Collar on dogs or catlike mammals (9)

I believe the answer is:

ringtails

'catlike mammals' is the definition.

'collar on dogs' is the wordplay.
'collar' becomes 'ring' (a collar can be a ring-shaped machine part).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'dogs' becomes 'tails' ('tail' can be a synonym of 'dog').
'ring'+'tails'='RINGTAILS'

'or' is the link.

(Another definition for ringtails that I've seen is " animals".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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