Two years?  I struggle to think of Smokey as an "old cat", though the
vets guess he was about two when we took him in.

Granted, his "kittenness" was totally gone, but he wasn't "old" by
indoor standards (though I've heard it said the estimated lifespan of a
feral cat is about 3 years on average.)

Using the two year guesstimate, Smokey turns 7 this summer.  That's a
"senior" cat age and yet he shows no changes in behaviour yet.

Someday I would like to adopt a senior cat, 10+, from the shelter and
give her/him a loving retirement.  I haven't done it yet because I want
us to be a bit more financially well-off in order to provide care for
an older cat who is more likely to need it than the young ones.  I also
don't want to squish another cat into a 2-bedroom apartment.

And yet I feel a sort of chill because when we adopted Nocturne, we
were aiming for a cat 6-12 months...older than "kitten" but still young
enough to spend many years with us.  We passed older cats by...and male
cats...  We didn't want a tom.

Smokey took that choice away from us, and I'm so glad he did.  For him
the choice was simple:  we take him in as he is, an adult male
ex-feral, or we let Animal Control euthanize him.  And he's been a
delight ever since.

--Fil