Cats or cats (Felidae) are a family of order Carnivora, the subclass of eutherian in the class of mammals. The cat family includes two subfamilies according to ITIS and three according to NCBI [irrelevant].

Among their characteristics are their round head to head shortened, their jaw with about thirty teeth, and retractile claws, except the cheetah, the cat and the raccoon flat-headed cat. The cats are digitigrade, that is to say they walk by pressing their fingers (the foot does not arise on the ground).

Currently, Proailurus, which lived 40 million years ago in the Oligocene period, is considered the oldest common ancestor of the cat family. Considering Pseudaelurus as the last common ancestor of modern cats.