My 14 year old has started emptying her water bowl. When did you decide it was vet-worthy?

Trying to work out if I'm being paranoid or sensible. Willow is 14, always been a typical cat about water, i.e. barely touched the bowl and I mostly saw her drink from the dripping tap when she felt like being difficult.

The last month or so the bowl is EMPTY most mornings. I've started refilling it in the evenings too. She's also felt a bit bonier along her spine when I stroke her, though she's long-haired so it's hard to tell, and she's eating fine, possibly even keener than usual. Otherwise completely herself, still hogging the radiator, still bullying her sister off the good chair.

Everything I read says more thirst in an old cat can mean kidneys, thyroid, diabetes, or just nothing much. She seems WELL though, that's the thing. For those who've been through this, did you go straight in for bloods or wait and watch? I don't want to be the owner who drags a happy cat to the vet over a water bowl, but I also nursed our old boy through his last year and I remember how much I wished we'd caught things sooner.

"Eating fine, possibly even keener than usual" plus drinking more plus feeling bonier is almost word for word what I posted about Smudge's brother when he was 15. His bloods came back hyperthyroid. The eating-loads-while-losing-weight combination was the giveaway apparently. He did brilliantly on treatment for another three years, but our vet did say the earlier it's caught the easier everything is, heart included.

Not saying that's what Willow has. Just saying I'm glad I didn't wait for him to seem ill, because he never really did seem ill, that was the strange part.

We had this in autumn with our 16 year old. Bloods showed early kidney changes. She'd have shown nothing on the outside for ages, the vet said cats hide it until it's quite far along. Go, honestly. The peace of mind alone is worth the appointment fee.

Vet moderator note, since this exact question comes through clinic doors every week: increased thirst in an older cat is one of the changes we always want to hear about, precisely BECAUSE the cat usually still seems well. The common causes behind it (kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, diabetes) all announce themselves this way first, and all of them are far easier to manage when they're picked up before the cat looks sick. There's no way to tell them apart from the sofa; it takes bloods and a urine sample, which is a routine visit rather than a dramatic one.

Two things that genuinely help your vet: if you can, measure what goes into the bowls over 24 hours rather than guessing (multi-cat households make this harder, worth noting which cat you actually see drinking), and jot down her last known weight if you have one. The site's guide to kidney disease in cats explains what one of the likelier work-ups is looking for and what the results mean.

To be clear, none of this is a diagnosis of Willow, a forum post can't examine a cat. It's just the general case for making the appointment sooner rather than later, and for not feeling remotely silly about booking it "over a water bowl."

Denise M. said:

The peace of mind alone is worth the appointment fee.

Went last week, results back Friday. Early kidney changes, like your girl Denise. Vet was really positive about catching it at this stage, we're doing the recheck in three months and talking about diet in the meantime, and she weighed 400g less than last year so I'm glad we didn't sit on it.

Slightly heartbroken anyway, she's my shadow. But a treatable answer beats six more months of wondering. Thank you all for the nudge.