In my experience, elderly females rarely enjoy the company of other cats unless they've been raised in a multicat household. If you really want to bring in another feline for yourself, however, I would recommend either a young female kitten, or an older, very mellow, neutered male with a history of living peacefully with cranky females. I would NOT recommend a male kitten, as they tend to be obnoxiously active and demanding of play. If you want a male kitten, then adopt two so that they can wear each other out and hopefully leave the older female alone. If you adopt an adult, your husband's old girl may be more accepting of a mellow, neutered male than she would be of another adult female.

Of course, these aren't hard and set rules. Individual personalities always override any generalizations about age and gender matches.

Laurie

If you decide to go forward with adopting, I'd make the recommendation to foster a cat and test the waters first. Personalities very but you may end up with an unhappy old lady for the rest of her days. There are a lot of rescue groups (at least around here) that need placements until a cat can find its forever home. If you are open to an adult cat, by all means try that first. Once grown, the kittens are just that much harder to place. I think fostering is a great approach for anyone considering a pet. And if it doesn't work out, it alleviates the guilt because you've at least you've helped the animal waiting for a permanent spot.