was intro now is health issues

[Dudes]

I sure hope you all don't get tired of my newbie questions. If anyone would rather email me to discuss off list, I would welcome it, at least point me in the right direction so I can read up on them to help educate myself.  I feel like there is much to know, and I am a sponge.  So (deep breathe) here I go....   My questions are about my little guy Cotton, the + orange kitten who's about 8 months old.    1.  I was telling Jen off list that he has some really awful smelling....litterbox deposits, which are much like diarrhea.  When we go to the NEW vet, we will check him for parasites, and anything else that might cause this, like a bacteria.  Jen clued me in to a few other things that might be causing this, and what might help.  I will definitely mention these things to the vet as well.  Right now we are just adding yogurt to his canned food, which seems to be helping.    2.  I'd love to talk to someone who has time to go into detail about a really good diet for Cotton, because I believe Cotton may have some deficiencies. But how does one determine that?  He seems to eat strange things, and he steals people food.  He could go trick-or-treating disguised as a Hoover vacuum cleaner, because he's that indiscriminate.  And he constantly begs for food.  He never seems to ever get enough.  I partly suspect it's because when my stepdaughter had him, she didn't feed him enough or consistently, and I'm wondering if it could just be bad manners which could otherwise be lovingly corrected.  But I don't want to miss anything.     3.  Cotton has dragon breath.  I don't remember any of my cats' mouths smelling the way his does, especially as kittens.  When mine were little, they almost had no mouth odor.  Young Mr. Cotton will open his mouth to say something, and what comes wafting out smells like old cat food, and his little gums look rather red around the teeth when he opens his mouth really big.  And his teeth seem really small, but maybe because HE is small.  Or maybe I'm used to looking at bigger teeth in bigger mouths.  I'm guessing that he must have some gingivitis going on, and probably as a result of his FeLV.  Not sure what to do about that.   4.  Bloodwork. I may have to deal with a few things at a time in order to get him feeling better, so want to determine what's most important things to get the most out of our vet visits.  I definitely know that he needs bloodwork, so while they are drawing, he probably needs a CBC to begin with, to determine if he's anemic or has infection, that sort of thing.  I have never seen a cat pant, but when he is tired (of jumping and playing), he does.  And it could just be me worrying about him, but sometimes it seems like he is laying down a little sooner while playing.     5. Anything else I could be missing that I should be watching for?    Sponge-Bob Sandy