How long did you wait before getting a new cat after loss?

[Motherofvoid]

I have posted previously about losing my boy back in April. I still cry for him every single day. He was my soul cat.

I do also have another cat, she is a grumpy old lady but she adored her brother. She is 14 but very healthy, but has become very depressed since losing her brother. We have feliway plugins, she has lots of love and attention and is a very loved and spoiled lady. She definitely prefers my partner and I'm the spare human.

We have arranged to collect a kitten tomorrow from a rescue..a little void boy but I am feeling so conflicted.

Would be very grateful to hear some experiences from others in similar circumstances.

Some rescues have a sort of permanent fostering type arrangement where a cat who would be hard to rehome due to illnesses and/or age can be fostered out but the rescue still pays for all the vet treatments and extra costs from the condition they have. Maybe you could look around & see if any of your local rescues do that?

Oh @Allergictoironing that sounds a wonderful idea if I could find one, if not I will just have to trust to my luck and adopt a sedate senior cat - as long as it's a short-haired one I don't care if it's a boy or girl or what colour it is.

If you live in the South East, Rolvenden Cat Rescue in Kent do long term fostering...

Unfortunately I don't, despite my username.

I would have rescued another cat the next day if DH would've let me. Grief treats us all differently and he needed more time. I guess I was looking to fill the gap asap.

We got our boy about a month after losing my special girl

I agree that it was probably too soon in the sense of the fact that I was still deeply grieving my girl, but it was also perfect timing in that he healed me.

He brought back a light that my life had lost and I am forever glad that we choose him ❤️

I totally agree. When I was still married to my exh our Bengal died. He had cancer and had to be pts. We were both devastated, he was such a character. At first during the shock and grief we said "we're not going through that again". But as others have said, it's awful coming home to an empty house. Therefore, a week later we found ourselves at a Cat Protection shelter where we picked a white cat who looked nothing like our Bengal. It was lovely having a cat in the house again! Then a few months later a local Bengal breeder offered us a Queen who had had her final litter. She was spayed and when recovered, we took her too. So more Bengal yowls! When the marriage ended I took both cats with me and I enjoy my life with them.

I also disagree with that poster about getting over pet loss quite quickly - it isn’t my experience at all. But I think you can 100% love another animal in another way. I remember a few weeks after we brought Louie home crying because he was “the wrong cat” and I just missed our girl so much. Now Louie is absolutely the right cat, my best boy, he’s just a different cat - he’s a little idiot and a total pest, but I love him so much! It’s so sad our girl had to go for him to come (she hated all other cats so we couldn’t have had two) but he needed a home and someone to love him, and we needed a cat to love.

I’m glad we got a boy cat and one who looks/is so different though, despite always having my eye caught when I see white cats on rescue pages.

Photos are needed.

Did anyone have a cat hit on the road and then pts and decided to get another? Far far too early days but I wonder if one of the reasons I am so so sad is because I think I shouldn’t have another (due to the road). Cat was my baby (arrived half way through my family) and I am totally pole axed but finding having no animal at all possibly worse than the losing of him

@Motherofvoid
My boy died at the beginning of August last year. I got 2 rescue cats at the end of October, a 4 year old and her 4 month old kitten
Boy cat is shaping up to be a bit of a character, mum cat is very aloof, its taken a long time to build trust with her.
Still miss the old boy though. His ashes are buried in my garden and I still talk to him

I always make sure we have minimum 2 cats so it won't be a catless house.

After the loss of a cat, I'd say I am actively looking for another cat by the following day and the new cat arrives as soon as possible.

Doesn't mean DH and I aren't devastated and new cat is always their own personality, not a replacement. We still talk about our old cats often but I need a new one in as fast as possible or it's unbearable.

It is unbearable but I suppose I am worried about another cat getting hit so I wonder whether people don’t tend to if they have lost a cat in their prime to a car. I know other people’s opinions don’t really matter in this situation but somehow it is comforting to know others are going through the same thing.

I seemed to get turned down by the adoption agencies after my lovely (adopted) cat died after 10 years with me. Apparently cats couldn’t live in a ground floor London flat with a side garden.
So that stalled me for quite some time. five years, in fact.

Then the cat distribution system finally cranked into gear. He’s a gangly tabby boy, ex-stray, athletic and long-bodied. My soul cat was female and black and perfectly beautiful (if a bit pudgy).
It helps that they are so different. But I was more than ready to love another cat. He doesn’t replace her.

I grieved for months after losing both cats together in less than a week (totally unconnected) 3-4 months later I went on holiday and one of the hotel cats had some quite young kittens - I fell instantly for them and knew it was time
As soon as I got home I started looking and a few weeks later I found Finlay who is now 3, I can’t tell you how much I adore him and completed healed me
In the past we have never been a one cat household - mostly 2-3 but most was 6, Finn has changed all that - I’d hate to risk upsetting him by introducing another cat

Finlay as a kitten

10 years… still waiting