For the life of me, I cannot understand why so many people seem to like the Khajit so much.
I am not sure why you would say this. If you look at the polls on the forum, Khajiit never ranks as people's favorite race to play. Argonians constantly rank higher than Khajiit and Orcs and Nords tend to be more poppular than either of the beast races. So, it is not like a majority of people on the forum are running around saying Khajiit Rule!
There are a substantial minority of people who do like Khajiit. I am one of those people, but I also play other races. I first picked Khajiit in Oblivion because they start with a higher speed and agility (or at least what is what the tutorial said. It was only later that I learned that their speed is notmal and it is only agility that is boosted, but I digress). They also had the ability to see in the dark. Since I wanted to play an acrobatic character that snuck around int eh dark for thieving and assissnation, that was perfect.
In Skyrim, the dungeons are too bright so there is no where you need to see in the dark. That is a fault of Skyrim, not the Khajiit. There is also no acrobatics skill or speed or agility attribute, but again, that is a shortcomming of Skyrim, not the Khajiit race themselves.
Skyrim has reduced the distinction between races to aesthetics. There are no longer any material differneces in starting stats or racial powers. So, I can see why some people would not like the beast races, but they add more variety to the game, so I am glad to have the option.
EDIT: And for the record, I have never owned a cat.