What is the cat for?

[Burba]

Since I can call NPC hunters when ever I want for a full party when solo what purpose does the cat serve now? Is there a situation where the cat is better than the NPC hunters?

[Nori Doorman]

For me the cat to heal.

[GoldenDove20]

funy meow food chef smol

[Kaldr]

It's a Palicoe not a cat

[Jes]

Cat can learn new abilities, and they bring all of them including revives, extra items, healing, and traps. you can customize them with status ailments, or elemental weapons.
If you are 2 hunters, you each bring your cat as well. I haven't bothered with support hunters much but if you choose to manually invite only one, maybe you keep the cat, too?

You can set join requests to manual accept, so maybe only choosing one support hunter will work like that.

[Daizbid]

The palico can heal you and cleanse debuffs and status effects, while still laying traps, placing bombs, and generally making your hunts significantly easier. The support hunters cause the monster to have multiplayer-scaled health, yet they don't quite pull their weight so your hunts will take longer. I prefer the palico to the support hunters.

[❌Boogie Woogie Woo❌]

Cat not take place of NPC hunter

[TheBlueFox]

The cat is for playing dress up, petting, And being adorable. It does other things but those are just bonuses