The Villainous Cat?

A dog is obedient, dependent, loyal, and an attention hog.  The cat, on the other hand, is the exact opposite.  I used to own cats, and they always gave me the cold shoulder when I gave them too much attention.  A cat is cold, calculating, and strive for self preservation and excellence in aesthetics.  Even when the fall, they fall with grace (always landing back on their feet later on).  When they fall asleep, they always make sure that everything is geometrically aligned to their liking.  Cats can be playful, but are descendants of predators.  They are even weary of their ancestors whose genes tend to seep out from a cat's many array of abilities.  

Need I praise the feline more?   

Taking all those traits into mind, would an author be able to make a cat into a hero.  When we think of hero, we always go back to images such as Beowulf or Hercules.  They are all brave, strong, and willing to fight a dragon head on.  If we were to invent a similar hero and make him/her into a cat, would the reader still believe this.  Depending on the plot, setting, theme, and all the other good stuff, then perhaps.  But perhaps the reader will still tend to think that the cat hero is "phony" or fake because a cat doesn't have the guts to take on a dragon or other dangerous tasks head on.  They have the intelligence though, but if they used their own "street smarts" wouldn't it contrast the bold hero who wants to prove his/her strength against impossible odds?  

Puss n' Boots is a great example of a hero who is a cat.  Although he does posses many heroic traits, he is still portrayed as this cool "renaissance" outlaw and hero hybrid.  We praise his image because it is reasonably real.  He is more of a modern hero who survives on wits.  I have yet to see a cat in fiction being portrayed as this muscular giant trying to solve all the problem's of the world.