I made a cat fountain by mistake recently. The mayor and his brood of cat and kittens went up a tree, presumably fruit picking, then a woodcutter came through and cut the tree down. I happened to be watching at the time (trying to get the woodcutter not to do what he was obviously about to do) but too late. Injured felines, and injured mayor (it appears he landed on his hands). They all fell out of the tree, rather slowly, so it seemed to be raining cats and kittens at ground level.
Another time I had some cats, dogs, and other animals attack a giant with their dwarf companions. The dwarfs were picked up by the giant, stripped, and their clothing was strewn about before they themselves were thrown. The animals, including the cats, were just thrown across the screen. This injured some dwarfs and some animals, but the cats, as far as I know, all just landed on their feet and attacked the giant again at a run. I was picking up discarded clothing on the surface for ages.
I also always stable a kitten down at magma level where the magmaforges are, otherwise they all wander about on the surface, and the vermin gets insane down at level -150 or so. Dwarfs who like cats are also encouraged to be porters or messengers, travelling the levels as much as possible. They work as verminsweepers, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin...