Mauve Footpads: Which Breeds and Colors Have Them?

Mauve Footpads on a Russian Blue Cat

Does your cat have mauve footpads? Maybe you’re looking for a cat with mauve footpads?

You’ve probably discovered that mauve colored footpads is rare in cats, and limited to a few breeds in particular.

While it’s a very niche topic, here is everything you should ever need to know about the color of cat’s paw pads, and mauve footpads in particular!

What Does the Color Mauve Look Like?

Colors are never straightforward. Mauve is a shade of purple, then there are various shades of mauve.

To give anyone who isn’t familiar with this color a good idea however, this is a typical shade of mauve:

What Does the Color Mauve Look Like on Cat Footpads

Which Breeds of Cat Have Mauve Footpads?

It’s not about the breed of cat, rather the color of a cat’s coat. The color of a cats paw pads is directly related to the color of their coats (with some exceptions as always).

So,

  • Pure black cats will almost always have black paw pads.
  • White cats will typically have pink color pads (there aren’t white pads).
  • Orange cats with typically have orange paw pads.
  • Mauve cats will… no surprise. …have mauve color footpads.
  • and so on, just take a look at your cat’s own combination of coat and paw pad color for yourself.

Which Breeds of Cat Are Mauve in Color?

The reason why you will not see mauve pads very often is that mauve color cats are not very common.

You will almost never see a mauve coat within a lot of breeds. The breeds that do have mauve cats and mauve paws are pretty much limited to:

  • Russian Blue
  • British Shorthair, and British Longhair
  • Korat
  • Nebelung
  • Chartreux
  • Mixed Moggy

Even then, the shades of their paw pads are going to vary. I think the Russian Blue is probably the best-known for having the ‘pure’ mauve color pads if I had to name one.

What Color Are Russian Blue Cat Pawpads?

This is a question that comes up a lot. To address it individually I can confirm that Russian Blue and Russian White cats typically have mauve color pads.

If you’ve adopted a cat and you’re trying to identify its breed, don’t just go by the color of their pads though.

The Korat and Chartreux look a lot of the Russian Blue, particularly when they are young. Get a vet to make an identification to be really sure what breed of cat you have.

What Color Are Seal Point Cat Pawpads?

When describing cats seal point refers to a certain type of color mix that a cat has. Although Siamese cats most commonly have seal point colors, it’s not limited to any particular breed.

Seal point cats have beige or fawn coats, darker legs, ears and tails, and the pads on their paws will be anywhere between mauve and brown.

So, if you’ve heard someone say their seal point cat has mauve paws while not having a mauve color body, it may well be true!

Here are some visuals of what you can typically expect when looking at the color of cat’s paws:

Grey color foot pads on a cat with a light brown and grey coat

This cat has a coat of several colors. Black, greys, light browns, and the result is a light grey color paw pad.

Light pink paw pad on a mixed color cat

A common color for moggies with a mix of light colors in their coats is pink footpads. This guy has little black spots too as he has bits of black in his coat.

Light grey color paw pads on a light grey color cat

This is a paw from a light grey tabby, just like the ones in the Whiskers ads. No surprise then that he has a light grey pad on his foot.

Chartreux Cat with Mauve Footpads

This Chartreux has a lovely blue coat and mauve pads. But judging by the look on his face it’s not going to be easy to get a photo of him holding up his paw!

What color cat do you have and what color are their paw pads? Feel free to share below, let’s see if we have any unusual and unique colors!

14 thoughts on “Mauve Footpads: Which Breeds and Colors Have Them?”

  1. this is really interesting I didn’t know it their footpads were connected to the color of their coats. I have a grey and black tabby, I just checked his pawapads and you are right! He has dark grey pads. 🙂

    1. I suspect my kitty is maybe 50/50 Russian Blue and another breed or he has a relative that is another breed (He has a white heart shaped patch on his chest, the rest os him is a blue-grey, dark nose and pointed ears with a mauve tint to the interior. He has all of the personailty traits of the Blue. Chatty as heck. Omg he won’t shut up sometimes! I can have entire conversations with him. His foot pads are a purplish dark color. He had some tabby markings when he was a kitten and blue eyes but now, at almost 3 yrs old, those have given way to bright green eyes with a blue-green ring around his pupils and no tabby markings that can be seen. He has a thick very dense coat. At home, he follows me everywhere! No matter where I am, he is there. Although I have children, he has been fiercely attached to me since he was a kitten. He has a very strong connection to me. He is very intelligent and enjoys play time and FOOD! Omg, he’d eat constantly if I let him. He prefers to eat together as a family as well. If I leave while he is eating, he will come to where I am and meow for me to come back so he can finish. He sleeps with me every night and has a certain routine ritual he follows before getting into bed. He will leave the room for a few minutes to get a drink, then he will come and sit on the floor beside the bed and wait until he gets a nod from me to come to bed. Then he comes up and will lay with his paws across my leg and uses my leg as a pillow. He is good at home while I am away at work, but is ALWAYS waiting by the door as soon as I get home. As soon as I am in, he wants beelly rubs and affection. He’s very very affectionate, taking to jumping into my lap (all 16-17lbs of him) and and wanting a hug while he rubs his face all over mine. He also knows what the words “kisses” means, not sure how since I never trained him, but if I say “kisses” he will rub his lips and side of his face against mine. I have turned many people into cat people just by them meeting him! He is loved by everyone who meets him.

  2. Before reading this I thought I had a Russian blue but now I’m not sure. I named him Mazarine because Mazarine simply means blue. And I lost my Russian blue of almost 13 years last year on my birthday. This little guy is only 5 and 1/2 months old and has had a rough start so far since I’ve adopted him has had an upper respiratory infection and giardia that he had when I adopted him. But he’s been Tip-Top shape for the last two months. I noticed that he has faint rings around his tail which my Shadow did not. Do you think that you would be able to tell if he was a Russian blue or not?

    1. Elizabeth Nigh

      I have a champion Russian Blue.
      When a year his eye turned a beautiful emerald green, the shape of his face is a triangle. His fur is only about 3/4″ long. He doesn’t shed much. But the this that distinguishes him is, along with green eyes, short blue gray fur, are his mauve paw pads.
      He is very, very, loving and loyal. He is now 14 months and weighs 11 lbs. He loves to play fetch with plastic springs made for cats.
      Russian Blue Cat lover

  3. My kitten is grey and white. Her paws are white but her pads seem to be mauve. They look to pinkish to be grey.
    I’m not sure how to post a photo on here.

  4. I’ve been diving deep into learning about cat breeds trying to discover what my rescue cat may be mixed with. We are stumped.
    She is a gray (possibly silver) tabby with spots on her body, stripes on her arms, copper eyes, mauve pads (I think), 9 lbs at 6 months old. When she was fixed we noticed that her skin is spotted under the fur. Her belly has lots of tiny spots. Her fur is the softest fur I’ve ever felt on a cat. Her head is fairly small compared to her body, and her tail is sooooo long.
    She likes to trill a lot, she is very clean. If you spill food when pouring into her bowl, she will clean it up. She also cleans up behind the other cats.

    She is very independent. Likes the other cats, doesn’t necessarily want to be held.

    At the shelter she had 2 brothers.
    One was gray and white, the other was a gray/silver tabby.

    She is just such a unique cat. We have been trying to figure it out for months. We call her part bobcat, even though that’s a really low chance.

    Wish I could upload a picture

  5. Sounds like a candidate for a Blue Russian. I just got one and am now just researching it. Look it up, the little gal just might match up. They have distinct markings and personality; my shelter blue russian matches up very closely to what they say about her — like she lOves food! 🙂

  6. I rescued a silver/grey baby at 2 weeks old. She is now a lil over 3 months. She has darkened up a bit since she was little but i believe she has the mauve foot pads. She is very smart too. Her vet visit they told me she was a lilac but now that she’s darkened up a bit they’re saying she might be blue.

  7. I have a grey cat I rescued almost 7 years ago and the SPCA said she was at least 5 when I got her. My dad was the one who said she might have Russian blue in her when he first saw her years ago. I haven’t really done a deep dive on the breed until now that she’s older.

    She is all grey, no stripes or spots, green eyes, and pink paws. But she’s very refined at roughly 8 pounds, major snuggler, has to know where I am, and a talker in the morning and evening. She does have her independence, but usually is sleeping somewhere in the same room that I’m in. A few times a week, she’ll play with a toy on her own.

    Based off of what I can find, she definitely leans heavily on being a Russian blue, but everything doesn’t line up exactly. I love her regardless though 🙂

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