I have a good friend here on ECF who just put her cat down a couple weeks ago. Her cat was 22-1/2 years old. I called her Durakitty more than two years ago and that's what she called her cat henceforth. She was devastated. Within a few days, she happened upon a kitten that looked just like her Durakitty so she took it. I suspect you will get another kitten too once you can get past the grief. Heck, get two. They're more fun to watch and you will have done a great deed for two needy animals.
When we bought our first home in 1980, we got a pair of Siamese kittens (Kit and Caboodle!), they lived a long life of 16 years. We then waited a couple years too long and we got Bombay and Burmese kittens (Koh and Sakai). Sadly Koh was not a healthy cat and had to be put to rest at 10, but Sakai appeared to be doing so well, until just 6 weeks ago. I told Charlie at dinner I don't want to wait a couple years before we get kittens again. But we do need to grief some before either of us will be ready. But we will get a pair of cats because they do better with company.


