The grishnar cat was an animal with a fearsome appearance, but which in reality was quite harmless (at least when it was old and toothless). Prior to attacking Deep Space 9 in 2372, Chancellor Gowron likened Captain Benjamin Sisko's claims of his station's upgraded defenses to a "toothless old grishnar cat", attempting to frighten the Klingons with his roar. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior") The Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 319) identified the grishnar cat as a Klingon animal.