asthmatic, diabetic cat

My cat Kalvin has suffered from asthma now for 1 1/2 years. Was on a low dose steroids and inhaler. I recently had to take him to a specialist cause it wasn't getting any better but actually worse. They put him on 15 mg a day, he's 17 lbs. ..for a month. I just got a call yesterday that I had to bring him in right away. His glucose level was 337. They checked his urine for keotones and there was non so they said no insulin, just change the diet as of now and lower steroids to 7 mg. They said over the next week to really watch him and to check his urine with keotone strips. I have no idea how i can get to his urine, I have another cat and also a huge litter since he cannot be in enclosed area due to the asthma. I feel really sad today and cried to sleep last night. I need some hope. I just worry that with asthma on top of this now...just wondering if anyone has ant stories? also i am bringing him in this week every other day cause they said this is a crucial time to make sure he doesn't get keotones in his urine. 

If at all possible keep him on NO dry and all LOW CARB wet food.  I use friskies but there are many options.  The vet diets tend to be high carb.

You can use Tidy Cats  breeze pellets and give him his own litter box.  Fish gravel has been mentioned in the past too.I would try to limit need for asthma meds by going for a natural litter to limit that trigger.

I'm so sorry that your big boy is having these issues.  Did the Vet advise you on the best way to catch his urine on the Ketone strips?  If Kalvin isn't too skittish, maybe you can just listen for him to get in the litterbox and simply stick the strip under him while he's going.  Otherwise, you could try putting him in a room with clean EMPTY box and when he goes, put the strip in it to check it.  That's how we managed to collect some urine from our guy once (but we only needed to collect some for a sample to take in)

Hopefully lowering the steroids will help manage the diabetes, along with the diet change.  If not, diabetes CAN be managed with drugs, just like with people.

Is he overweight, or just a large cat?  What does he eat?  Carbs are not good for diabetic cats, so if they didn't tell you what to start feeding him, you should look for very low carb food.  We can help you with that, if you need it.

Also, someone recently posted this thread, which you might find helpful, since his Asthma isn't getting better.  I found it fascinating:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/284977/tap-water-asthma

Can you do allergy testing and shots? It will take up to 1 year to see results from the shots, but you may be able to go off the prednisolone.

Prednisolone is definitely a cause of diabetes. If you could keep the cat on the inhaler alone, that may help.

What cat litter are you using?  Some cats are allergic to clay cat litter.  Pine pellets are best. Avoid wheat or corn.  I'm not sure about the walnut litter.

The only problem with allergy shots is they have to be completely off of prednisolone for a month prior to testing. They also need to be off of it during treatment with shots, except for low doses during flareups (1-2 days only).

I don't know if you can keep the cat on the inhaler meds. Ask your vet about that, as the inhaler should be at a low enough dose that you may be able to keep her on them during allergy testing.