Cats are preyed upon, but we naked apes are particularly adept for hunting ungulates, since we can track and outdistance them by far. And that's before we get into basic tools.

During colder periods when larger fauna prevailed, the atlatl or spear thrower was the pre-civilization elephant gun (we've tested them and with the strength of a common adult man, an atlatl can propel a javelin out the other side of an elk).

And for every cat we might find, we'd find twenty hares and twice as many squirrels.