Chakacat

The Chakacats are a sapient species from the planet Chakara in S.L. Viehl's Stardoc Series.

Biology
The Chakacats are a feline species. They are bipeds, with a thin torso, limbs, and bullet-shaped skull covered with a short, platinum pelt.

History
Despite their obvious sentience, another sapient species, the Chakarans, on their homeplanet insists they are feral in the wild.

Culture
Their species is a controversial subject, and despite their obvious intelligence are treated like pets by the dominate species on their world. While feral in the wild the Chakarans trap them for multiple purposes. Some they kill to harvest their pelts and others they train to speak and are taught various skills. Over the generations these tamed Chakacats were released into the wild to spread their genes to better the quality of pets that would come in later generations.

Several advocates have petitioned for reclassification of the species intelligence to grant them right however all have been ignored by the League of Allied Worlds. The Chakacats consider themselves to be a very congenial species.

Source

 * Stardoc (Stardoc #1) by S.L. Viehl