I have a 14-year-old female cat who is a bit of a diva. When our other cat (who had always hated her) died, we adopted a young male. We did the introductions right (keep the new one closed up, then introduce with door open a crack) and how they are very bonded together. The young male just LOVES my old girl, grooms her all the time and she just loves the grooming.

I have had a lot of losses this year -- my mother, our cat, and then my husband died in October.

I am emotionally not prepared to have another loss, but my 14-year-old is already taking transdermal methimazole for hyperthyroid and prednisolone for IBD, and now she is just getting over a feline herpes virus-caused upper respiratory infection and is impossible to medicate. She struggles mightily no matter how tightly I try to wrap her, and there is no one here to help me. She won't take an oral syringe. She eats the pill pocket and spits out the pill. She won't take anything dissolved in cream. The only thing she is OK with is the transdermal gel and not everything can be compounded into this formulation. With the herpes, these URIs are likely to come back; she has always had kind of a sensitive constitution.

My little guy kittie (Eli), who is 2, came into a home with a sick and anxious man, who then disappeared (as far as he's concerned). He is just starting to get over some anxiety about these changes. I fear that with my old girl so hard to medicate, I will not be able to treat her for URI if it comes back.

So would I be better off bringing in another cat now so Eli won't be completely bereft when it's time to say goodbye to his big sister? If so, I'm thinking a young female, but I hate having 2 so close in age, because then you lose them in rapid succession. Or would that stress out my old girl too much?