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About Thrinaxodon:
Although it wasn't quite as mammal-like as its close cousin, Cynognathus, Thrinaxodon was still startlingly "modern" by Triassic standards. Paleontologists believe this cynodont (a family of reptiles that preceded the dinosaurs) may have been covered in fur, and also may have had a moist, cat-like nose. Completing the resemblance to modern tabbies, it's possible that Thrinaxodon had whiskers as well.
What paleontologists know for sure is that Thrinaxodon was among the first creatures whose body was divided into "lumbar" and "thoracic" segments (an important anatomical development, evolution-wise), and that it probably breathed with the aid of a diaphragm, yet another feature that didn't come fully into mammalian vogue until tens of millions of years later.
