There is no known connection between cats and the development of quantum physics. The famous "Schrödinger's cat" thought experiment, while involving a cat, is a metaphorical illustration of quantum superposition, a key concept in quantum mechanics, and does not involve any real cats.

The experiment was proposed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 to highlight the strangeness of quantum superposition, where a particle can exist in multiple states simultaneously until it is observed. The thought experiment imagines a cat sealed in a box with a device that could randomly kill it, and the cat is considered both alive and dead until the box is opened.

While the cat analogy is a popular way to explain quantum superposition, it is purely hypothetical and has no real-world application. The development of quantum physics was driven by the work of many physicists like Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and others, through rigorous mathematical models and experiments.

So, to answer your question directly: Cats were not significant in the development of quantum physics.