the colors of the marble. Peach Maine Coon also belongs to this group. These cats have white hairs, and at the tips are bright red. Thanks to this combination, a gentle peach coat color is obtained.

First of all, it should be said that spotted Maine Coons are not bicolor. Bicolor, according to the international standard, is when the ratio of white to colored coat on the body of the animal is 1: 1. Maine Coons can have the following varieties of white spots:

• "Buttons" - represent small randomly located white spots throughout the body of the animal;
• "medallion" - the spot is noticeable, located on the cat’s breast;
• Gloves - we are talking about the white legs of an animal;
• "Van" - almost white Maine with colored spots on the head and tail;
• "harlequin" - large white spots on white fur.

There is also a tuxedo color. It is not included in the international classification, but is often used by animal owners. This refers to the white legs and breast of the animal against the background of the rest of the colored fur, while white and colored fur are usually contrasted.

Maine Coon colors are quite a lot, among them - a random combination. Consider the options accepted by the breeders:

• brown spotted tabby - Maine Coon in brown and reddish spots;
• Diluted turtle - blue-cream shade, which is a combination of spots of blue and cream (ginger) color;
• blue spotted tabby - Maine Coon of a blue color with cream spots.

Seals of this group have no white spots. There are also individuals with a random combination of colors - white spots:

• blue-cream with white spots - the cat has a blue and cream color and snow-white spots;
• spotted tabby with white - tabby animal with white spots.

To understand what color Maine Coon, allows a single international system EMS, according to which each color is assigned an individual code. Consider this in the form of a table. In such a system, Maine Coons are supposed to have the following types of color:

If there are white spots on the skin, a digital one is added to the indicated letter code:

• if the animal is white with one or more spots of the main color, then it “gets” the classification “van” - 01;
• if 2/3 of the individuals are painted white, then this is “harlequin” - 02;
• two-color pet or bicolor - this is 03;
• with white (if less than half) - 04.

The presence and appearance of the fur coat pattern allows us to distinguish the following types of raccoon cats:

• classic tabby or marble (the animal has a picture in the form of the letter "M" on the forehead or "butterflies" on the sides) - code 22;
• mackerel or tiger tabby (it can be recognized by the already mentioned letter “M” on the forehead, in addition, the animal has stripes like the color of a tiger skin throughout the body) - 23;
• spotted (the so-called torn tiger or spotted) - 24;
• shaded (the manifestation of the color of the tabby on the silver coat because of what it looks blurry) -11;
• chinchilla - black series of colors, cameo - red series -12;
• agouti factor (by color it is obvious that the individual is tabby, but it is difficult to attribute the pattern to a specific type) - 21.

Sometimes, when describing an individual, the characteristic of eye color can also be used. When accounting for it, special codes are also used:

• blue-eyed Maine Coons are encoded as 61;
• cats with yellow, orange or golden eyes have a code of 62;
• in case of disagreement indicate code 63;
• green-eyed code 64.

You can learn about the colors of Maine Coons by watching the video.