Our heartfelt condolences to you and Mrs. Vash.
Had our previous cat of 15 years put down; wife was heartbroken. Said she'd eventually might want another cat, but wanted to wait 6-8 months. Two weeks later we came home with a pair of kittens, Russian Blue mixed:
They pretty much named themselves: Fat Boy (small body with a really big head) and Squeaky (first month or so he tried to meow it came out more like "eek").
We just celebrated their 10th birthday, both fat and happy:
I'm sure I'll be a basket case when it's time to say goodbye. Hope you're able to find another playmate for your cat, and that Mrs. Vash unloads a metric crap-ton of whoop-azz on that vet.