Hrm. I don't quite like the composition of this, a bit too ordinary for my tastes. But its still a nice photograph - I especially like how kitty is looking out of the frame.
Good B/W (an all photography, really) is all about light, and the ugliest light known to man (except possibly flourescent) is, for some reason, built into most cameras. It's very hard and directional, which flattens textures, and casts horrid shadows nine times out of ten. You could possibly adjust the gamma (middle gray value) here to improve the range of contrast.