DS's beloved kitten got killed last night

[Madascheese]

About 2 1/2 weeks ago DP's very elderly cat died suddenly.

DS (4) coped fairly well with the news, he liked the cat but wasn't madly attached.

Last night his 11 month old kitten was hit by a car and killed right outside the house. I saw it but DS didn't (thankfully, it was pretty horrid to see)

I don't know how I'm going to tell DS and I'm not sure if getting another is the right thing to do - DS already says we ought to get another cat for DS.

I'm feeling pretty traumatised anyway and not sure if I can handle getting another either.

Any thoughts/suggestions?
Thanks

Poor ds. Poor cat.
Why not get a dog; they can be trained, and are, imo, much lovelier anyway.

Our 18mth old cat was killed in a similar way when DC were 5 and 3. Didn't witness it but DS (3) and I found him. Everyone very upset though they took it differently - DS very matter of fact, DD distraught and drew pictures of him surrounded by love hearts for weeks and weeks
We were very straight-forward about it and talked about him a lot - DD decided he was in heaven, DS that he was in the ground! We were all involved in burying him in the garden and planted bulbs over his grave.
What I did say a lot was that although he wasn't with us anymore he would always have a special place in our heart as we loved him, that seem to help DD.

We had a suitable mourning period of about 6mths and then got 2 new kittens.

Its a hard lesson in life for such a little one but they can amaze you. Hope today isn't too distressing for all of you.

Am so sorry Madascheese

thanks all of you.

My parents have a lovely dog to whom littlemad is firmly attached. Our house not really suitable as there isn't a space we could make 'just for the Dog if you know what I mean - it's all open plan. I love dogs but was bitten at around littlemad's age by my childhood pet, rather badly across my face so I'm just not able to trust littlemad totally around a dog.

I noticed I said DS wants to get another for DS - I meant DP. I suspect he'll want to do it quicker, so I think we'll probably end up re-homing an older cat if we do get another, then I can do the explaining thing about how sometimes we get to look after animals for a short time..

Am still sad, but he's not asked anything yet this morning. I think I'll wait til he mentions it.

So sorry for you all. I think you have to be honest with the dc. You don't need to get another straight away, have a mourning period to come to terms with the shock you have had as feetheart says, and consider an older cat then if dc would like.

It's awful to lose pets, but children who learn how to cope with it are pretty emotionally intelligent; they work through grief for their loss, accept it, and move on. It doesn't mean they forget about the cat, it just means they cope.