Calling All Photographers

Tonight I noticed that our rescue kitty had curled up between my teen's feet as Casey laid on the floor doing his homework. I thought it would make such a cute picture, but I could not seem to capture it on film. Without the flash the feet showed up but the kitty is one dark blob. With the flash, the feet and the kitty wash out. I've noticed this before when trying to photograph the kitten. His color makes his legs, tail, etc. disappear into his overall shape rendering him almost a silhouette. I'm wondering if there is a trick to photographing black kitties??? All tips welcome! I would have liked to have had a cute photo to scrapbook as I have a sweet pic of Casey holding the kitten in the palm of his hand. I wanted the feet pic to match! But alas...

These are AFTER the benefit of photo editing in Adobe Photoshop!