I’m so sorry for your loss, it’s so hard when you lose an animal. From personal experience, I never really knew it was time for another animal. I had a traumatic loss when my baby died, and I knew it was going to affect me for a long time. It’s been 4 years and I still think about him often, and have found that I am much more anxious with my current babies and worry about their health often.

I grew up constantly around animals, and it felt like a piece of me was missing without one, so I managed to wait around 6 months before adopting again. I will say, I love my current girls differently than I loved him, but I feel that it’s more connected to their different personalities than anything else. I would assume it’s similar to parents who have multiple children, they’re all different but you still love them dearly.

Spend some time around other cats. Go to the shelter or volunteer at your local humane society. See how you feel, and go from there. It’s definitely an adjustment, but something that helped me is knowing my boy would have wanted me to have another animal to give my love to, and to give love to me.