Maine Coon Colors
Brown Tabby Maine Coon Cats
Brown Tabby Maine Coons available now, and everything about the color.
A brown tabby Maine Coon is the look most people picture when they hear the breed name: a dark, striped coat over a warm brown base, a ruffed chest and a big plumed tail. If you are searching for brown tabby Maine Coon kittens, it helps to know that this is the most common coat in the breed, so there is a lot of variety inside it, from rich and dark to soft and tawny.
This page explains what "brown tabby" really means, how the stripes differ, how a kitten's coat changes as it grows, and what the color does and does not tell you about a cat's nature. We would rather you pick a kitten for its health and temperament than for a shade, and the color is the easy part.
Brown Tabby Maine Coons Available Now
What Does a Brown Tabby Maine Coon Look Like?
A brown tabby has a base coat in shades of brown, marked with darker stripes of black or very dark brown. The legs carry bands, the tail is ringed, and there is a distinct "M" shape on the forehead. The nose leather is usually brick red and the paw pads are black or brown.
Maine Coons grow a long, shaggy coat that is shorter over the shoulders and longer on the belly, britches and tail. That length softens the pattern, so the stripes on a Maine Coon often look less crisp than on a short-haired tabby. Under good light, the contrast between the warm base and the dark markings is what makes a brown tabby stand out.
What Are the Tabby Patterns in Maine Coons?
Tabby is a pattern, not a color, and it comes in more than one form. The two you will see most often in Maine Coons are:
- Classic tabby: wide, swirling marks on the sides that look like a bullseye or marble cake.
- Mackerel tabby: narrower, parallel stripes running down the sides like the ribs of a fish.
Ticked patterns exist too, where each hair carries bands of color rather than the coat showing clear stripes. Breed associations accept the classic and mackerel patterns in brown tabby, and the difference is mostly a matter of taste. Many cats sit somewhere in between, and a thick coat can make it hard to tell which one you are looking at.
Is Brown Tabby the Original Maine Coon Color?
Brown tabby is the color most associated with the breed's roots as a working barn and ship cat in the northeastern United States, and it remains the most common coat today. A tabby pattern is the wild type in cats, which is why it shows up so often when no one is selecting for anything else. That camouflage suited a cat that earned its keep catching mice in New England winters.
Nobody can say for certain that every early Maine Coon was brown, and you should be wary of anyone who claims to know the exact history of the breed. What we can say is that brown tabby, with or without white, has always been a familiar part of it. You can read more about where the breed came from on our page about what a Maine Coon is.
Do Brown Tabby Kittens Change Color as They Grow?
Yes, and sometimes by a surprising amount. Newborn tabby kittens often look darker and more solid, with the pattern clear but the coat still fuzzy. As the adult coat comes in, the base color can lighten or warm up and the stripes can sharpen or spread. A kitten that looks very dark at ten weeks may settle into a gentler brown by a year.
Maine Coons are slow to mature, and the full coat does not arrive until they are around two to four years old. The ruff and britches fill out last. If you are choosing a kitten, look at both parents and the older relatives you can see, because they are the best guide to the coat a kitten will probably grow into.
What Eye Colors Go With a Brown Tabby Coat?
Brown tabby Maine Coons usually have green, gold or green-gold eyes. Copper is also seen. Blue eyes do not go with a plain brown tabby, because blue eyes in a cat are tied to white spotting or to a pointed pattern that Maine Coon standards do not accept.
Eye color often takes time to settle. Kittens are born with blue eyes, and the adult color starts to show somewhere between six and twelve weeks. A kitten with hazel-green eyes at three months may have clearer green or deeper gold by the time it is a year old.
Does a Brown Tabby Maine Coon Have a Different Personality?
There is no reliable evidence that coat color predicts personality in Maine Coons. You will hear that brown tabbies are the most easygoing or that other colors are more vocal, but those claims come from owners' stories and not from controlled studies. A cat's nature comes from its parents, how it is raised and how much handling it has early on.
What does matter is a kitten that has grown up in a home, around people, dogs and everyday noise. That is why our kittens are raised in the house with us, and why it is worth asking any breeder about the kittens' daily life. Our guide to Maine Coon personality covers the traits the breed is known for.
How Do You Choose a Brown Tabby Maine Coon Kitten?
Start with the breeder, not the coat. Ask for recent photos of the kittens, ask what vet care they have before going home, and ask how they are raised. Then look at the kitten: bright eyes, a clean coat, a sturdy body and a curious attitude.
Once you are comfortable on those points, the shade and stripe pattern are a matter of what you like. You can see who is ready for a new home on our available kittens page, compare other coats on the Maine Coon colors page, or look at how a silver tabby differs from a brown one. For how to judge a breeder, see choosing a Maine Coon breeder.
Brown Tabby Maine Coon Questions
01Are brown tabby Maine Coons rare?
No. Brown tabby is the most common coat in the breed. The variety within it, from very dark to light and warm, is what makes individual cats look different from one another.
02Is a brown tabby the same as a brown Maine Coon?
Usually, yes. People searching for a "brown Maine Coon" almost always mean a brown tabby, since a solid brown cat is not an accepted Maine Coon color. Chocolate is not allowed in the breed standard.
03How can I tell a classic tabby from a mackerel tabby?
Look at the sides. Swirls and a bullseye shape mean classic. Narrow, even stripes running down from the spine mean mackerel. A thick coat can blur the difference.
04Do brown tabby Maine Coons get bigger than other colors?
No. Size comes from genetics and growth, not from coat color. A brown tabby and a black cat from similar lines will end up about the same size. See our guide to Maine Coon size and weight.
05Will my kitten's stripes fade as it grows up?
They can soften or change a little as the long adult coat arrives, but a tabby stays a tabby for life. The pattern is in the skin and the hair, and it never disappears.
When You Are Ready
Would You Like a Brown Tabby Maine Coon?
Fill in the application with the kitten's name, or send us a question first.