Htaccess Rewrite single query string - string

Question

I'm having an issue with a rather old siye. I have some generic URL's with a query string, that i want to 301 redirect, but I don't want to blanket re-direct the urls. I want to choose where each query string is being redirected as there are alot of different categories within the site. For example:
I want to change:
index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=199
to:
/garden-furniture/patio-furniture/garden-benches-garden-seats/cat_199.html
But ill want to change another catid to another URL of my choosing, completely different structure. The problem I'm having is with the code i've got, if I don't have a ? at the end of the destination url, it works, but appends the query string to the end, if I put it on the end, it doesn't redirect at all.
Code I'm using:
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^_a=viewCat&catId=199
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ /garden-furniture/patio-furniture/garden-benches-garden-seats/cat_199.html? [L,R=301]
Any help would be appreciated!
EDIT: The rest of my htaccess
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^conservatory/(.*)$ /conservatory-furniture/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^dining-room/(.*)$ /dining-room-furniture/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^garden/(.*)$ /garden-furniture/patio-furniture/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.*)$
RewriteRule cat_([0-9]+)(\.[a-z]{3,4})?(.*)$ index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=$1&%1 [NC]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.*)$
RewriteRule prod_([0-9]+)(\.[a-z]{3,4})?$ index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=$1&%1 [NC]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.*)$
RewriteRule info_([0-9]+)(\.[a-z]{3,4})?$ index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=$1&%1 [NC]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.*)$
RewriteRule tell_([0-9]+)(\.[a-z]{3,4})?$ index.php?_a=tellafriend&productId=$1&%1 [NC]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.*)$
RewriteRule _saleItems(\.[a-z]+)?(\?.*)?$ index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=saleItems&%1 [NC,L]

Answer 1

If these are complete URLs, you could anchor the pattern at the start of the string
RewriteRule ^cat_([0-9]+)(\.[a-z]{3,4})?(.*)$ index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=$1&%1 [NC]
this would prevent an URL, which has cat_ inside being rewritten to index.php?....
And since you don't use the trailing optional part, you could eliminate this too
RewriteRule ^cat_([0-9]+) index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=$1&%1 [NC]
Another point is the RewriteCond with query string. If the query string is optional, you could remove the RewriteCond and modify the RewriteRules to
RewriteRule ^cat_([0-9]+) index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=$1 [QSA,NC]
So, all these would become
RewriteRule ^cat_([0-9]+) index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=$1 [QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^prod_([0-9]+) index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=$1 [QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^info_([0-9]+) index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=$1 [QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^tell_([0-9]+) index.php?_a=tellafriend&productId=$1 [QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^_saleItems index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=saleItems [QSA,NC,L]