Some cats have solid colored fur and some have patterns. By far the most common patterned cat is the tabby.
you can be sure that a cat with an m on its forehead has a tabby pattern because tabby marking is a dominant trait with that type of coat. tabby cats with m can be purebred or mixed.
You’ve probably noticed that many Maine Coon cats have a distinctive m marking on their foreheads. but do all maine coons have this mark and does m stand for a maine coon?
Not all Maine Coon foreheads have an m because it is a marking that only appears in a tabby pattern. Some tabby Maine Coons have more glaring on the forehead than others. It should be noted that the m is not exclusive to maine coons: tabby cats of any breed can have one.
does the m represent a maine coon?
contrary to popular myth, the m on a maine coon’s forehead does not represent a maine coon. however, we reveal other suggestions for what the maine coon m could represent.
do all tabby cats have an m on their foreheads?
all tabby cats have distinctive markings on their foreheads, often in the shape of the letter m. However, not all of them are an obvious m, as you can see in Harry below.
He’s a classic red tabby Maine Coon who gets a little fed up with his mom using him as a model. Just look at those tufty toes!
There isn’t just one maine coon brindle pattern, there are three and it’s pretty easy to tell them apart.
taby mackerel (striped)
The mackerel tabby is the most common tabby maine coon pattern. it has narrow stripes that start in a stripe along the cat’s spine and fall vertically toward its belly.
Because the lines are parallel to each other and evenly spaced, they look like the skeleton of a fish, hence the name mackerel.
classic kitty
The classic tabby is often referred to as the spotted tabby. it has well-defined swirls on the sides of the body and butterfly patterns on the shoulders.
taby marked (agouti)
A tabby Maine Coon with ticks has several different colored bands on each hair on its body and head. this pattern is often referred to as the agouti tabby pattern.
why do tabby cats have an m on their foreheads?
Having an m on the forehead is believed to be the mark of a true tabby cat. there are many legends about how tabby cats, including maine coons, came to have an m on their foreheads.
Which one are you going to believe?
the mark of the moon
The ancient Egyptians believed that a cat’s eyes literally absorbed moonlight to shine like shiny pieces of the moon.
Therefore, they believed that Khonsu, the moon god, adorned cats with an m on their foreheads.
the mark of mafdet
Egyptians worshiped cats and trusted them to protect them from the many snakes, rats, and scorpions that made their homes unsafe.
Many Egyptians believed that cats were brought to earth by the goddess Mafdet, who sometimes took feline form and was worshiped as protector of the home.
put an m on the foreheads of tabby cats?
Maria’s Mark
Another legend tells of a tabby cat snuggling up to baby Jesus in his manger to keep him warm.
To show her gratitude, Mary used her finger to draw an m on the cat’s head, and from then on all tabby cats wore the m for Mary on their foreheads.
muhammed and his cat, mueza
muhammad, the prophet of islam, held cats in high regard. Legend has it that his favorite cat, muezza (whose name means dear), saved muhammad from a deadly snake bite and, in return, was marked on his forehead with an m.
what else could the m on a tabby cat’s head mean?
Based on 15 years of experience as a tabby Maine Coon owner, here are our thoughts on what that m on a tabby cat’s forehead might also represent.
master or mistress of the house
yeah, that m could definitely stand for master or mistress of the house. our red tabby maine coon definitely acted this way. we never forgot that he was our owner-we were definitely his personal!
naughty
naughty is a word we often apply to harry. he was often up to no good even at 15 years old.
he did the most mischief by stripping the Christmas tree of the decorations as soon as we finished putting them up.
majestic
tabby cats like maine coons are regal and harry knew exactly how to pull off this look when he needed it. he was the king of cats, especially with that tail.
mouse-catcher
Many Maine Coons are good hunters. Just this morning, Harry woke us up with a strange meow.
Other owners will know the exact sound I’m referring to: one made by carrying a mouse in its jaw. that was the end of our Saturday break.
this morning the mouse was sadly gone, but on other occasions harry has released a live mouse for us to chase down, recapture and return to the wild.
there have been many occasions where harry has released the mouse to run around our room around 3am. m., never a dull moment with a cat.
cat meowing
Could this be the true meaning of that tabby m on a cat’s forehead? a cat with a large vocabulary of meows.
Harry has over 99 different meow pitches and lengths. we know what they all mean, of course.
mysterious
m could also represent mysterious behavior. examples are running around the house in the wee hours of the morning, desperately needing to be let out of the bathroom just as he steps under the shower and teleports away.
Okay, I should explain that last statement in more detail. we all swear harry was often sitting in one position and we would literally blink our eyes and then he was somewhere else.
We don’t know how he did this; we will probably never know.
messy
Harry couldn’t eat without spilling his food. That’s it, in a nutshell. every time we moved the plate, there was always a clear spot surrounded by food.
dirty
which m could stand for mucky. Harry often had things stuck to her fur: leaves, grass, sticky seeds.
He refused to let us groom him, so we had to randomly pick things off his fur while petting him.
nosy
m is for nosy maine coon. Harry snooped into my make-up basket, looking for hair ties to steal.
he brought them to me for a game of scavenger hunt. I could never find one when I needed it.
why do some cats have an m on their foreheads? conclusion
Not all cats have an m on their foreheads, only tabbies! the m can be quite pronounced or not so obvious.
what does it mean?
it’s not exclusively m for maine coon. you can choose your favorite legend from the selection we mentioned. or just for fun, make up your own meaning.
these are some of my favorite products for cats
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you found it useful, whether you own or are considering a cat. I thought I’d share some of the cat products I love that you might find helpful too.
The following are Amazon affiliate links, and if you choose to use them, I will earn a small commission from Amazon at no cost to you.
An indoor cat tree: This is an excellent item to satisfy a cat’s need to climb and scratch. There are multiple sizes to choose from so you can choose the right height for your home. Our cats love this basic tree from amazon with several levels, scratching posts and a small hide-out.
drinking fountain: Cats love to drink from flowing water. many don’t seem to drink enough, so a fountain is a good way to pique their interest. This Orsda fountain is quiet, has a large capacity and also looks elegant.
scratching chair: the more scratching posts you have, the better. Many cats like to scratch horizontally, which is why we chose the petfusion ultimate cat scratching post. has seen quite a bit of action from 4 maine coons but still looks great.
