The Somali is often touted as the "longhaired Abyssinian" because the two breeds look very similar except for the length of the coat. Both breeds sport what looks like dark eyeliner and tufts of white fur under their chins.

The Somali is a breathtakingly beautiful cat, with a vibrantly colorful coat, full plume tail, and alert personality. The combination of ticked, dramatically colored fur, striking facial markings, large ears, dark hocks, and full bushy tail and britches gives the Somali a wild "little fox" look which immediately captivates. The Somali is a combination of beauty and personality; a very intelligent cat, its zest for life and love of play (many will fetch toys, open cupbaords, and play with water) blossom with human companionship. The Somali is the epitome of everything most people want in a companion animal lively, alert, and actively engaged in everything that piques their curiosity but when playtime is over, they will seek all the attention and affection their caretakers are willing to give. Once you've lived with a Somali, you've experienced the best!

Colors and patterns: The usual or ruddy Somali is golden brown ticked with black. There are 28 colours of Somali in total. All organisations that register Somalis permit usual (also known as ruddy), sorrel (a.k.a. red), blue, and fawn. Most clubs also recognise usual/ruddy silver, sorrel/red silver, blue silver, and fawn silver. Other colours that may be accepted by some registries include chocolate, lilac, red, cream, usualtortie, sorreltortie, bluetortie, fawntortie, chocolatetortie, lilactortie, and silver variants of these (e.g. bluetortie silver).