Black maine coon with silver patches? What genes is he carrying?

[Dappledgrey]

My cat is a pedigree Maine Coon but I'm not sure what genes he is carrying to cause such an odd coat pattern, or is this normal variation in long haired black cats? He is black essentially but on his back (only on his back although the pattern sort of shades in from his neck then out at his tail) he is shaded with amber like a cat that has spent too much time in the sun. If I part the hair I can see tge base of the hair is grey/blue, mid shaft is black and the tip of the shaft is orange/amber. He also has random white long hairs sticking out here and there. It is a he, definitley not a female tortoishell. He also has ghost tabby stripes on his legs and head. The other odd thing is that he has a silver patch on his chest and chin, not black, not white, definitley grey/silver and the base of all the hair on his tummy is silver grey, definitley not black, it is a very obvious colour change from the tips of the hair, however it is much lighter than the grey roots on his back, almost white silvery grey. Is this a normal thing for maine coons? Is he still a solid black?

His father was a silver tabby.
His mother was a tortoishell.
His siblings were a mixture of solid blues, dilute tortoishells and silver tabbies, he was the only solid black one.

 

[Maurey]

Some photos would be helpful! Is he a cat you produced? If not, what is he registered as? With the genetics, he could be a black smoke (the effect the silver gene has over a solid cat).

 

[lutece]

I agree, pictures would be helpful!

From your description, it sounds like he is probably a solid black cat with some normal variation in hair color. Smoke and silver cats have a white undercoat, not gray.

What color is listed on his registration?

 

[Dappledgrey]

Here are a few pictures two of the fur on his back and one of the fur on his chest. The chest picture is not great as he was resisting!

 

[Dappledgrey]

Here is a better one of his chest and tummy.

 

[lutece]

Looks like a black cat to me. It's normal for longhaired black cats to have a brownish or grayish undercoat, and it's also common for black hairs to turn "rusty" brown, especially from exposure to sunlight and heat. How old is your cat?

 

[Maurey]

Looks like normal variation, to me! Do you have a photo of his entire body? Any black longhair cat can significantly change colour due to exposure from the sun. Here's a particularly striking example

 

[Dappledgrey]

He is only 4 months and no sun exposure really, a winter baby!

 

[Dappledgrey]

You are right though, I expect it is just normal variation. His breeder said he was solid black and she has bred many litters.

 

[lutece]

He is only 4 months and no sun exposure really, a winter baby!

In this case he still has his kitten coat, so his adult coat hasn't developed yet. It's very common for black kittens to be brownish or grayish in tone like this. We'd love to see some pictures of his cute face, too

 

[Dappledgrey]

It is easiest to take pictures of him when he is asleep! He is normally very busy following me around and getting into everything. This is a really big pillow that he has claimed as his own and he takes up the whole thing so I think he is going to be quite big when he finishes growing. He has lots of really long hairs growing all through in his coat now and his tail seems to get bushier by the day. He also has lots of random white hairs on his legs and looking at the patch of hair on his chest I wonder if his mane is going to grow through a lighter colour than the rest of his fur? Or is this normal kitten fur and he is likely to end up a more uniform colour all over?

 

[Maurey]

Some solid cats will always have a few white hairs, or a locket, despite not having white spotting. My cream solid coonie has a small locket of white on her chest, though it's generally a bit hard to see, given how light in colour she is, and the length of the fur in the area.

 

[sivyaleah]

Our black Maine Coon, Luna, has gone through several color changes on her coat since we got her at 16 weeks. She is about to be 2 years old now. The breeder had her down as solid on the paperwork, but said could turn out to be black smoke since the sire was. We were pretty sure she was smoke and when we officially registered her with CFA, put that as her color.

Well, after many conversations and sharing of photos in various places (here included) the final conclusion is solid black though she still shows some smoky tones on her belly. But all the other areas where she had light coloring are gone. She also has a few white hairs scattered on her; a few on her lower back and some in her tail too.

She went through a brown phase; that color isn't allowed in Maine Coons so we knew that would eventually disappear being as her breeder has been doing so for decades and knows what she's doing.

Several members here have seen these photos but it may be helpful for the OP to see how much our girl has changed over time. I made this composite for a Facebook group to see. First photo she was about a month to 6 weeks (not entirely sure, its from the breeder). Second one on the top right, is the day we brought her home at 16 weeks. Third (bottom left) is around 10 months old and you can see that brownish color in her mane. Last one, is from about 1 year old and some months and how much darker she got with some of that lighter fur showing from her belly.

Last photo is very current, from a week ago. So many changes!

 

[Dappledgrey]

It seems pretty unanimous that he is indeed a solid black so I will happily go with that. Thank you for the pictures sivyaleah, that is very interesting to see! She is gorgeous. So it looks like he may also continue to darken as he matures or I may see other small changes in his coat which is something else to look forward to. He is always fascinating!

 

[sivyaleah]

It seems pretty unanimous that he is indeed a solid black so I will happily go with that. Thank you for the pictures sivyaleah, that is very interesting to see! She is gorgeous. So it looks like he may also continue to darken as he matures or I may see other small changes in his coat which is something else to look forward to. He is always fascinating!

Yes I'm sure you boy will also go through many coat changes as he matures. Once he starts to enjoy being photographed (4 months to about 7 months old was an insane energetic time for all of us here lol) please post photos! I'd be very interested to see how his coat turns out. Remember, MC's mature late even if large so he does have a long time to go.