domestic cat vs domestic animal

domestic cat and domestic animal both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
domestic cat	Yes	No	No	No
domestic animal	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, domestic animal is a hypernym of domestic cat; that is, domestic animal is a word with a broader meaning than domestic cat:

domestic cat: any domesticated member of the genus Felis
domestic animal: any of various animals that have been tamed and made fit for a human environment

Other hypernyms of domestic cat include domesticated animal, cat, true cat.

domestic cat (noun)	domestic animal (noun)
any domesticated member of the genus Felis	any of various animals that have been tamed and made fit for a human environment