Why does the narrator come to hate his cats so much? Support you answer with evidence from the text.

The narrator's hatred for his black cat comes about over a period of time.  At first, the cat was the narrator's "favorite pet and playmate" for several years, but that began to change one night when the narrator came home intoxicated and believed that the cat was avoiding him; angry that his beloved pet would shun his company, the narrator picks the cat up roughly.  Because the animal is frightened, it either bites or scratches him lightly, which infuriates its owner, who cuts its eye out in a rage. 

By the morning after the narrator's attack on his pet, he is horrified by his actions and sorry for them.  He attempts to forget the incident by continuing to drink to excess.  Although the cat heals, it has now become terrified of its owner and flees "in extreme terror at {his} approach," which at first saddens, then angers the narrator.  When the man gives in to his feel sense of having been betrayed by a creature he loved, as well as an overwhelming sense of resentment, he hangs it from a tree limb.