I fully agree with everything Carrie said.

I personally think that there is not a too soon, deep in your heart you will know when you are ready. When my Titti died just over 4 years ago I was devastated, she was 18 and we had a very strong bond. I said that after her I never wanted another black female cat (I say female because also Gigio was black). 2 months after though, someone found Maya, she was only a couple of months, lived in a semi-feral colony and some of her siblings were killed by a dog. She was desperately needing a loving home so I took her in. It helped with the grieving and it helped Gigio too, even though he was never very close to Titti, they lived together for almost 14 years and after she went he started suffering from separation anxiety. Maya helped him through that. A year and a half later Prema entered my life, she was supposed to be my sister's 3rd cat but on look and we were both in love. And there was me saying that I never wanted another black female cat . They look similar and there are other similarities too but at the same time they are completely different.

I believe that when we lose a pet and we take another one in we don't replace it because that's never going to be possible, they all have their different personalities. After over 4 years I sometimes get tearful when I think of Titti and I will never forget her and I don't love her any less than then, but now I could not imagine my life without the others. There so many out there that need a loving home.