Not gonna lie, I did not expect the gore haha! Very cute game with a lot of charm, let's go through the game:

The Good:

You pet the cat.

Seriously though, very nice sound effects. The petting (slapping?) sound is somewhat satisfying is the best way to put it.

There is also a very good controlled art direction with the game, a cohesive style is something that even I am figuring out how to learn. You have a good mix of derpiness, cuteness and blood in the game that elevates the dramatic premise of this game!

There is also a level of discovery and curiousity that is insighted with this gameplay, especially with the fact that you're only told to press space to pat the cat. The player is essentially introduced only the controls and you leave everything else all up to the player, the cat explodes or the cat lives is the consequence of their action. This is a very good approach to integrating 'playfulness', especially in your game, and I really like it!

Having a high score system is a great addition too! The players that figure out the gameplay, or is trying to learn the gameplay, can use the score system as a feedback and a gauge of their skill. Nice!

To improve:

I think this game has done more good than needs improving. One of your greatest strengths is that the game has a good core loop!

If you were to continue with the game, I'd suggest adding different phases. Maybe the cat is making biscuits and you aren't allowed to pat during that time or suffer score penalty. Maybe the cat is sleeping and you have to adjust your patting rate to now wake it up.

These are just additional features that add more meat to the game and give it more dynamic gameplay and the player having to learn them.

You could also add cosmetic options for different cats maybe. But this is entering day-dreaming territory.