Garfield’s lazy and is always making snide remarks about Jon and Odie…Heathcliff’s portrayed as a belligerent malcontent…Sylvester and Tom are always getting squashed and humiliated.
It seems as though cartoon cats are almost always portrayed in a pejorative light, while little vermin rodents and annoying yellow birds get all the clever lines.
Ever see “The Aristocats?”
Because no one likes cats except for those crazy cat ladies. <shudder>
In real life, it’s always the mice and birds who end up the losers and cats the winners (ever had your cat bring home a present?). Cartoons give the mice and birds a chance to kick some ass. They’re cheering for the underdog (this would be a better pun if we were talking about dogs, but we aren’t, so ignore it).
Maybe the individual cats just happen to have these specific character traits (laziness, crabbiness) and you shouldn’t assume that all cartoon cats act like that.
Anyway, they’re just cartoons, yo. They’re aposta make you laugh.
That is why I liked Pumpkin’ Puss & Mushmouse. Pumpkin’ Puss always started out winning then Mushmouse would figure out a scheme and beat him then at the end of the cartoon Pumpkin’ Puss would figure out that scheme and win.
Because cats suck.
QED.
“Herman and Catnip” was the forerunner of the more deeply-realized “Itchy and Scratchy” 
[hijack]
What does QED mean, anyways? I’m not going to bother manny by asking such a simple question in GQ.
[/hijack]
quod erat demonstrandum
which means, “thus it is demonstrated” or “that which is to be demonstrated” or something along those lines.
Oh, sure, blame it all on me…
That dog, sheesh, you’ve never seen him slobbering all over me while I’m trying to sleep? Come on!
And Jon! Jon, who thinks he’s God’s gift to women. Please.
Don’t even get me started on Nermal. . . .
Cats do suck mostly, but you gotta love Mr. Jinx.
“Like, eehhhh, I hates meeces to pieces!”
Well, I always thought it meant “Quickly Ends Dat.”
Or “Quite Easily Done”.
Anyway, cats are cool. Not as cool as pussies, but cool.
a la “Space Jam”, “Hey! I resemble that remark!”
Ever read the Get Fuzzy strip?
Bucky the cat is the best portrayal I’ve ever seen of the odd animal we like to call the common housecat. Sure, he’s a weird character, but he’s not insulted or put upon, just represented faithfully with all of his quirks.
The cat in “Pickles” does pretty well…and is very authentically cat-like 
No, no, the Maharisishi Yoga cat in Rose is Rose is a most faithful portrayal of the transcendancy of the cat.
Cats are always getting dissed in cartoons because they deserve it, and because that’s what they like, and let me tell you, you may care about this issue but they don’t. That’s the kind of individualistic, devil may care, attitude laden little critters they are. And they (and I) wouldn’t have it any other way. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand cats.
Whaddaya think cats are? Some sort of whining, whingeing, attention seeking, fawning canine? Why don’t you just go off and get yourself a puppy or a poodle. Now there’s an animal that would get all upset if naughty nasty Mr Cartoonist said nastywasty things about it, diddums diddums. Don’t be such an overprotective milksop.
In the Warner Brothers cartoons it was the dogs who were dumb. Like the dumb ol’ bulldog. The cats were much smarter. Even though Sylvester occasionaly got bushwacked by the dumb ol’ bulldog, he was certainly smarter, not drooling all over himself.