I like the idea about the cat, but a 15 years old cat is quite old and should not be that hard to catch... Well, "has been there as long as they can remember" is quite convincing
viZion - This is the beauty of these books. You like this character and dislike that one, you agree with one and disagree with another, BUT, all of them are real! Even if you can't understand why a character makes a bad choice - the same thing happens in the real life - if you look around you will find a lot of people doing something that you never will, making bad choices because of a short temper, honor, or just a headache.
And about
: "the Starks should be better at politics" Look at the real politics, if they can be bad at politics why should a Lord of some distant quiet place be good at King's Landing intrigues..?