  We propose an efficient way to generate optical analogs of both even and odd
Schrodinger cat states (SCSs) with high fidelity, large amplitude and
reasonable generation rate. The resource consumed are a single-mode squeezed
vacuum state (SMSV) and possibly a single photon or nothing. We report the
generation of even (odd) SCS with amplitude 4.2, fidelity higher than 0.99 and
reasonable generation rate by subtraction of 30(31) photons from SMSV by ideal
photon number detection. In the case of inefficient detectors, maintaining SCS
size and its fidelity at the same level as in the case of ideal detectors
results in a dramatic decrease in the success probability. In order to have
certain harmony between the three characteristics (large amplitude, high
fidelity and acceptable success probability for the generation scheme) in the
case of imperfect detection, highly transmitting beam splitters should not be
used and number of the subtracted photons must be reduced to 10(11).
