Kzinti

The Kzinti warriors were a race of Cat-People. (MA: Invasion of the Cat-People)

Origin
The Kzinti were created by science fiction author Larry Niven, making their first appearance in the short story "The Warriors", part of his "Known Space" series. When he wrote an episode for Star Trek: The Animated Series he based it on one of his Known Space stories "The Soft Weapon", in the process putting the Kzinti into the Star Trek universe.