I just heard from some posts online that sabre cats don't respawn in the latest patch. Anyone notice it?

They respawn for me. These bugs can sometimes be very individual.

It also depends what 'these posts online' are based on. Is the poster aware of the 10 day respawn timer after leaving a cell, and that it resets if you revisit the cell in that time?

Kaidonni is correct. However, there is one particular spot... the Sabre cat spot just to the NW of Whiterun. Between Whiterun and the Giant camp. As of late, that kitty doesn't respawn with the rest of the cell. Nonetheless, two will respawn nearby, in the small patch of woods ( I say woods... actually it's a half a dozen trees ) that usually contains a couple of wolves.

It would be possible that spawn points get moved around during a patch. The original spawn point might have caused an issue with some script somewhere.

That is interesting. I see what you mean. However, it does beg the question... Wouldn't the spawn point of the "original" creature be in the new location, if that were the case?

So, if there was a Saber Cat in the usual spot, then one could assume that the respawn would adhere to that same location?

1.3 caused an issue with respawn points in the game breaking completely. This will effect all respawn points in the game after a while playing with one character.

I have tested this a lot since 1.3 with over a dozen characters and I know about the respawn timer and I have went inside a building and waited for well over four months in game time to test this.

The broken respawns have changed my opinion on exactly how much I like this game.