I am so so sorry for your loss. I too lost a male cat very young only a few years ago (he was hit by a car) and I still well up when I think about him
Some of the things that helped me were
- we bought a frame and chose a really nice photo of him and had it framed so we can always remember him
- when we moved house , we planted a tree in the garden to honour him
- I cuddled my other cat a lot , I think he could sense I was feeling sad and he was also very confused and grieving his brother
- he was hit by a car and was killed instantly so we took a lot of comfort in the fact that he wouldn’t have known anything about it and died fairly painlessly and quickly
- time .. one of my favourite lyrics is from a Taylor swift song and it is “time can heal most anything” and it is so true .. the first day was awful , the first month was hard but after that it got better and things got easier
- don’t be afraid to cry and talk to people about it , I thought people would mock me for being so upset about losing my cat because “its only a cat” but most people have pets and are very compassionate and understand a pet is part of the family too .. I talked to my mum a lot about it as she’s a big animal lover and it was really helpful ..
- when you can , start to discuss happy memories of the cat ! My husband and I always laugh about our old cat and how he used to love to eat green beans , so every time we have green beans we talk about him and smile
if you need to talk , please do message me ! I know what it’s like to lose a cat suddenly