I wish I knew what to tell you. About the only thing I can say is it does get better with time. The trauma of the loss subsides gradually and you're left with just fond memories and kind-of a dull ache. (To this day, we still instinctively avoid walking where Joey's food and water dishes used to sit.) In our case, we have no other pets. And at this point in our lives we likely never will. But we're grateful for the years we had our boy.