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Hi Monica
Firstly, I want to offer my condolences for the loss of Minna, and I’m sorry to hear your vacation coincided with her passing.
From what you described and assuming she had a health check recently, Djinty is going through a grieving period. You might find this article I wrote last year, “How To Help Cats Deal with Grief”, https://cats.com/cat-grief, beneficial.
To answer your question regarding getting another kitty. Mourning of a bonded cat can persist for an extended period; it’s not a good idea to introduce a brand-new kitten or cat during the grieving process, since hostility to a new one may be extreme, and the bond is unlikely to be as strong as before.
Here’s an example of a current situation I am helping an existing client with: their resident cat is 13 years old and has lost his bonded brother one month ago. The owner took another cat, who is 5 years old. The resident cat hasn’t finished grieving, and the owner also went on a vacation for about one week. When they returned from holidays, the resident cat stopped eating, got sick and ended up in the hospital with gastrointestinal and kidney-related issues. The cat-cat introductions have been very slow, and they have yet to spend time together.
This does not mean that Djinty won’t accept another cat in a few months. You and your cat will need to be emotionally ready to accept another pet; integrating a new pet into the household can be challenging.
Once the family is ready to adopt, whether to get another kitten or an adult cat depends on the personality of Djinty, if she likes other cats and ensuring the age gap isn’t too big, since kittens do require a lot of tender, love and care, and senior cats might find them way too energetic. In your case, you may decide to adopt a bonded pair of kittens or an adult cat.
There’s a lot to think about, please take your time to make the right decision for your household and most importantly, Djinty.
I hope that helps
Sending love & healing
Melina