Do we really need to judge companion animals on how well they can do tricks for humans? Does every living creature need to be useful to us to be of value?
For the record cats have been known to sometimes sense when death is about to occur. They are sometimes more loving and affectionate to the person they sense will be gone soon.
We could try train cats to do the same, but has anyone tried? (I'm not sure how strong a cat's sense of smell is relative to a human's or a dog's, so if there's a reason I'm missing please tell me lol)
A cat's sense of smell is no where near that of a dog's, but you can't blame them for that as a dog's snout is much larger and can fit many more receptors. However, in terms of brains, dogs have bigger brains (they're much larger animals), but cats have around twice the number of neurons in theirs making them overall more intelligent.
My dogs are trained. The cats, on the other hand, have been known to leave us a random surprise or two.