The story of my mogs is a long one. I've had a cat virtually all my life. When I moved to England, I was sans fur for about 6 months. My then boss asked me to have his 2 over Xmas as he was moving house. So Dotty & Murphy came to say. When they went back home 6 weeks later I cried my eyes out. So 4 weeks later Lilli came home and Dante came too. Dante was 13 and had recently had thyroid surgery. When he passed a year and a half later, Lilli & I were a bit lost. That was when Marmalade came to stay. Her hoomins were moving and couldn't bring her with them. Then D'arcy came. His hoomin was an addict who had lost her kids and her home and this poor sod was left wandering. And so we were for about 3 years. Shortly after moving to where I am now, D'arcy passed at age 6 from HCM. I swore no more tabby boys having lost Dante & D'arcy, but then I was asked about Teddy. He had been knocked down and left at the vets by his hoomins. So after he was off cage arrest, he moved in. That was 8 years ago. So that was us, me Lilli, Marli & Ted. And then I got a call. "Help, my housemate has brought home this gorgeous little kitten but she's had an asthma attack and is allergic". So, along came a little girl called Smudge, who within days had been diagnosed male and called Cooper. He fit right in. Tortured the ladies and went on tour with Teddy. We had a great 2 years. And then Cooper vanished. He was an affectionate lad that loved everyone. He was also a nosy sod that clambered into cars and vans that got left open. He had even broken into the next door neighbour's house once. After 2 months of postering and leafletting and so on, he was still AWOL. Then a little ginga ninja appeared on catchat. She was allegedly a stray that had wandered into this family. They were now moving to Dubai and needed a home for this baby. She was very quiet, a bit anti social and only liked men. And so Catty became Crystal and moved in. She is the exact opposite of everything I was told. She loves to be loved, she's so chatty and affectionate and discriminates against no one. If there's a lap, there's a Crystal. And 4 years later, that's where we remain. Lilli & Marli are now 16, Ted is 9 and is a problem pee monster. And Crystal is my baby.
I don't ever think it's too soon to adopt another baby if you can. My view is that if I adopt or rescue one, then there's space for another to be helped. No cat replaces another, but they definitely go a long way towards picking up the pieces of a broken hoomin heart. For both parties, that can never be wrong.