SQLite only has a LIKE function, no REGEX for doing comparison in your SELECT's. But that is not a completely bad thing, because thanks to it's tight integration within PHP5, you can apply any internal PHP function or your own custom callback function within your query.

Meaning that even without a built in REGEX function you can still use PHP's regex to get around the problem. Enough rambling, here is some sample code:

SELECT * FROM animals WHERE php('ereg', '[[:<:]](monkeys|cats)[[:>:]]', category) ORDER BY id DESC;

Useful reading:
php.net sqlite_create_function() manual page
SQLite REGEX manual note