This guy, finally adopted by the neighbor to our left back in my hometown of Ottawa Lake, Michigan, started out as a stray with a different name at every house he mooched food and attention from (very Lady and the Tramp-ish).
He's now called Freddy and has a proper home, but he still finds the time to drop by my parents backyard, roll onto his back, and meow loudly until someone inevitably pets him.
Needless to say, he's also very photogenic.

[asp1880]

Cats are a great subject. I have one myself

The black fur is hard to bring out in the image. Maybe a hot-shoe flash pointed up into a bounce card can bring some texture into the black fur on these closeups?

Regards,
--Anders.

[Ash]

Not a bad little portrait.
He's posing very nicely for you here.
Now indeed comes the importance of supplemental light with such a difficult subject to shoot, contrast-wise. The end-result will probably still need some work to bring out the detail in both highlights and shadows.