Maine Coon Colors Made Easy, From Brown Tabby to Smoke
Maine Coon colors are worth just 15 CFA show points, yet a solid-looking coat can hide a white undercoat. Here is how to check yours.
Table of Contents
What colors do Maine Coons come in?
Maine Coon colors cover nearly every cat color and pattern. The exceptions are chocolate, lavender and the pointed (Himalayan) pattern, which the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) treats as a sign of hybridization. Brown tabby is the classic look, but solids, smokes, silvers, calicos and cats with white all occur.
Shopping for a kitten, naming a cat you own, or living with a white cat? Start with the registry rules, the undercoat test or the hearing section.
Which Maine Coon colors do registries accept?
What the CFA accepts
The CFA Maine Coon breed standard lists solid, tabby, bicolor, parti-color, shaded and smoke classes. It disqualifies cats with evidence of hybridization that produces chocolate, lavender or the Himalayan pattern.
What TICA and others do differently
Other registries set their own standards, so lists differ. Check TICA’s Maine Coon breed page and ask your breeder which registry the kitten is papered with.
Eye colors
CFA accepts green, gold, green-gold or copper eyes, with blue or odd eyes allowed only on white cats and cats with white.
Brown tabby vs. silver tabby: how to tell them apart
Brown tabby and silver tabby both carry dense black markings. The difference is the ground color underneath.
| Brown tabby | Silver tabby | |
|---|---|---|
| Ground color | Brilliant coppery brown | Pale, clear silver |
| Markings | Dense black | Dense black |
| Nose leather | Black or brown | Brick red |
| Paw pads | Black or brown | Black |
Source: CFA Maine Coon standard.
Classic, mackerel and ticked patterns
Both colors come in three CFA tabby patterns. Classic has broad swirls and a blotch on each side, mackerel has narrow pencil-thin stripes, and ticked shows ticking on the body.
🐾 Life-Stage Note: Tabby markings show at birth, and per CFA’s color hints, darker kitten stripes often mean a clearer adult pattern.
Solid, smoke and shaded: check the undercoat
A cat can look solid and still have a white undercoat.
Solid colors
CFA lists five solid colors: white, black, blue, red and cream.
Smoke, shaded and chinchilla
A smoke coat has a white undercoat deeply tipped with color, so the cat looks solid at rest and shows white in motion. Per CFA’s color hints, the colored share of each hair is about 1/8 for chinchilla, 1/4 for shaded and 1/2 for smoke.
Is it black or black smoke?
- Watch the cat at rest, then moving.
- Part the fur and look for white at the base of the hairs.
| What you see | CFA color name |
|---|---|
| Coppery brown, dense black markings | Brown tabby |
| Pale silver, dense black markings | Silver tabby |
| Looks black, white shows in motion | Black smoke |
| Dark mantle, white chin, chest and stomach | Shaded silver |
🐾 Life-Stage Note: Smoke kittens are hard to tell from solid kittens, and full color may not show until about age 2, per CFA.
Tabby and white, calico and tortie: how the rules differ
Tabby and white
CFA expects cats shown with white to have white on the bib, belly and all four paws, and it penalizes those that lack it.
Calico and tortie
Tortoiseshell is black with patches of red, and calico adds white. CFA says tortoiseshell cats are almost always female.
Why most orange cats are male
🔍 Why Cats Do This: The orange gene sits on the X chromosome, so a male needs one copy and a female needs two. NPR’s 2025 coverage of two gene studies put orange cats at about four in five male.
White Maine Coons, blue eyes and hearing
Hereditary deafness is a real concern in white cats, more so with blue eyes, per the Cornell Feline Health Center.
| White cat’s eyes | Share born deaf |
|---|---|
| Neither eye blue | 17–22% |
| One blue eye | 40% |
| Both eyes blue | 65–85% |
Source: Cornell. Figures are for white cats only.
Living with a deaf cat
Some cats are deaf in only one ear. Cornell advises keeping deaf cats indoors, away from dangers they cannot hear.
What to ask a breeder
✅ Do This: Before you commit to a white kitten, ask the breeder whether it has had a hearing assessment, and ask your veterinarian about testing.
Our guide to Maine Coon breeder red flags covers other questions worth asking.
Does color matter when choosing a Maine Coon?
Less than most listings suggest.
Color and price
We found no reliable published price list by color, so compare actual prices kitten by kitten. Our breeder vs. rescue price guide and Maine Coon size, cost and health guide show what else shapes the total.
Color doesn’t prove it’s a Maine Coon
The CFA standard gives head and body 30 points each and coat 20, against 15 for color. Considering a rescue listed as a Maine Coon? See our adoption and rescue guide.
Kitten coats change
🐾 Life-Stage Note: Per CFA, black kittens may look rusty until the adult coat arrives at 12 to 18 months.
Maine Coon colors FAQ
1. What are the main Maine Coon colors?
Nearly any color and pattern, including brown tabby, silver, solids, smoke and calico, except chocolate, lavender and pointed.
2. Can a Maine Coon be chocolate or lavender?
Not under the CFA standard, which disqualifies cats with evidence of hybridization producing chocolate, lavender or the Himalayan pattern.
3. What is a silver Maine Coon?
A silver tabby has a pale, clear silver base with dense black markings, per the CFA standard.
4. What is the most common Maine Coon color?
Brown tabby is the classic look, but we found no reliable breed-wide count of colors.
5. Do Maine Coons come in solid colors?
Yes. CFA lists five solid colors: white, black, blue, red and cream. A smoke cat can look solid.
6. What is a smoke Maine Coon?
A cat with a white undercoat deeply tipped in color. It looks solid at rest and shows white in motion.
7. Why are most orange cats male?
The orange gene sits on the X chromosome, so males need one copy and females two.
8. Are white Maine Coons deaf?
Not always. Cornell reports 17–22% of white cats with no blue eyes are born deaf, versus 65–85% with two blue eyes.
9. Does Maine Coon color change the price?
We found no reliable published price list by color, so compare actual prices for each kitten you consider.
10. Do Maine Coon kittens change color?
Some do. Black kittens can look rusty until 12 to 18 months, and smoke may take until about age 2.
Your next step
✅ Do This: Identify the ground color, then the undercoat, then the white. For white kittens, ask for hearing results.
Bringing a big cat home? Our guide to how many litter boxes per cat covers the setup.
