Hey BigE,
I am sorry to hear about your loss and I know how deeply it hurts.
One thing I can tell you, while no one could ever replace moose another pet will help you both.
My 7 year old Cocker Spaniel Bessy died from sudden heart failure 10/11/12 and I was lost without her. I don't live alone but when my grandson is at school and everyone else is working I am alone. I did not want another pet but my wife persisted. Even though she did not want another pet she knew it would benefit me. After much prodding from my family I finally relented and found a beagle listed on the ASPCA web site and I thought he needed me more then I needed him so I set about going through all the paper work.
In the mean time my son found a puppy at a breeder and only by coincidence she was a beagle as well. Before my application was approved and I could pick up Tucker he told me about the puppy and I got her for my grandson who was also heartbroken over Bessy. I drove to western Maryland and picked up the puppy with my wife and grandson. On the 1.5 hour ride home my grandson and the puppy bonded and he came up with her name, Sophie. The next day the paper work was approved for Tucker and now I have 2 friends. Nobody can replace my Bessy, but sharing our home with the beagles has really helped me recover. It took some time but I have bonded with my crazy loud mouth beagles and I love them and could not imagine life without them.
If I were you I would consider a rescue pet, there are many who need homes and before you know it you will bond with your new friend too.
Here are my babies in the raggedy old chair with their Redskins blanket. I could never part with that chair. My Dalmatian Mickey slept in that chair, he passed on 12/17/2002, My Bessy slept in that chair and now my beagles sleep in that chair. Everybody hates that chair, but my basement in my domain, my train room, my cave and nobody is getting ride of that chair! if they don't like my chair or my non-filter camels (I have an air purifier 3 times bigger then necessary) they can leave my cave! I disinfect the chair regularly, but the stains will never come out no matter what I have tried!
