After having decided that I shall not give up Sona, not even temporarily, I had to find a buddy for him. I asked around at work, friends, and looked on-line. There is a local Swedish ads site that has ads for pets and I got lucky. I spotted an ad for kittens of suitable age and located so that I could pick one up myself, without asking for J to drive me.
I picked Juku up on Sunday. There were three male kittens in that litter, but one was long haired and my preference was short. Both short haired males were ginger (be still my heart!) and I got to choose. I chose the bigger one because I thought he'd be better match to Sona's size. They are exactly four weeks apart and while Juku will probably eventually be bigger than Sona, I thought that being of roughly equal size in the beginning would be good for them.
The family I got Juku from is really sweet. They sent one of his toys with him so that he'd have something familiar, and some food he's used to to blend in with the food I had for Sona. They toy is two discs of felt sewn together with a little stuffing, but it's brilliant — both Juku and Sona absolutely love it. I have plenty of wool scraps to make more.
Juku and Sona hit it off well immediately. Both are in a new territory (although Sona had a few hours on Juku) and quite young. They were playing together within half an hour of bringing Juku home.
Juku is an Estonian boy name and a name of one of my Mum's late cats. Juku is also a hero of several Estonian anecdotes, a smart little rascal. If my Juku will be anything like those two, I'll never have a dull moment in my life ever again.
Right now he is a sweet little lively thing and I adore him. He and Sona came to check on me during the night, spending some time sleeping next to my pillow. I didn't get enough sleep, but I did get enough kitty love.
All will be well.