This is from the cat-quote site that Marina posted about the other
day. I thought it was apropos here:

 Another cat? Perhaps. For love there is also a season; its seeds
 must be resown. But a family cat is not replaceable like a worn-out
 coat or a set of tires. Each new kitten becomes its own cat, and none
 is repeated. I am four cats old, measuring out my life in friends
 that have succeeded but not replaced one another.
                                                    -- Irving Townsend

Joyce