Cats lagging behind/failing to teleport

Tamed cats fail to consistently teleport when following the player at a walking pace. They lag behind and stand still till player goes back to "retrieve" them and get within 12 blocks.  The teleportation is laggy at the best of times and the walking player still has to stop and wait for the game to "catch up". More often than not cats just get "lost" and stand still despite being in loaded chunks.