I find these types of questions extremely insignificant and ridiculous. The amount of hypothetical circumstances that would lead to such an event is too high for me to be able to answer this question normally and for my answer to be taken into some kind of a relevant statistic.
First of all, a whirlpool? How did I find myself in a threatening situation involving a whirlpool, along with my pet and a stranger? What happened? What's the state of us? Where are we? Why are we alone? And if we're not, where are other people, why are they here, what are we all doing together? Thing is, getting into a situation where you have to choose whether you'll save a stranger or your pet is one of those situations that probably no one has ever gotten into and probably never will. And if we're trying to invent a situation like that for the sake of discussion, I can answer whatever I want and it doesn't mean I'd actually do that if the situation was real. I'd save my cat. There, I said it. But it doesn't mean shit because I've never been in that situation and I never will.
Also, let's say that for some inexplicable reason my cat and a stranger fell into a whirlpool and I'm the only person around that's able to save them. I'd run away and save myself. I don't have the skills or the courage to jump into a whirlpool. And if I did, I still don't have the strength to carry a fully grown person out of it. We'd all drown, so no thanks. I'm not jumping into any whirlpools, not for a stranger, not for my pet. It may sound horrible, but unless you are a professional, you won't be able to help. So, this scenario means nothing, and the results mean nothing.
