Proailurus is an extinct felid genus that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25–30.8 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene.

[1] Proailurus lemanensis was a compact and small animal, just a little larger than the domestic cat, weighing about 20 lb (9 kg).

It had a long tail, large eyes and sharp claws and teeth, with similar proportions to the modern viverrids.

[1] The genus Proailurus was first described by Henri Filhol in 1879 for fossils found in the Saint-Gerand site in France.

[7] Haplogale media's placement was later confirmed by Robert Hunt's 1998 studies of aeluroid skulls.

[8] In 1999, Peigné carried out a systematic review of the genus, naming another two species, P. bourbonnensis and P. major, in the process.

[8] It is a likely ancestor of Pseudaelurus, which lived 20–10 million years ago, and probably gave rise to the major felid lines, including the extinct machairodontines and the extant felines and pantherines, although the phylogeny of the cats is still not precisely known.