Hi Again!
I wish I had been able to keep up with this thread yesterday! The subject is so interesting to me.
First of all, I like the cat a lot. I think it's because I, personally, love my kitten who is my first pet cat, so I may just be biased in that way. Including the cat makes it more personal, special, and somewhat narrative to me. But, I understand how taking him out simplifies things!
If you are going to do it without the cat, I agree with what Alex said. The 1st one of the batch with no cat looks good to me, and I would not add any more negative space behind her, to our left.
Here is a really poorly illustrated idea if you want to keep the cat! (Nudge, nudge.) Maybe the cropping will work if you include one or both of your daughter's hands. I feel like the cat is floating, or going to fall off the scene in the 1st picture that you posted... there is visual tension because of that for me and that is why the cat is distracting me there. I think if you could use a hand or both hands to show that the cat is being held up, sort of frame the cat, and then direct the eye back up to the face, it would be a darling composition. Just the one hand that I have painted in would do the trick, I think.
Oh, and I hope that you don't mind me fooling with your photos.
Either way, I can't wait to see what you do!