“And what, Mr. Webster, is the accepted definition of a noun?”
“A noun is the name of a person, place or thing.”
“Kindly define the word ‘place’.”
“A particular locality.”
“And ‘thing’.”
“An inanimate object.”
“That will do, Mr. Webster.”
So, according to Mr. Noah Webster, the entity for which the noun cat stands, must, if not a person, be a locality or an inanimate object!
A cat is surely not a locality, and as for being an inanimate object, her chance of avoiding such a condition is nine times better even than a king’s.
Then a cat must be a person.