To ask for advice on my new cat please

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I recently took in an elderly cat that another family wanted to rehome. He is thin and bony and apparently wasn't eating because of the stress, and he seems absolutely ravenous.

When I give him food it's like he has never eaten before, and he will eat endless amounts. I'm really pleased he's eating as he needs to gain weight, he's frail.

Unfortunately he keeps trying to eat my other cat's food too, so I'm not sure how to do it other than feeding him in a separate room and shutting him in until my other cat has eaten.

I also made the mistake of eating a chicken sandwich and then stroking him, and he bit my finger and drew blood as he could taste the meat.
He tries to get food out of the bins too so I've had to put a weight on top.

I introduced him and my existing cat slowly, they haven't fought luckily, they co exist but she will hiss if he gets too close. However he seems to respect her boundaries and backs off.

I'm not sure how to manage this, it's too early to tell but he seems to have put a bit of weight on which is good. I use a feliway diffuser and my current cat goes outdoors but I haven't let the new one out yet, I am planning to soon though.

Not sure what to do about the eating thing. I thought it might be stress but he's been settled otherwise. Any cat experts who could advise?

Have you seen a vet? You should, soon. This cat sounds like he's been starved and you need proper medical advice from a vet.

I have got an appointment coming up luckily.
I'm not sure what happened in the previous household for it to get to this stage. It was a noisy home with 2 big dogs and toddlers so maybe it was just the stress?

Has he been wormed recently? Worth a trip to the vet for a general check up

Has he seen a vet? I wonder if it might be worth having his thyroid checked.

I will definitely ask the vet. My other cat has a great appetite and will clear the plate, but the new cat is another level.
I just can't understand how he's ended up that thin in the first place in the previous home.

It could have a thyroid problem. That causes cats to be hungry but lose weight. How old is he?

Thanks, I will get him checked ASAP. He's 12.

My older cat had thyroid problems. She was tiny and bony but ate all the time and was always bothering me for food. She would eat anything offered from our own plates while we were eating too.

There's a chance the dogs he lived with stole his food so he either had to wolf it all down in order to eat or he had to steal from the bins or plates because there was nothing for him.

I'd try him on high quality food, little and very often so he's not overeating and potentially might vomit. And see a vet for a checkup.

Thanks for the advice, vet is on Tuesday so hopefully will be able to help.

Hi, RVN here.
I'd almost put money on the cat being hyperthyroid. A full blood panel and T4 with TSH should give you the answer. It'd treatable with daily meds but can work out expensive.
Do you have insurance?
If not it can work out cheaper to source the meds from an online pharmacy with a vets prescription.
My own cat was hyperthyroid and even as an RVN with a staff discount it was cheaper by at least 50% to source my own meds elsewhere.

Test for diabetes too, does he have a funny smell about him?

The lady who gave him to me told me he had 'zero health issues'. Being generous, maybe she wasn't to know.

Poor cat. Uncontrolled hyperthyroid can make them crazy.

A thyroid issue is the first thing that came to my mind as well due to what you said about his age, weight and huge appetite. Hope you get answers at the vets

Hope you received care for your finger. Cat bites often require antibiotics.

Also not sure if this is related but he will follow me round everywhere and run circles around my feet. That might be with him being new and unsettled though?

He could have issues if he's struggled his whole life to get enough to eat. My rescue cat (8 years old, had her since she was 18 months old) is like this and we've never 100% got her to a place where she will regulate her intake well, left with enough food she eats to a point of getting overweight, every time. No thyroid issues or diabetes. We feed her carefully controlled portions of good quality wet and dry food and feed our two cats separately so that one doesn't steal from the other.

I'm a bit annoyed at the previous owner for allowing it to get to this point? Maybe my anger is misplaced though, but I'm not sure how she could not have taken a cat that thin and frail to the vet already?

Fingers crossed that the vet visit goes well. You might want to consider buying a microchip cat feeder for your other cat so the new one isn’t able to eat her food. They are expensive but are useful in situations where you need to control access to food for whatever reason, be it medical or greed.

This.

Bloods are your first port of call.
Could be any number of things.
Any excessive thirst/urination?
Excessive yowling/vocalisation?
Confusion?

He is 12 and I can see a slight frailty in him when he jumps. If I'm making food in the kitchen he'll continuously try to jump at the work surfaces.

The first 2 days here he had several bowel movements a day but I thought that could be the stress of a new home.
Doesn't seem to have excessive thirst or urination luckily.

I haven’t read the thread and this has probably been suggested, but definitely get him wormed. Your vet can advise on a suitable wormer for an older cat.