Had to put my 7 year old cat to sleep a couple of days ago and its hit me hard.

Now thinking of adopting a 1 year old cat from a shelter. However is this too soon, should I wait a while?

So anyone here been in this position? What did you do and how is it going with your new cat/dog/pet

We’ve done this. It isn’t a big deal. Not sure what you mean by ‘how is it going’. It went fine, it was another cat, different to the one that died. How would you expect it to be?

It’s possible you’re over thinking this.

Sorry to hear you had to get your pet put down btw, it’s hard but you’ll get over it pretty quickly.

We waited a few weeks before we adopted a new cat – 2ish yo rescue cat. Not regretted it at all.

I think only you can decide if it’s too son.

Probably am overthinking it, but just worried I may not “bond” with it if I got another too soon, again probably thinking too much about it

Sorry to hear about your puddy tat. Sad news 😥

Get yourself another one, sharpish.

Every day should be lived with a furry, mercenary little bastard treating your house like he owns it, while viewing you with thinly veiled contempt. And rescue cats are great. We got ours at about one, after one of ours went missing. He was found feral. But he’s the softest bloody thing. Heres he is. The little sod, making himself at home…

ps.. sorry about you losing your other cat – having to put a young cat to sleep is difficult – our previous cat was a similar age when we had to do the same.

Don’t expect it to just replace your old cat, we rescued a kitten and frankly he is a complete loon. If your old cat was loving and dosile your new cat might not be.
Doesn’t mean you won’t love your new one though.

Don’t see why you wouldn’t bond with it but if you’re that way inclined might be better to wait.

Last thing you want to do is get a new cat then be thinking ‘You’re not my old cat, I hate you’. Although that’s. highly unlikely to happen as it’s a cat

And here’s a funny cat story.

We have 3 cats, two old girls and a young male thug, he’s the boss round our house, bullies his (adopted) sisters and he’s an absolute hoot to have around, always up to something daft. The girls are both pretty docile.

I feed the cats in the morning and as they’re all out I put the their food outside on the porch of the hut. The birds have taken to stealing the cat food and are feeding their young at the moment.

So today the pecking order in the garden went like this.

Ralf, young thug, sits at the dish until he’s satiated. Usually the girls sit and wait till he’s finished then move in. However after Ralf strolled off this morning the birds moved in before the old girls. Two cats sitting 2 metres from their dish now waiting for the birds to have their fill, and feed their young, before getting whatever scraps are left.

It really was a new low for them.

I really must film it tomorrow.

I have sort of answered my own question anyway as I will be away on holiday most of August so doesnt really make much sense to adopt until I get back. Think a selfish part of me wanted one straight away so It would make me feel better. Will speak to the shelter on options of “reserving” a cat.

We had ours put down on NY Eve two years ago and we finally got a rescue cat in Feb this year. Too long, but she’s settled right in.

This is her when she last looked at a Hora thread.

Lost my long time companion Prawn, Feb last year, I was gutted. Got given a surprise (rescued) farm kitten in the following July, had her a year this week, again as per Pik n Mix, she’s is a complete loon & seemingly semi feral even though she been basically hand reared.
I did need that 4 month gap TBH, though we had two other cats and a dog at the time, so we weren’t on our own

Looney cat

And his best mate DC, just chilling

the pointing on that brickwork is bloody awful

When we lost one of our cats at 23, we found my other cat changed in the short time she had gone. He became reclusive and always looking for her. We got a rescue cat and she is an odd thing. Very scared of everything. When at 17, the boy cat passed, we got another rescue cat, who was 1. Very laid back, but a jeckyl and hyde lurks within. All great animals in their own ways. They never replaced the cats we lost, we just took on other animals with completely different characters. I could never forget any of my cats as they were all fantastic in their own ways. We only had breaks of a few weeks between loosing them and sorting a rescue animal.

the pointing on that brickwork is bloody awful

😆

If anyone is interested OH has a young (~1 year old) pregnant cat in her surgery that needs re-homing. We are down near Bristol.

Sorry for your loss mate.
We lost our mister at Easter and I asked the same thing. It hit us very hard and although things are a bit easier we still can’t think about getting another cat yet.
Maybe in the Autumn we have a think about it.
Some say get one sooner rather then later but we felt that we needed to grieve first. Each to their own.
Good luck.

When you’re back from holidays take a few visits to the rescue homes and see which cat you are drawn to.

You don’t have to take the first available cat you see in the home. 🙂

Agree with Annebr. You don’t choose cats. They choose you. If you go to a rescue place, theres guaranteed to be one there who’s been sat patiently waiting for you, and specifically YOU, to turn up. They will then look at you, asking you what took you so long, demand feeding, then fall asleep somewhere inconvenient

the pointing on that brickwork is bloody awful

Haha it’s bad isn’t it. The wife did it (it’s her house) thankfully we move in a few weeks.

Get a cat as soon as you can, life without a moggy is rubbish.

You don’t choose cats. They choose you.

+1

My ex girlfriend went to get a cat, we came out with two as I wasn’t prepared to leave without the one that was pretty much stuck to me.

Yep, save the poor moggy from rescue cage prison. Ours was 4 when we had her & she’d been rehomed twice & taken back there before we had her. She pretends to hate us and sits there plotting our demise but we know she loves lets us feed her us really

@binners said +1

had to do this twice in my life, not happy experience, once it was just days after finding ours run over we got 2 moggies from the rescue shelter, never looked back it was fine,
the next time we waiting about 6 months, again all fine.

thing is, you do compare new to old, always happens, but cats are so individual you soon get past that and enjoy the fact that hey – YOU GOT CATS! (sorry – THEY GOT YOU!)

I’ve taken a bit of a different approach – I always went to the shelter and got another cat the next day! Having the new one to focus on helps take my mind off of the one that I just lost.

This may not be the right approach for everyone, though.

Rescue centres are over-run at the moment. Go save a cat and give it a loving home 🙂

However is this too soon, should I wait a while?

I haven’t read the other replies but not at all in my opinion. The sooner the better. But obviously everyone is different.

IMO getting another cat quickly, specially if it’s a homeless cat from a rescue centre as you suggest, has two advantages, firstly the new cat, and all the issues connected to having a new cat, especially if it’s a kitten, will provide a huge distraction for you from that emptiness which the death of a dearly loved pet always leaves.

Secondly the fact that this will give you the opportunity to offer a home to a cat which otherwise wouldn’t have one will provide you with some solace, ie, something “good” will come from your sad loss.

So yes, the sooner the better imo.

Pregnant 1 year old tabby needs rehoming quickly…email in profile

I keep trying to get the wife to let me get another dog. That way when ruby dies we’ll have something to keep going with. It’s a very pragmatic approach to dealing with animal deaths.

Although when Ruby goes it’ll be like losing a child.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/a9ZMJy]Pooey Dog[/url] by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

I love that dog even when she’s covered in dead animal and poo.

Sorry for your loss.