Would that be a result of the straight pipes? I am wanting to change my exhaust for something a bit more throaty myself.

It sounds like small backfires and cat honeycombs don't like that. I am hoping an exhaust expert could confirm or deny this as I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction.

:/ So lets just say for arguments sake that the cats are bad, what harm comes of driving with bad cats?

Low or no power, no starts. Those Honeycombs start to break apart and start flowing downstream and clog and then ruin your nice Magnaflow or Flowmaster muffler(s). Cats themselves can melt inside and block flow. On other cars, you can remove the cats and put an X or Y Pipe but make sure you have a bung to plug in the O2 sensor. Smog time, put the cats back in.

i checked with a proffesional mechanic and he said that the cats will not be harmed with my setup

sounds pretty good bro this just reminded me how much i am slacking on the X

sounds great