Try to teach him, get a bowl of water and try to drink using your tongue to show him, it may get him to try it.

Yea, I tried showing him the bowl, dipping my finger in the water and rubbing it on his mouth... I will try the example thing if he doesn't seem to figure it out. >.<

You don't have to drink out of the same bowl of course lol but yea, and if that doesn't work, try a dropper or something alike to put water into his mouth. I grew up with animals, been an at-home vet for cats, sometimes it takes a while for them to learn, but they get there eventually. Hope things work out! <3

it could be stress but it's kinda self explanatory for cats to drink from the dish but since he was still drinking his mom's milk you might need a lil kitten baby bottle to help him till he's abit older

when your cat is thirsty enough he will drink, dont worry. Animals are not as some think ^.^ also the panting could be from stress or it could be just smelling new things. Give it a day or two to get used to the new home and smells.

Yea, I'm thinking it's stress. Our room mate has two cats and though we are keeping them separated for the first week, I'm sure he can smell them, plus it has been a big day for him! Let's see: First time outdoors, away from mommy & in a car! All in all, he's actually adjusting pretty fast!

As I learned when I got my two sweet kitten a year ago (they were only 3 months old), cats don't drink often. The get most of their water with their food and only drink if they really need to. Still, i'm unsure about what you told us. I may choose to keep an eye on him and give him food with a lot of sauce. We bought some food for young cats at that age, but it wasn't easy to find..

check his hydration by a skin pinch, grab a scruff of skin and it should snap back quickly like firm rubber, if it stays a mound of wrinkles he's dehydrated, you can also check by capillary refill time, press a finger on his gums and and it should turn back to pink within a second. if he's dehydrated get him to a vet.
check respiration, relaxed rate is 30-50 per min and the exhale should be about 3x longer than inhales.
heart rate should be between 120-200
temp should be between 100.5 and 102.5 ( I use a thermo you put in the ear)
pallor should be pink though with some colorings it might be hard to find someplace pink...
if the eye whites or ears look jaundiced (yellow tinge) that's a bad sign and see a vet.

so if any of those are out side norm, go to the vet right away.

and check if he's urinating normally, if it's unusually low, or if he appears to strain, get to a vet, could have a UTI.

hope this helps some, and that's he's just fine.

He just came home today. I checked the gums and skin tests and everything seems fine. His eyes and ears seem to have healthy coloration as well.

He hasn't used the litterbox yet, but I'm thinking that is more or less an adjustment thing since he also seems to be ignoring food (the lady I got him from said he was eating both canned and dry food.

He's still breathing fast, should that be a concern? Or should it just be stress?

if it's about 100 breaths pm I'd be concerned. otherwise could be just stress. give him loves, but don't smother him, all the new smells and things can send em for a loop till they can figure out their place in the world again. if you have some fancy feast (grilled flakes) will usually make any cats mouth water

Maybe he has some aversion to drinking from bowls. I rescued an abused silver striped tabby and she had no issue drinking from a bowl. When my sister took her, she still did. However my sister moved into a no pets apartment with my dad to save up for her wedding and Krystal came to live with me again. She won't touch a bowl other animals have, instead drinks from the bathroom sink.

Another thing I've heard is that cats tend to prefer to drink from running water versus standing water. I don't have a cat so I'm not sure how true that is.

Mine has drank anything either.. or pooped : (
She's been happily scarfing down the wet food we've given her but that's it.