Felis Sapiens

Felis Sapiens is a name given to the race of Cats that bred on Red Dwarf from a single parent, Dave Lister's pet cat Frankenstein. Dave hid Frankenstein on Red Dwarf and was sent into stasis for doing so, during which a nuclear disaster wiped out the crew. For three million years, Dave was held in stasis and meanwhile his cat and her kittens bred in the hold of the ship, eventually evolving into a humanoid race.

Their relgion was based around Cloister, who was frozen in time to save the holy mother and her children, and that he would one day return to lead her children to Fushal, the promised land. (actually reflecting Dave's ambition to open a farm on Fiji). A war was waged over this religion, the origins of which are sketchy.

The Cat race was all but destroyed during the war, and what few that remained left Red Dwarf. Only the Cat himself remained on the ship by the time Dave Lister woke up.