The Blue Maine Coon

The Blue Maine Coon

We associate the word blue with sad or gloomy.

But the Blue Maine Coon cat is none of that.

The blue colors of the Maine Coon are absolutely stunning. The Blue Maine Coon looks imperial and magnificent, warm and friendly.

The Blue Color

Blue is a recognized color with the Cat Fanciers Association for Maine Coon Cats.

Blue is a form of grey but can range from a dark smoky color to a light silver color.

The Solid Blue color is one solid blue color from nose to tail with blue paw pads and a blue nose.

The hair on a solid blue retains its color down into the hair shaft. Eye color is normally gold or green.

The solid blue color is the most common in the blues.

A Blue and White is a Blue with White patches on their bib, paws, and belly.

A Blue Tabby has a pale bluish ivory base and markings that are a deep contrasting blue.

Fawn or patina overtones are accepted with white allowed on nose and paws.

A pink or rose nose and pink paw pads. There is also a Blue Silver Tabby and a Blue Patched Tabby which are more unusual.

The Blue coloring is a very sought after color and is especially striking in the more unusual Shaded Blue Silver and the Chinchilla Blue Silver.

These colors can be harder to find and may be more expensive due to their rarity.

Blue Smoke Color

Blue’s come in Blue Smoke and Blue Tortie Smoke.

The “smoke” color refers to the silver undercoat. It can be hard to identify the color of a blue smoke kitten because it can take many months for the undercoat to develop.

However, a smoke colored cat will have silver roots going into the hair shaft.

Genetics

Genetics with the Maine Coon is fascinating business Maine Coons are available in 84 different color combinations.

Breeders often find genetics and predicting color a challenge in the Maine Coon cat.

In genetics, color refers to the solid color such as red, blue or black.

Pattern refers to tabby or smoke.

Color is most often received directly from the parents and does not travel genetically through the line. The color point gene is an exception to this.

The pattern can be received from either parent.

Colors are found in polygenes which means the gene needs multiple others of the same kind to be observable.

So the color with the most genes wins!

Male kittens receive both color genes from their mother.

They will always be either the color of the dam or a diluted version of that color such as a cream or blue.

Female kittens will have received one color gene from the mother and one color gene from the father.

The female kitten can be a combination of the parents coloring or a diluted form.

The Cat Fanciers Association has a great article on cat genetics ( http://cfa.org/Breeders/CatColorsGenetics/BasicFelineGenetics.aspx ).

In addition, if you are a breeder genetic testing is available to see what colors your king or queen has in their genetic line. UC Davis offers genetic testing for color coat as well as several types of cat-related diseases.

Famous Blue Maine Coons

In 1911 a Blue Maine Coon received the Best of Show award at a show in Portland, Oregon.

Sadly there are no pictures of him as he was referred to only as the “longhaired blue Maine Cat”.

This is CH Dragon Legend Indigo – 2016/11 – Champion in TICA.

Regional Winner for Best Maine Coon Polydactyl. International Winner for Best Blue Maine Coon Polydactyl. Blue. Polydactyl. Imported from Germany. Registered in TICA.

If you’d like to see some striking imagery for the blue Maine Coon, please watch these videos.