I'm so sorry for your loss! I agree, the grief from losing our furry family can be overwhelming. We had one tough year where we lost our sweet Sherlock (the cat our kids grew up with) to cancer. We adopted Cadence, a kitten from the humane society a couple months later, but when we had her declawed, she never recovered. It was too much stress on her little body - she developed FIP and we had to put her down (which is why I'll never have another cat declawed - and am hesitant to adopt from the humane society, again). Then, a few months later we had to say goodbye to sweet Watson (the sheltie our kids grew up with). It has been several years and I still miss him. We got another sheltie, but it was a disaster and we finally gave him to the sheltie rescue.

Now, the only pet in our house is my beautiful Autumn - a seal lynx point ragdoll I got as a kitten from a breeder in New York. Ragdolls are amazing cats - I can give her a bath without being scratched or bitten, she lets me clip her claws with fingernail clippers, and she even likes to play fetch.

JJ

Sorry for your loss. We lost a Boxer we raised from a puppy. He had to be put down. It was horrible. Like losing a close family member.

So sorry for your terrible loss! I hope the new babies find you soon! Having had only one cat and losing it in the past, I will always want to have more than one cat. It makes it much easier to have a baby to come home to. We have three cats. Sox is a Tux cat, Gracie (our baby girl) is a Bombay, and Choco is Balinese. I have never had a Siamese type cat but my mother always had some version of Siamese. A couple of weeks before we went to Colorado to spread moms ashes, Choco saw me at Petco and told me she wanted to come home with me. I consider her a gift from my mother. We had to leave her there for a few weeks because I did not want a new cat in the house with us being gone. It took Gracie months before she stopped being so pissy with her new sister. She likes being my only baby girl but has learned to share. When any more cats adopt us I would like them to be young kittens. I don't think we could get even an older kitten like Choco(about 17weeks) past Gracie again. Hope your family expands soon!

I love your pets' names. I am reminded of a couple we knew back in the early 70s, during the unfolding of Watergate. Their two cats were named Spiro Agnew and Mrs. Mitchell. It was a hoot. One of the fun thing about kittens is that you get to let them tell you their names. You have them for a while, and pretty soon you just know who they are...

Sorry about all your pet losses, It is a terrible wrench to have them go. But it's part of what you sign up for when you adopt them. What you say is wise, though. We would never declaw a cat, and we will always acquire new ones in pairs, and only from a kitty-less condition.. They do tend to think they own the place, and resent intruders.

Ha! Love the Watergate names for your cats! I always wait for the cats to tell me their names. It took me forever to find Big Foot's name but when I tried it out he looked at me and said, "what took you so long"! He was a BIG Maine Coon and had really big feet

Aw, I'm sorry for your loss!! :-( It's so hard when we lose our fur babies. We've been married 32 years and have had cats for all of them! Our first was Fuzzy, a Maine Coon who came to us as a fuzzy ball of kitten. Then we got Timmy, a pure white angora who was the ultimate lap kitty :-) Fuzzy developed kidney failure in 97 and passed. Pumpkin joined us in 98, an orange tabby (we weren't too creative when it came to names, haha) and when Timmy died in 2001 we got Jake, who is either a Russian Blue or a Korat (they are all from the shelter so who knows). Sweet Pumpkin passed three years ago and we found Shellie, a Tortoiseshell who is very fiesty but very sweet! So our current set is Jake, 14, and Shellie, 3. Oh my gosh I just can't imagine my house without cats and to be honest if my husband would allow it, I would have 20 cats :-) I hope you get a call from the shelter soon!

It is always interesting how one leaves and the next says "I hear you have a vacany "!

Right now, I'm "staff" for my 19 year old Frodo (medium/long haired cat, named for the books, not the movies!) and his pet Shih Tzu Amber, almost 5, adopted by the cat while fostering her 3 years ago.
Frodo's best buddy from kitten hood was Cricket, they shared a kennel at the Humane Society shelter my son and I volunteered at. She's gone several years now, from diabetes.
My best buddy ever was Taz, my lab/golden cross, lost to an auto-immune disease at 9.5 years old. I still miss him on a daily basis.
My first kitty was The Wild Thing, TWiT for short, she named herself, and she was joined by Calliope, Calli for short, 30 years ago. They both lived to 18 and 16 respectively.
Lifetimes of love and laughter. Heartbreak when we lose them, but as sad as it is to let them go, it's totally worth it.