  A cat state is a superposition of macroscopically distinct states. In quantum
optics one such type of state is a superposition of distinct coherent states.
Recently, a protocol has been proposed for preparing large optical cat states
from a resource of smaller ones. We consider the effects of mode-mismatch and
loss in the preparation of large cat states using this protocol with a view to
understand experimental limitations. (This paper is written in an experimental
rapid communication format).
