Hi all, here is my first pics for suggestions so be gentle! My friend took a picture of her cats and asked me to change the background and spice it up a bit.

I thought I was on a good track, but looking at it again this morning made me wish I actually had some design skills... Volia, RetouchPro...

I've attched the before and after...any and all comments/suggestions are appreciated.

Royce

That's a good start.
Reducing the red-eye effect on the cream-coloured cat would be a good next move.
There's probably a tutorial on red-eye reduction that right here, within this amazing vault of knowledge.
If nothing else you could select then paint over the pupils with a dark to black small brush.
Hope this helps.

What you have done seems great work. For me the question is perhaps one of composition, I would be tempted to leave the chair in and expand the background, or attempt to change the chair for a complete one and then change the background.

Their setting is fairly natural looking in the original and the pose is indicitive of them being in a chair.

As I say though the actual work you have done looks great on the technical side of things:)