There are two huge problems with the catears. They take up the helmet slot, and they break INSTANTLY upon taking any durability damage. This is very annoying when trying to use them in survival. I have been thinking about this issue and a possible solution for it. My best solution as of now is to take advantage of the Trinkets mod. It would allow the catears to go into a designated "hats" slot(provided by the Trinkets mod) and would not only free back up the helmet slot, but would also allow for the durability problem to go away!

The idea I have in mind would be something very similar to the Villager Hats mod, created by PinkGoosik.
https://modrinth.com/mod/villager-hats
Just a little item that goes right into the hat slot, and never breaks.

The downside to this change is that it would probably be a very tedious change to make. While I've never used the Trinkets API before, I'm guessing it would be a very long process to change all of the already existing modded armor to Trinkets items. However, the end result should be worth it. A fun survival friendly item.