Yup. I've had a few Aprilaire cheapie standalone units burn out after a couple years.

I've had fantastic luck with the the following though:
This one I have in a ~2500 sq ft basement that's rather humid. Works at least 8 months out of the year for the last 3 years w/ no problem:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

I have this one running in a VERY humid 3 bedroom condo @ the beach and it's done a fantastic job over the last 2+ years:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...9CYHA505X&th=1

OP as mentioned, the key here is to set it to drain into a sump, bathtub, etc. so that you don't have to worry about dumping it out every so often. I wouldn't worry at all about what little dust the cats kick up...you'll likely have "average" amounts of dust be more of a concern than anything else.

The next house I build will definitely have a whole house system in place, but your scenario sounds very light duty, so I'd just go the standalone route for now and see how it works out over the next couple years. Definitely go with larger units (like linked above) as they've been more reliable in my experience.