Looks like Bear is taking a dive bomb run today. Did you him a little snack to slow him down?
As for counting bounce cycles, start with the one after bounce causing event, which is the "low to him" event or the one where he might have done a steep dive, which can also cause a bounce. And not all cats take six cycles to clear a bounce, though that is common in the beginning until they get used to those numbers. In rare occasions we've seen some cats take longer to clear a bounce as well. Over time the length of time they bounce should reduce.
You asked me to take a look at what you did for feeding during his trip to the low greens and provide some comments, so here it is, starting with your recap:
+4 (41) 15cc honey, 1.6 oz 5%LC, 5 Treats=35 Calories
+4.25 (50) 5 Treats 35 Calories
+4.75 (66) 1oz 13%LC, 3 Treats=21 Calories
+5 (67) 3 Treats=21 Calories
+6 (77) 3 Treats=21 Calories
+6.5 (65) 1oz 13%LC, 2 Treats=14 Calories
+7 (76) 1 Tablespoon 16.5%HC, 1 Treat=7 Calories
+7.5 (88) 1 Treat=7 Calories
+8 (80) 1.6oz 14%LC, 1&1/2 Tablespoons 16.5% HC, 1 Treat=7 Calories
+8.5 (123) 1 Treat=7 Calories
First comment, calories aren't important, it's the carbs that impact the blood sugar. Without knowing if the treats are zero or some carbs, it makes it harder to look at what happened. Second, it typically takes 20-30 minutes for carbs to go from the plate to the blood stream,, ECID, so if you are testing every 15 minutes after feeding, you aren't seeing the effects of the food you just gave yet. Honey/karo may work faster as it's already in pure sugar form. Yes those minutes you wait take forever!
As you have observed, he didn't respond as well early in the cycle as he did later when the insulin was waning. You might want to think about starting with higher carbs if the lows are earlier in the cycle and move to lower carb HC or MC if the lows are later on in the cycle. The honey was good, but I would replace the 13% with a 16-20% for next time. Usually a tsp of the gravy is a good start. You can press the can lid against the can and squeeze the gravy out, if you think he might fill up on the solids. I never had a problem with Neko being full so I gave her the solids too. The protein can also help keep numbers stable.
I would have replaced the LC at +4 with higher carbs. You do have to be careful how much total food you are giving. It's possible kitty's numbers can come up, then wobble back down when the carbs are worn off. You don't want him to be full when or if you need him to eat again.
You will have to experiment and find out what works for Bear. Ideally you'd like the HC to pop them up about 30 points, then have them surf there. I had some 21% on hand in case Neko went low really early in the cycle, but mostly could get away with 16%. Neko developed a wheat allergy, so I had to find HC products with potato for carbs which limited my % options.
Once they go above 50, try giving some regular LC to get them surfing. The advantage of leading with LC, especially at night, is that you don't have to wait as long to go to sleep, provided they stay up. You do want to wait and test for two hours after giving higher carbs, to make sure they don't go back down when the carbs wear off. So giving LC is a bit of a gamble, cause they could go back down again which means giving higher carb and starting the clock again.
Above all, take good notes on what you did. I recorded how many tsp of what I gave and when in my Remarks column of the spreadsheet. That way I could go and look at the effect of that food the next time I saw a low.
