Witch Familiar, a question.

[SirCalmar]

So we are currently in a campaign with primarily good aligned characters. We've subdued an evil witch (confirmed, baby eating type) and captured her and her familiar. In the process of debating what to do with them, and it raised a question.

If you separate a witch from her familiar, could the witch dismiss her familiar and gain a new one by the standard familiar rules (with spells as described under the witch familiar section), or, since their bond is through their patron and potentially deeper than an wizard's familiar bind (based on witch spells being in their familiar) would they be not be able to as long as their prior one is alive?

[Adjoint]

Advanced Player's Guide, p. 69 wrote:

If a familiar is lost or dies, it can be replaced 1 day later through a special ritual that costs 500 gp per witch level. The ritual takes 8 hours to complete. A new familiar begins knowing all of the 0-level spells plus two spells of every level the witch is able to cast. These are in addition to any bonus spells known by the familiar based on the witch’s level and her patron (see patron spells).

The previous familiar doesn't have to be dead to be replaced. The witch will be able to get a new one, and the new one will know a set of spells (which, I think, doesn't have to be the same set of spells that the previous familiar had).

[Kileanna]

It retains the spells you learned by leveling up, thaught by your Patron or gained by your favored class (i.e. Changeling Witch racial trait) but it loses all the spells learned by other means such of scrolls.

[SirCalmar]

Thank you. That was my assumption, but wanted clarification.