Chatting About The Cattiness Of Cats

I sip at, Wikipedia, fount of neutral wisdom:

The problem of universals is about their status; as to whether universals exist independently of the individuals of whom they can be predicated or if they are merely convenient ways of talking about and finding similarity among particular things that are radically different.

It seems a hard choice - "independent" or "merely convenient".
I seek another path, objective but lenient.