request for advice: older cats

[the_siobhan]

As of Monday Axel and I have adopted my sister's cat Ferghal. He is a lovely old man; sweet, affectionate and shy. Late last night he decided that we were safe enough to come out and ask for pets and he purred like a wee motor for us. He's still pretty skittish, but he's only been here a couple of days so I'm sure he'll get over that given time.

I don't know for sure how old he is, but I'm positive he's well into senior citizen territory. The one thing that worries me is that he is emptying his water dish on a daily basis and judging from the state of his litter box he's peeing a lot. Most cats I've known don't drink that much water, so I'm worried about diabetes or kidney issues.

He's also bony and eating like a horse, but that may be just because he wasn't getting enough food for the last few weeks. (He's a big husky dude with a pot belly and a fluffy coat, so he looks fat. But his spine and ribs are way too pronounced for my liking when you actually touch him.) His fecal output seems normal for the amount of food he's taking in, but boy howdy is he stinky. I bought the same brands that we found in her kitchen cupboard, but I may do some experimenting with his food to make him a little less fragrant.

So my mission today is to try and track down his previous vet. I'm going to take him to a local vet regardless, but if I can find somebody that has some history on him then the fewer blood tests etc that they'll have to do, and the better it will be for his stress levels.

So advice time please. Recommendations for taking care of an older cat. Things to ask the vet about. Warning signs to look out for. Hit me please.