Who first used sentient felines in science fiction?











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I've been getting into Wing Commander again lately and reading Niven's Known Universe, and Andre Norton is a life long favourite. All of these have something in common, they all have an intelligent, spacefaring race, or races, that are described as "catlike" or even specifically feline in nature. So I've started wondering who was the first to use this "space-cat" idea and in what work?










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  • 1




    Norton had "cat folk" at least from the early 1960s. Any other answers ought to be before that.
    – Zeiss Ikon
    9 hours ago






  • 3




    Lucian's True History (from 2000 years ago) has a sentient race with cat-like characteristics. Does that count?
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago






  • 1




    @Valorum Are they spacefaring? Because I did specify space-cat.
    – Ash
    8 hours ago










  • They are indeed space-faring. That being said, sentient cats exist in pretty much every ancient religion and most myths that pre-date writing
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago








  • 1




    Are the cats in The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith, considered intelligent? They are spacefaring and telepathic, but are normal cats. 1955.
    – Martin
    5 hours ago















up vote
9
down vote

favorite
1












I've been getting into Wing Commander again lately and reading Niven's Known Universe, and Andre Norton is a life long favourite. All of these have something in common, they all have an intelligent, spacefaring race, or races, that are described as "catlike" or even specifically feline in nature. So I've started wondering who was the first to use this "space-cat" idea and in what work?










share|improve this question


















  • 1




    Norton had "cat folk" at least from the early 1960s. Any other answers ought to be before that.
    – Zeiss Ikon
    9 hours ago






  • 3




    Lucian's True History (from 2000 years ago) has a sentient race with cat-like characteristics. Does that count?
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago






  • 1




    @Valorum Are they spacefaring? Because I did specify space-cat.
    – Ash
    8 hours ago










  • They are indeed space-faring. That being said, sentient cats exist in pretty much every ancient religion and most myths that pre-date writing
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago








  • 1




    Are the cats in The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith, considered intelligent? They are spacefaring and telepathic, but are normal cats. 1955.
    – Martin
    5 hours ago













up vote
9
down vote

favorite
1









up vote
9
down vote

favorite
1






1





I've been getting into Wing Commander again lately and reading Niven's Known Universe, and Andre Norton is a life long favourite. All of these have something in common, they all have an intelligent, spacefaring race, or races, that are described as "catlike" or even specifically feline in nature. So I've started wondering who was the first to use this "space-cat" idea and in what work?










share|improve this question













I've been getting into Wing Commander again lately and reading Niven's Known Universe, and Andre Norton is a life long favourite. All of these have something in common, they all have an intelligent, spacefaring race, or races, that are described as "catlike" or even specifically feline in nature. So I've started wondering who was the first to use this "space-cat" idea and in what work?







history-of






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share|improve this question










asked 9 hours ago









Ash

3,3351535




3,3351535








  • 1




    Norton had "cat folk" at least from the early 1960s. Any other answers ought to be before that.
    – Zeiss Ikon
    9 hours ago






  • 3




    Lucian's True History (from 2000 years ago) has a sentient race with cat-like characteristics. Does that count?
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago






  • 1




    @Valorum Are they spacefaring? Because I did specify space-cat.
    – Ash
    8 hours ago










  • They are indeed space-faring. That being said, sentient cats exist in pretty much every ancient religion and most myths that pre-date writing
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago








  • 1




    Are the cats in The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith, considered intelligent? They are spacefaring and telepathic, but are normal cats. 1955.
    – Martin
    5 hours ago














  • 1




    Norton had "cat folk" at least from the early 1960s. Any other answers ought to be before that.
    – Zeiss Ikon
    9 hours ago






  • 3




    Lucian's True History (from 2000 years ago) has a sentient race with cat-like characteristics. Does that count?
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago






  • 1




    @Valorum Are they spacefaring? Because I did specify space-cat.
    – Ash
    8 hours ago










  • They are indeed space-faring. That being said, sentient cats exist in pretty much every ancient religion and most myths that pre-date writing
    – Valorum
    8 hours ago








  • 1




    Are the cats in The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith, considered intelligent? They are spacefaring and telepathic, but are normal cats. 1955.
    – Martin
    5 hours ago








1




1




Norton had "cat folk" at least from the early 1960s. Any other answers ought to be before that.
– Zeiss Ikon
9 hours ago




Norton had "cat folk" at least from the early 1960s. Any other answers ought to be before that.
– Zeiss Ikon
9 hours ago




3




3




Lucian's True History (from 2000 years ago) has a sentient race with cat-like characteristics. Does that count?
– Valorum
8 hours ago




Lucian's True History (from 2000 years ago) has a sentient race with cat-like characteristics. Does that count?
– Valorum
8 hours ago




1




1




@Valorum Are they spacefaring? Because I did specify space-cat.
– Ash
8 hours ago




@Valorum Are they spacefaring? Because I did specify space-cat.
– Ash
8 hours ago












They are indeed space-faring. That being said, sentient cats exist in pretty much every ancient religion and most myths that pre-date writing
– Valorum
8 hours ago






They are indeed space-faring. That being said, sentient cats exist in pretty much every ancient religion and most myths that pre-date writing
– Valorum
8 hours ago






1




1




Are the cats in The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith, considered intelligent? They are spacefaring and telepathic, but are normal cats. 1955.
– Martin
5 hours ago




Are the cats in The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith, considered intelligent? They are spacefaring and telepathic, but are normal cats. 1955.
– Martin
5 hours ago










4 Answers
4






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
3
down vote













In my opinion it is The Cats of Ulthar by HP Lovecraft (c) 1920. Wikipedia summarizes as:




"The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who enjoy capturing and killing the townspeople's cats. When a caravan of wanderers passes through the city, the kitten of an orphan (Menes) traveling with the band disappears. Upon hearing of the couple's violent acts towards cats, Menes invokes a prayer before leaving town that causes the local felines to swarm the cat-killers' house and devour them. Upon witnessing the result, the local politicians pass a law forbidding the killing of cats.




The sentience here is inferred from the action: they can act collectively, communicate (through prayer and each other), seek revenge, and coordinate a plan: all this is abstract level thought.



This will be a theme in Lovecraftian horror. These cats of Ulthar reappear in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, in the alternative reality of the Dreamlands where they converse, war, and more. Here the cats display very human like qualities and are only different from human actors in their eldritch qualities of being feline and other.






share|improve this answer





















  • The problem with this answer is if it qualifies, so does Aesop's fables.
    – Joshua
    1 hour ago










  • Um, Menes isn't a cat?
    – Yakk
    29 mins ago










  • @Yakk Menes is a boy
    – K Dog
    4 mins ago










  • @KDog Yes, but you claim the cats communicate through prayer. It is the boy who does (and whatever supernatural force the boy communicates to).
    – Yakk
    1 min ago










  • @Yakk The cats can receive and understand prayers. That's pretty explicit.
    – K Dog
    11 secs ago


















up vote
2
down vote













IMHO the latest possible date for the first "catlike" or "feline" intelligent aliens in science fiction would be 1952, the year when The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars by A. E. Van Vogt was published http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?229641.



In that novel a planet of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud is inhabited by intelligent beings with centaur-like body shapes and catlike features. An alien classification system similar to that in the Hospital Station series by James White or the Lensman series by E.E. Smith is used and the aliens are classified as CC meaning catlike centaur.



The aliens in that planet aren't advanced enough to have interstellar travel, but since the Earth Empire apparently rules millions of planets back in the Milky Way Galaxy and aliens with the CC classification are apparently common, it is possible that many space travelling catlike aliens have been encountered in history.



The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars (1952) contained several stories published earlier as well as new material written for the novel. Thus it is possible that the catlike centaur aliens go back to an story published earlier, possibly "The Storm" in the October 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?467362.



Another intelligent catlike being is the antihero or antagonist in the first science fiction story published by A.E. Vogt, "Black Destroyer", in the July, 1939 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?416043. Coeurl doesn't come from a space travelling civilization, but tries to steal space travel technology from humans and create a space travelling civilization of his species. "black destroyer" was revised and included in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?84014



So in the works of one science fiction writer, A.E. Van Vogt, his earliest catlike intelligent alien beings would date to either 1952, 1943, or 1939. However, they do not totally match the original question since their cultures are not yet spacefaring a the times of the stories.






share|improve this answer




























    up vote
    2
    down vote













    This is shaky SF at best but H.P. Lovecraft in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath had sentient Earth cats traveling to the moon where they were menaced by evil cats from Saturn. It was written late in his career and not published until 1943.



    In short, rhe story definitely included sentient alien cats in space but it isn't usually classified as science fiction.






    share|improve this answer





















    • you beat me by 12 seconds.
      – K Dog
      3 hours ago


















    up vote
    -2
    down vote













    Probably the earliest reference to intelligent cat-like beings in literature is the legend of Oedipus and the Sphinx. But they've found cave paintings in Europe depicting cat people that they estimate are around 30,000 years old. So a long freakin' time!






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    • OP is specifically looking for references to cat-like species that can travel through space. I don't think the Sphinx was able to do that, and random cave paintings don't count as science fiction.
      – F1Krazy
      1 hour ago











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    4 Answers
    4






    active

    oldest

    votes








    4 Answers
    4






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes








    up vote
    3
    down vote













    In my opinion it is The Cats of Ulthar by HP Lovecraft (c) 1920. Wikipedia summarizes as:




    "The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who enjoy capturing and killing the townspeople's cats. When a caravan of wanderers passes through the city, the kitten of an orphan (Menes) traveling with the band disappears. Upon hearing of the couple's violent acts towards cats, Menes invokes a prayer before leaving town that causes the local felines to swarm the cat-killers' house and devour them. Upon witnessing the result, the local politicians pass a law forbidding the killing of cats.




    The sentience here is inferred from the action: they can act collectively, communicate (through prayer and each other), seek revenge, and coordinate a plan: all this is abstract level thought.



    This will be a theme in Lovecraftian horror. These cats of Ulthar reappear in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, in the alternative reality of the Dreamlands where they converse, war, and more. Here the cats display very human like qualities and are only different from human actors in their eldritch qualities of being feline and other.






    share|improve this answer





















    • The problem with this answer is if it qualifies, so does Aesop's fables.
      – Joshua
      1 hour ago










    • Um, Menes isn't a cat?
      – Yakk
      29 mins ago










    • @Yakk Menes is a boy
      – K Dog
      4 mins ago










    • @KDog Yes, but you claim the cats communicate through prayer. It is the boy who does (and whatever supernatural force the boy communicates to).
      – Yakk
      1 min ago










    • @Yakk The cats can receive and understand prayers. That's pretty explicit.
      – K Dog
      11 secs ago















    up vote
    3
    down vote













    In my opinion it is The Cats of Ulthar by HP Lovecraft (c) 1920. Wikipedia summarizes as:




    "The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who enjoy capturing and killing the townspeople's cats. When a caravan of wanderers passes through the city, the kitten of an orphan (Menes) traveling with the band disappears. Upon hearing of the couple's violent acts towards cats, Menes invokes a prayer before leaving town that causes the local felines to swarm the cat-killers' house and devour them. Upon witnessing the result, the local politicians pass a law forbidding the killing of cats.




    The sentience here is inferred from the action: they can act collectively, communicate (through prayer and each other), seek revenge, and coordinate a plan: all this is abstract level thought.



    This will be a theme in Lovecraftian horror. These cats of Ulthar reappear in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, in the alternative reality of the Dreamlands where they converse, war, and more. Here the cats display very human like qualities and are only different from human actors in their eldritch qualities of being feline and other.






    share|improve this answer





















    • The problem with this answer is if it qualifies, so does Aesop's fables.
      – Joshua
      1 hour ago










    • Um, Menes isn't a cat?
      – Yakk
      29 mins ago










    • @Yakk Menes is a boy
      – K Dog
      4 mins ago










    • @KDog Yes, but you claim the cats communicate through prayer. It is the boy who does (and whatever supernatural force the boy communicates to).
      – Yakk
      1 min ago










    • @Yakk The cats can receive and understand prayers. That's pretty explicit.
      – K Dog
      11 secs ago













    up vote
    3
    down vote










    up vote
    3
    down vote









    In my opinion it is The Cats of Ulthar by HP Lovecraft (c) 1920. Wikipedia summarizes as:




    "The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who enjoy capturing and killing the townspeople's cats. When a caravan of wanderers passes through the city, the kitten of an orphan (Menes) traveling with the band disappears. Upon hearing of the couple's violent acts towards cats, Menes invokes a prayer before leaving town that causes the local felines to swarm the cat-killers' house and devour them. Upon witnessing the result, the local politicians pass a law forbidding the killing of cats.




    The sentience here is inferred from the action: they can act collectively, communicate (through prayer and each other), seek revenge, and coordinate a plan: all this is abstract level thought.



    This will be a theme in Lovecraftian horror. These cats of Ulthar reappear in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, in the alternative reality of the Dreamlands where they converse, war, and more. Here the cats display very human like qualities and are only different from human actors in their eldritch qualities of being feline and other.






    share|improve this answer












    In my opinion it is The Cats of Ulthar by HP Lovecraft (c) 1920. Wikipedia summarizes as:




    "The Cats of Ulthar" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar. As the narrative goes, the city is home to an old couple who enjoy capturing and killing the townspeople's cats. When a caravan of wanderers passes through the city, the kitten of an orphan (Menes) traveling with the band disappears. Upon hearing of the couple's violent acts towards cats, Menes invokes a prayer before leaving town that causes the local felines to swarm the cat-killers' house and devour them. Upon witnessing the result, the local politicians pass a law forbidding the killing of cats.




    The sentience here is inferred from the action: they can act collectively, communicate (through prayer and each other), seek revenge, and coordinate a plan: all this is abstract level thought.



    This will be a theme in Lovecraftian horror. These cats of Ulthar reappear in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, in the alternative reality of the Dreamlands where they converse, war, and more. Here the cats display very human like qualities and are only different from human actors in their eldritch qualities of being feline and other.







    share|improve this answer












    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer










    answered 3 hours ago









    K Dog

    509315




    509315












    • The problem with this answer is if it qualifies, so does Aesop's fables.
      – Joshua
      1 hour ago










    • Um, Menes isn't a cat?
      – Yakk
      29 mins ago










    • @Yakk Menes is a boy
      – K Dog
      4 mins ago










    • @KDog Yes, but you claim the cats communicate through prayer. It is the boy who does (and whatever supernatural force the boy communicates to).
      – Yakk
      1 min ago










    • @Yakk The cats can receive and understand prayers. That's pretty explicit.
      – K Dog
      11 secs ago


















    • The problem with this answer is if it qualifies, so does Aesop's fables.
      – Joshua
      1 hour ago










    • Um, Menes isn't a cat?
      – Yakk
      29 mins ago










    • @Yakk Menes is a boy
      – K Dog
      4 mins ago










    • @KDog Yes, but you claim the cats communicate through prayer. It is the boy who does (and whatever supernatural force the boy communicates to).
      – Yakk
      1 min ago










    • @Yakk The cats can receive and understand prayers. That's pretty explicit.
      – K Dog
      11 secs ago
















    The problem with this answer is if it qualifies, so does Aesop's fables.
    – Joshua
    1 hour ago




    The problem with this answer is if it qualifies, so does Aesop's fables.
    – Joshua
    1 hour ago












    Um, Menes isn't a cat?
    – Yakk
    29 mins ago




    Um, Menes isn't a cat?
    – Yakk
    29 mins ago












    @Yakk Menes is a boy
    – K Dog
    4 mins ago




    @Yakk Menes is a boy
    – K Dog
    4 mins ago












    @KDog Yes, but you claim the cats communicate through prayer. It is the boy who does (and whatever supernatural force the boy communicates to).
    – Yakk
    1 min ago




    @KDog Yes, but you claim the cats communicate through prayer. It is the boy who does (and whatever supernatural force the boy communicates to).
    – Yakk
    1 min ago












    @Yakk The cats can receive and understand prayers. That's pretty explicit.
    – K Dog
    11 secs ago




    @Yakk The cats can receive and understand prayers. That's pretty explicit.
    – K Dog
    11 secs ago












    up vote
    2
    down vote













    IMHO the latest possible date for the first "catlike" or "feline" intelligent aliens in science fiction would be 1952, the year when The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars by A. E. Van Vogt was published http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?229641.



    In that novel a planet of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud is inhabited by intelligent beings with centaur-like body shapes and catlike features. An alien classification system similar to that in the Hospital Station series by James White or the Lensman series by E.E. Smith is used and the aliens are classified as CC meaning catlike centaur.



    The aliens in that planet aren't advanced enough to have interstellar travel, but since the Earth Empire apparently rules millions of planets back in the Milky Way Galaxy and aliens with the CC classification are apparently common, it is possible that many space travelling catlike aliens have been encountered in history.



    The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars (1952) contained several stories published earlier as well as new material written for the novel. Thus it is possible that the catlike centaur aliens go back to an story published earlier, possibly "The Storm" in the October 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?467362.



    Another intelligent catlike being is the antihero or antagonist in the first science fiction story published by A.E. Vogt, "Black Destroyer", in the July, 1939 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?416043. Coeurl doesn't come from a space travelling civilization, but tries to steal space travel technology from humans and create a space travelling civilization of his species. "black destroyer" was revised and included in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?84014



    So in the works of one science fiction writer, A.E. Van Vogt, his earliest catlike intelligent alien beings would date to either 1952, 1943, or 1939. However, they do not totally match the original question since their cultures are not yet spacefaring a the times of the stories.






    share|improve this answer

























      up vote
      2
      down vote













      IMHO the latest possible date for the first "catlike" or "feline" intelligent aliens in science fiction would be 1952, the year when The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars by A. E. Van Vogt was published http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?229641.



      In that novel a planet of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud is inhabited by intelligent beings with centaur-like body shapes and catlike features. An alien classification system similar to that in the Hospital Station series by James White or the Lensman series by E.E. Smith is used and the aliens are classified as CC meaning catlike centaur.



      The aliens in that planet aren't advanced enough to have interstellar travel, but since the Earth Empire apparently rules millions of planets back in the Milky Way Galaxy and aliens with the CC classification are apparently common, it is possible that many space travelling catlike aliens have been encountered in history.



      The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars (1952) contained several stories published earlier as well as new material written for the novel. Thus it is possible that the catlike centaur aliens go back to an story published earlier, possibly "The Storm" in the October 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?467362.



      Another intelligent catlike being is the antihero or antagonist in the first science fiction story published by A.E. Vogt, "Black Destroyer", in the July, 1939 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?416043. Coeurl doesn't come from a space travelling civilization, but tries to steal space travel technology from humans and create a space travelling civilization of his species. "black destroyer" was revised and included in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?84014



      So in the works of one science fiction writer, A.E. Van Vogt, his earliest catlike intelligent alien beings would date to either 1952, 1943, or 1939. However, they do not totally match the original question since their cultures are not yet spacefaring a the times of the stories.






      share|improve this answer























        up vote
        2
        down vote










        up vote
        2
        down vote









        IMHO the latest possible date for the first "catlike" or "feline" intelligent aliens in science fiction would be 1952, the year when The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars by A. E. Van Vogt was published http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?229641.



        In that novel a planet of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud is inhabited by intelligent beings with centaur-like body shapes and catlike features. An alien classification system similar to that in the Hospital Station series by James White or the Lensman series by E.E. Smith is used and the aliens are classified as CC meaning catlike centaur.



        The aliens in that planet aren't advanced enough to have interstellar travel, but since the Earth Empire apparently rules millions of planets back in the Milky Way Galaxy and aliens with the CC classification are apparently common, it is possible that many space travelling catlike aliens have been encountered in history.



        The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars (1952) contained several stories published earlier as well as new material written for the novel. Thus it is possible that the catlike centaur aliens go back to an story published earlier, possibly "The Storm" in the October 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?467362.



        Another intelligent catlike being is the antihero or antagonist in the first science fiction story published by A.E. Vogt, "Black Destroyer", in the July, 1939 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?416043. Coeurl doesn't come from a space travelling civilization, but tries to steal space travel technology from humans and create a space travelling civilization of his species. "black destroyer" was revised and included in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?84014



        So in the works of one science fiction writer, A.E. Van Vogt, his earliest catlike intelligent alien beings would date to either 1952, 1943, or 1939. However, they do not totally match the original question since their cultures are not yet spacefaring a the times of the stories.






        share|improve this answer












        IMHO the latest possible date for the first "catlike" or "feline" intelligent aliens in science fiction would be 1952, the year when The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars by A. E. Van Vogt was published http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?229641.



        In that novel a planet of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud is inhabited by intelligent beings with centaur-like body shapes and catlike features. An alien classification system similar to that in the Hospital Station series by James White or the Lensman series by E.E. Smith is used and the aliens are classified as CC meaning catlike centaur.



        The aliens in that planet aren't advanced enough to have interstellar travel, but since the Earth Empire apparently rules millions of planets back in the Milky Way Galaxy and aliens with the CC classification are apparently common, it is possible that many space travelling catlike aliens have been encountered in history.



        The Mixed Men AKA Mission to the Stars (1952) contained several stories published earlier as well as new material written for the novel. Thus it is possible that the catlike centaur aliens go back to an story published earlier, possibly "The Storm" in the October 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?467362.



        Another intelligent catlike being is the antihero or antagonist in the first science fiction story published by A.E. Vogt, "Black Destroyer", in the July, 1939 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?416043. Coeurl doesn't come from a space travelling civilization, but tries to steal space travel technology from humans and create a space travelling civilization of his species. "black destroyer" was revised and included in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?84014



        So in the works of one science fiction writer, A.E. Van Vogt, his earliest catlike intelligent alien beings would date to either 1952, 1943, or 1939. However, they do not totally match the original question since their cultures are not yet spacefaring a the times of the stories.







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        answered 3 hours ago









        M. A. Golding

        13.2k11850




        13.2k11850






















            up vote
            2
            down vote













            This is shaky SF at best but H.P. Lovecraft in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath had sentient Earth cats traveling to the moon where they were menaced by evil cats from Saturn. It was written late in his career and not published until 1943.



            In short, rhe story definitely included sentient alien cats in space but it isn't usually classified as science fiction.






            share|improve this answer





















            • you beat me by 12 seconds.
              – K Dog
              3 hours ago















            up vote
            2
            down vote













            This is shaky SF at best but H.P. Lovecraft in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath had sentient Earth cats traveling to the moon where they were menaced by evil cats from Saturn. It was written late in his career and not published until 1943.



            In short, rhe story definitely included sentient alien cats in space but it isn't usually classified as science fiction.






            share|improve this answer





















            • you beat me by 12 seconds.
              – K Dog
              3 hours ago













            up vote
            2
            down vote










            up vote
            2
            down vote









            This is shaky SF at best but H.P. Lovecraft in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath had sentient Earth cats traveling to the moon where they were menaced by evil cats from Saturn. It was written late in his career and not published until 1943.



            In short, rhe story definitely included sentient alien cats in space but it isn't usually classified as science fiction.






            share|improve this answer












            This is shaky SF at best but H.P. Lovecraft in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath had sentient Earth cats traveling to the moon where they were menaced by evil cats from Saturn. It was written late in his career and not published until 1943.



            In short, rhe story definitely included sentient alien cats in space but it isn't usually classified as science fiction.







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered 3 hours ago









            Mark Mills

            1,0967




            1,0967












            • you beat me by 12 seconds.
              – K Dog
              3 hours ago


















            • you beat me by 12 seconds.
              – K Dog
              3 hours ago
















            you beat me by 12 seconds.
            – K Dog
            3 hours ago




            you beat me by 12 seconds.
            – K Dog
            3 hours ago










            up vote
            -2
            down vote













            Probably the earliest reference to intelligent cat-like beings in literature is the legend of Oedipus and the Sphinx. But they've found cave paintings in Europe depicting cat people that they estimate are around 30,000 years old. So a long freakin' time!






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            stonebreaker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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            • OP is specifically looking for references to cat-like species that can travel through space. I don't think the Sphinx was able to do that, and random cave paintings don't count as science fiction.
              – F1Krazy
              1 hour ago















            up vote
            -2
            down vote













            Probably the earliest reference to intelligent cat-like beings in literature is the legend of Oedipus and the Sphinx. But they've found cave paintings in Europe depicting cat people that they estimate are around 30,000 years old. So a long freakin' time!






            share|improve this answer








            New contributor




            stonebreaker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
            Check out our Code of Conduct.


















            • OP is specifically looking for references to cat-like species that can travel through space. I don't think the Sphinx was able to do that, and random cave paintings don't count as science fiction.
              – F1Krazy
              1 hour ago













            up vote
            -2
            down vote










            up vote
            -2
            down vote









            Probably the earliest reference to intelligent cat-like beings in literature is the legend of Oedipus and the Sphinx. But they've found cave paintings in Europe depicting cat people that they estimate are around 30,000 years old. So a long freakin' time!






            share|improve this answer








            New contributor




            stonebreaker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
            Check out our Code of Conduct.









            Probably the earliest reference to intelligent cat-like beings in literature is the legend of Oedipus and the Sphinx. But they've found cave paintings in Europe depicting cat people that they estimate are around 30,000 years old. So a long freakin' time!







            share|improve this answer








            New contributor




            stonebreaker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
            Check out our Code of Conduct.









            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer






            New contributor




            stonebreaker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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            answered 1 hour ago









            stonebreaker

            1




            1




            New contributor




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            New contributor





            stonebreaker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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            stonebreaker is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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            • OP is specifically looking for references to cat-like species that can travel through space. I don't think the Sphinx was able to do that, and random cave paintings don't count as science fiction.
              – F1Krazy
              1 hour ago


















            • OP is specifically looking for references to cat-like species that can travel through space. I don't think the Sphinx was able to do that, and random cave paintings don't count as science fiction.
              – F1Krazy
              1 hour ago
















            OP is specifically looking for references to cat-like species that can travel through space. I don't think the Sphinx was able to do that, and random cave paintings don't count as science fiction.
            – F1Krazy
            1 hour ago




            OP is specifically looking for references to cat-like species that can travel through space. I don't think the Sphinx was able to do that, and random cave paintings don't count as science fiction.
            – F1Krazy
            1 hour ago


















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