A cat in pain can be quiet, doesn’t mean they’re not in pain. Likewise with affection and attachment towards their owners. Just because they are stereotypically aloof creatures and aren’t as expressive as dogs doesn’t mean they don’t feel the same strong feelings dogs can.
We left our cat with my parents to attend a wedding out of state knowing good and well that a lot of hosts will not welcome us if we brought her just because she’s a cat. While we were gone, she got all the attention and affection she needed. She slept with my parents every night, she had lots of playtime with them, and she got fed more treats than we would typically giver her. At one point I even thought that she wouldn’t bat an eye when we came home and would probably prefer my parent’s care since they spoiled her rotten. But the day we came home, she left my parent’s side to stick to us like glue again as if we never left. I used to think this way too-- that cats aren’t loyal to their owners like dogs are, but that day absolutely changed my mind!
Our cat is many ways a “dog cat,” but I hate that to credit my cat for having such traits, I have to refer to her as “dog-like”. It undermines what cats are truly and similarly capable of. And so I say, My cat is simply a CAT who is clearly capable of doing and feeling things dogs can. She’s no dog cat. She’s a cat.