Hard to tell without a picture. The typical striped pattern is usually a brown tabby, what you are describing could be a classic tabby pattern instead of mackerel tabby, which is what is usually found in housecats. Here's pics I found on the net- this is a brown mackerel tabby-
http://www.catimages.co.uk/Exotics/i...evs/prev15.jpg
This is a brown classic tabby-
http://www.homepet.com/scottish/souris1p2.jpg