Re: Sims 4: Cats Ignore Needs
I've had issues with this and they drove me to use Twisted Mexi's AllCheats to enable playable pets when they start misbehaving, and eventually to download Bienchen's sanity for pets mod.
My worst experience was in the household with 3 cats and 2 dogs, none of whom could find a food dish or litterbox by themselves. The dogs used to be able to go potty by themselves, but I fed them an age-down treat and no amount of training re-enabled that ability so they also needed to be told to go potty constantly. Also there was an update at some point that caused all the pets to constantly fight each other. I honestly abandoned that save.
I also took to locking the doors to all cats so my stupid cats would stop running away because no amount of petting and playing prevented them from running away, but Bienchen's mod helps. With the mod your pets will actually interact with each other and fill social that way. (Seriously, if you make your pets playable without Bienchen's mod, you pet your cat and their Affection/Social goes green, and then the red arrows start and it drops rapidly.)