We investigate cat codes that can correct multiple excitation losses and identify two types of logical errors: bit-flip errors due to excessive excitation loss and dephasing errors due to quantum backaction from the environment. We show that selected choices of logical subspace and coherent amplitude significantly reduce dephasing errors. The trade-off between the two major errors enables optimized performance of cat codes in terms of minimized decoherence. With high coupling efficiency, we show that one-way quantum repeaters with cat codes feature a boosted secure communication rate per mode when compared to conventional encoding schemes, showcasing the promising potential of quantum information processing with continuous variable quantum codes.