Non-Shit Cat People

Animal people only work if the animal is kind of horrible and fucky. This is because animal people are intrinsically horrible and fucky. If the animal is cool (lion, horse, falcon) then the coolness of the base animal works against the horribleness of the animal-person hybrid and the result is uncomfortable and sexually confusing. If the animal is horrible and fucky (rat, scorpion, ibis) then all the vectors are pointing in the same direction and you end up with a satisfying monster.

But! Even cool animals have many horrifying qualities. Lions take over prides and eat all the cubs. Horses die of fear if they hear a car backfire. Falcons disembowel things and have acidic faeces. We can use this.

"grrr. i'm fucking terrifying"

Lion men are demons with the heads of lions and the bodies of men. They are all male. They are born from shadows in the deep desert, or possibly just hell. They exude a powerful musk which makes everyone around them adore and worship them. They show up in town, eat all the babies, then command everyone to make new babies and also to bring them raw meat and gold.

All babies born in the town are lion daughters. They are tawny-skinned people with golden eyes, the occasional pointed ear, hair in odd places, maybe a stunted tail. They are all women. They are also charismatic sociopaths. Everyone loves lion daughters and all their ideas sound really good. They love power and are utterly fearless. You are as likely to find one leading an adventuring party as commanding an army, running a company of merchants or marrying into a royal family. Or just wandering around the desert having dinner with people and then killing them for fun.

They make excellent if bloodthirsty generals, and monarchs sometimes inflict lion men on a town for the express purpose of creating a cadre of elite officers.

but in a way furries won't get excited about