

On its face, the classic tabby reveals three horizontal lines that extend to the back of its head from the outer corner of its eyes. The more bracelets and necklaces on a classic tabby, the better! On the back, the classic tabby shows off a beautiful four-winged butterfly at its shoulders, leading to a reasonably wide, unbroken vertical line running down its spine, ending in an evenly ringed bottlebrush tail. Their legs are evenly banded with bracelets that continue to form necklaces at the base of the neck. Classic tabby Maine Coon cats (called blotched tabby within CFA and marbled tabby within some other circles) show off a large, solid (and ideally, identical) blotch or bullseye on each side, surrounded by clearly defined swirling rings of alternating bands of color.Four distinct tabby cat patterns are accepted by the written Maine Coon breed standard: You can see this in place on the three young girls pictured to the right, who are all Maine Coon tabby cats. The ears and eyes are typically outlined in this light color, which is also prominent on the end of the muzzle at the chin. Most tabby cats also have white or cream-colored fur highlighting specific parts of the face. All tabby cats have striped legs, horizontal stripes near their eyes that extend to the back of their head, and a distinct M on their forehead. Maine Coon tabby cats are more common than solid Maine Coons because the tabby gene is dominant. They may inherit other genes that further manipulate their coat's color and appearance, but the basic building block of their coat is always tabby or solid.

Starting with the basics, every Maine Coon cat is born as a tabby cat or a solid color cat.
