When first starting up the actual game (not the instructions), a message appears saying "press Q if you have a slow computer." I found that disabling the cursor art (the baseball bat) made it a bit easier to hit the kitties. So even if you have the fastest computer on the planet, hit Q and use the default cursor for better accuracy. I also found that most cats, if you hit them at the right angle, would only take three whacks to get out of there, so I would count and quickly go to the next one. This is actually a bit easier than kickups IMO
