Logging in to offer you my deepest sympathies, Pilmat, and it struck me as somewhat odd that I was stopping my rush to work to post this - and then I realised I have the word 'cat' as part of my password.. . .
Sorry that you lost a friend of so many years, and probably a thousand special memories of fun - someone in the 'Cat' thread mentioned that the closer a cat gets to humans, the sillier humans get; and that is so true.
Cats humble us - we have no control over them as we do dogs that would slavishly follow our every command. Cats seem to have the life that most humans would love: eat, nap, play.. . .
As Lissa said - getting another one would help to heal the pain of missing them - and yes, would have been a good idea to have got a kitten some time ago, when your former cats were showing signs of age.
However - not too late. And if you are feeling that you are betraying your former friends by getting a new one - maybe think of it this way - that the Cat Spirit is one spirit divided among many cats, the same spirit, and you will be just getting a new piece of the same cat again.
Kind regards,
Harry.
