I worked in an animal hospital for about a year as a kennel attendant. Before working there, I was deathly afraid of cats. There was a black cat staying there permanently who was picked up as a stray by one of the clients. A technician suggested that I practice handling the black cat. He was a very sweet, verbal black kitty who always made a mess of his litter box. I always suspected he did it to get more attention from us as we passed by his kennel.

As time went on, I felt more troubled that he was staying month after month in a kennel, so I decided to adopt him and named him Asher.

Black cats are special because on the outside, they appear to be your run-of-the-mill domestic short hairs, but it's their personalities that make them unique. Asher loves playing hide and seek. He'll actually look for you and meow when he finds you, then he dashes off to hide while I count. He also throws a fit if he can't find you. Asher isn't the brightest cat, but that's what makes him so lovable and playful.
_{© blkcatanon, About.com Member}

Asher was a great role model for someone who was deathly afraid of cats, and I'm so happy he turned this one into a cat lover. You cat read more of Asher's story here. Like all the other Cats of the Week in October, 2010, Asher was selected from the "Why I Love Black Cats" submissions.