Buying and upgrading dogs and cats

Can anyone tell me what happened to the first cat I bought ?? and then, what happened to the $5000 upgraded cat I bought. I saw each of them only once and they were run off by the bears and NEVER CAME BACK. I haven't been able to figure out how to replace the lost cats.

How important is it to have the cat or cats? I'd sure like to have them picking up the products and putting them in the warehouse. It would save a lot of time and effort toward reaching gold.

I bought the first dogs and they appeared on several levels. Later on I lost two of them to bears and so far I haven't yet upgraded the 5000 for the dogs, because I wasn't that sure it would really matter, especially if IU was going to lose them to the bears like I did the 5000 upgraded cat.

Someon e please HELP????!!!!!

Thanks, Pat