Yeah… again the cat adds nothing.

Starting to understand why heathcliff without heathcliff exists

Haunted frat house.

They say everyone died from a fentanyl overdose in their coke

I think you got it.

Watch out for the broltergeist

This one's rather pretty, and not a bad job on the house. Hopefully they'll be more like these for Halloween...

The cat adds an audience, otherwise Iggy is just talking to himself, which for some reason seems frowned upon in newspaper comics.

But notice that for these two, their roles are minimized to the max. One allows the cartoonist to voice his gag line, the other to be the audience, but that's it. Their arms are eliminated, and Heathcliff doesn't even get a face so as to potentially react. This is a major change from the days of original cartoonist Gately, who usually portrayed the cat as highly expressive.

Thanks for the in depth context. I appreciate it and wouldn’t have noticed that reduction in quality

Sure thing. And I'd say it's mostly down to a change in philosophy, with the strip moving from a more traditional character / gag-based comic in to a pretty unique, absurd direction, sometimes even surreal. For example, check out these from fairly early in Gallagher's career, when he was doing a very good job capturing Gately's original style:

Wild. Those are definitely different. Surprising to see those are only from 2003. It definitely has a more classic look to it