Dire - cat Dire - cats were carnivorous feline creatures that lived on the planet Corellia . They had spines coming out of their backs and shoulder blades , and would attack animals that had the scent of blood . Their keen sense of smell was also able to pick up traces of contaminants , such as synthetic poison , and as such avoid tainted meat . During 42 BBY , a pack of dire - cats attacked , killed , and ate the Mandalorian warrior Tor Vizsla after his stomach had been cut open with a switch - blade , heavily exposing the scent of his blood to the nearby cats . Dire - cats could also be found on the planet of Talus , existing as a subspecies known as the ferine razorfang . Biology and appearance . Dire - cats were feline mammals who lived on the Core World of Corellia . Carnivores , dire - cats had an acute sense of smell that allowed them to pick up and track the scent of blood . However , if the blood was contaminated or unclean , such as poisoned blood , dire - cats could detect this and avoid tainted meat . A full - grown dire - cat was fairly large , muscular creature , capable of downing a grown Human male of nearly two meters with little difficulty . Dire - cats were covered in golden , bristly fur , had red eyes , and the skin of their noses were colored black . Dire - cats walked on four legs , each leg ending in a large padded paw . Front paws each had five digits , each tipped in a sharp gray claw . Their hind legs ended in paws with only three digits , however . Another notable aspect of dire - cats was that the backs of their shoulders were covered in sharp pointed spines that stuck out from beneath their fur . Adults had larger , more prominent spines than the juveniles . Although the task was difficult , dire - cats could be tamed . History . Dire - cats were primarily found on Corellia , a planet located in the Corellian system , and had been in recorded history as early as the year 3643 BBY . During an event known as the Cold War , which spanned from 3653 BBY to 3642 BBY , a Twi ' lek slave named Vette made a claim to a jailer named Knash that she could imitate the sound that a dire - cat could make . Much later , during 42 BBY , a family of the cats , a dominant adult and three cubs , followed behind the Mandalorians Tor Vizsla and his rival Jango Fett as they dueled each other across the terrain of Corellia after a narrow escape from a detonating ship . After falling into a river and washing up on a lake bed , Vizsla injected Fett with poison . Before Vizsla could deal the killing blow , Fett slashed Vizsla ' s stomach open with a switch - blade , causing the warrior to bleed profusely . The blood that had been spilled was just enough to attract the family of dire - cats , who attacked , killed , and ate Vizsla . After the cats had eaten their fill , two of the cubs inspected Fett ' s unconscious form , but sniffing out his poisoned blood , they backed away and left Fett to rest in the grass . The dire - cats were gone by the time Fett regained consciousness . During the Galactic Civil War many years later , spacers who often visited Corellia would sometimes come into contact with dire - cats and occasionally hunt them . Spacers also encountered ferine razorfangs when visiting Talus .