You are NOT guaranteed to kill the catalytic converter if you bump start. If it was, I've been driving around without a working cat for the last 3 months and 3000 miles.
There IS a risk is it sending an amount of unburnt fuel through it, which can kill it.
I'd say there's the same kind of air of panic around bump starting a puma as there about changing the cambelt. Yes, it's not ideal, but there's no definite answers.