Re: 11/8 Crushy amps 375 +2 325
appetite and purring are good things. :smile:
Jill mentioned yesterday that we were looking at your spreadsheet. Some cats like to make us all work a little harder, but I think we can get him figured out. The * for meals really helps, thank you.
To me, Crushy looks to be in one of those spots where he needs more insulin to pull the numbers down, but if you give more insulin it can pull him too low. Then you have to decrease the dose and he's back to bouncing. The good thing is that usually this is fixable by playing around with the timing of meals. You have already started that process with your own food experiments, so I think you understand the concept. Are you open to some tweaking?
My very first thought is that the +9 feeding is probably making his PS numbers higher. That is a time in the cycle when the insulin is starting to wear off, and adding food when the insulin isn't working very well can cause a big increase for some cats. When you were feeding at +1, +2, +3, he was still dropping a good bit, but there was a lot less red at PS. I think you were on the right track when you were feeding all of his food earlier in the cycle, and less or none after nadir.
Then you have those fast drops early in the cycle, sometimes but not all the time. That is what we need to figure out how to control, so he will stop forcing you to give dose reductions when he doesn't really need them. ;-)
I'm thinking of something like this:
PS (test, feed LC)
+1 (feed LC)
+2 (test, if much lower than PS feed MC, if roughly the same or higher than PS feed LC)
+3 (same as +2)
He is pretty good about showing you by +2 whether it will be a drama cycle or not. If the +2 says "cowabunga!" then go ahead and feed some higher carbs to try to stay ahead of him. You'll have to experiment to figure out how big of a drop is too big and also what % of carbs works best in that situation.
Just so you know - if we are successful with getting him to slow down the fast drops, the result will likely be that he will need a dose increase. That's ok. It's all a means to an end.
The other thing I'm thinking is that you are working very, very hard at this. Your dedication is wonderful, but it is perfectly fine to give yourself a testing break when the numbers are high. I don't see any times recently when Crushy was pink at +2 and still went too low during the cycle. I think that for now, it's safe to say if he is pink at +2, step away from the meter! +10 or +11 wouldn't hurt in those cycles if you're around and awake just so you'll know where the PS number is coming from, but that's it. If he's yellow at +2, you can judge by the speed of the drop whether you need to pay attention or if he is planning to stay flat.
Obviously this is all just a starting point, but what are your thoughts? I can tell that you have put a lot of thought into his cycles, his food, everything. I've only been studying his spreadsheet for one day, and you know every detail, so these ideas are just meant to get you thinking.
Hope he keeps sliding for you Michele 
