Aw Lisa! First off, you have to give yourself a break. I know how easy it is to get down and upset during this sugar dance. It happens to ALL of us as we love our kitties so much and want them to always be happy and well. My sugar kitty has been gone for a long time now, but two of my others have a chronic illness that flares up from time to time, so I know how tough it can be. To an extent, you just gotta go with the flow and do your best, which is exactly what you are doing. You're a GREAT mama bean to Little and she's a lucky little girl to have you in her life. I'm 100% sure she doesn't hate you. She might be feeling a little icky right now but that will improve.
I thinking feeding her when you did was exactly the right choice. It's what I would have done. She was right there at the too low number and it was early in the cycle. You gave her a snack and didn't freak out and bust out the honey and she rose gently which is what you want. So yes, you made the right choice and it is just what we would have told you to do had you asked...and you didn't need to ask because you had this in hand!
Yes, I'd suggest a skinny 3 again tonight I think. Might help to keep her from being too low to shoot in the AM but still allow her body to spend time in healing numbers. If you get a low number again like this morning, I'd decrease a bit since the skinny 3 brought her down a bit too far at +4. Maybe go back to 2.75 or even 2.5 if she's in a number like this morning? It's hard to guess at reductions...you have to decide what feels safe for you and go with it and see what happens.
As for long term goals if she was a life long insulin user...well there's no SPECIFIC numbers but I'd say you'd want yellows preshot and then blues and dark greens during the cycle. Heck, we've had some cats sit happily at blues preshot and dark greens mid cycle while on insulin for awhile. Basically, you want to stay out of pinks and higher if you CAN, but mostly you want a cat who seems to be feeling good, doesn't go too low, and doesn't bounce around like crazy too much. It's different for different cats, but we can help you figure out what is best for Little if it turns out she needs insulin long term. Don't worry. We won't abandon you and we'll be here as long as you need us.
Lisa, once again you are a GREAT cat mama! I think you deserve a treat of some sort tonight. A glass of wine, a nice hot bath, a big bowl of ice cream, watching your favorite movie, or whatever it is that you love and don't let yourself do often enough. We all deserve that sometimes and you do such a wonderful job with Little that you need to allow yourself to rejuvenate some.
