So I've been practising a bit more and I think my shots are getting some what decent.

 

This one I feel is pretty great, even pre-processing:

 

Then I think these two have something there, but need some clever tweaks perhaps:

 

 

 

 

If you are taking pictures of darker subjects such as your cat, I would over-expose a stop or two to bring out more detail. You can do this by adjusting the levels in Photoshop, but it's better to do it through the camera, it will help you learn more.

I can see that it'd get more detail out but wouldn't it also distort the colouring? Eg it'd make my cat more dark grey than black?

Also given that amount of detail already there with the fur and even dust stuck in the fur does it really need more detail?

Definitely too dark. I would change the exposure within the camera.

I've always found it easier to expose dark areas than to recover blown highlights, so I will never overexpose a shot, but I will frequently underexpose.

 

 

I couldn't resist:

^never do this in real life

That second shot with the PP looks awesome, Latios.