Awww Scoville, I can SO relate to that. My animals haven't decided just yet where their pal Homer is, they keep looking for him and are quite mopey.
I found howling to be a great release...at least for a little while. Last year, I had a major loss and one day while I was sitting in my chair, one of the outside dogs started to howl. I decided I was gonna give it a try...threw my head back and let 'er rip. In about 3 second's time, my cocker spaniel, Amos, was on my lap and howling with me...then came Abu and Homer joining in. With all four of us making those kinds of sounds that were coming straight from the center of my being, I really did feel better. I'm hoping it helped your kitty too.