Yep, it’s cat.
Are cat people considered canon in the Star Trek universe?
Yep! They’re Caitians, first seen in TAS.
Weird, somehow I’ve never heard of this species or seen one in another Star Trek series. From a cursory internet search that might be because I’ve never seen Star Trek: the Animated Series.
Yep! There have been cat people serving on Starfleet vessels since the animated series, in TOS era.
They even show up in Star Trek Into Darkness as furless cat girls that the writer claims are the same species even though they’re clearly not. Memory Alpha dutifully lists them on the Unnamed Caitian page, but amusingly doesn’t actually call them Caitians explicitly.
To be fair, the text never refers to them as Caitians, it’s just the writer saying it in an interview.
