I don't know about the Navy but I was at an airbase in Afghanistan and some people were feeding a cat that was hanging around our building. An email went out ordering people to not feed the cat. As an incentive to comply the NCO in charge of the area said that if the cat feeding didn't stop it would be killed, not sure if he was serious but they weren't pleased with the prospect of having a cat around.
"Unit morale dogs" were pretty common, and usually overlooked. A lot more common on the smaller bases. There were some charities to actually raise money to legally import them to the US afterward. There were also rabid dogs which bit people, got shot, got their heads cut off, and then got tested by the vets (including running them through CT machines when people got bored), so it really depended on behavior and context. I never saw cats in Afghanistan or Iraq, strangely, only dogs.
The Australians had a pet called Stretch at one of their bases in Hellmand/Kandahar area. On the cage, it said "I may look cute and cuddly, but I'm a fucking mongoose!".
Cats are known intelligence agents. Its probably not a good thing to have strays wandering around your base .. you never know what they might report back to their owner..
I've lived on several US Navy ships and can confirm, I have never seen or heard about any cats...even from the sailors with 20 years in who liked to tell "war stories."
we're in deep debt to cats and dogs who was a major player in the successful development of human civilization. These days we forgot it, kill them by tens of millions per year, and many people grow up and live without meaningful contact with the animals.
