Bloat Attack Has Happened Again :0(

Merlin suffered another one of his attacks of bloat at the weekend...I'm getting so upset with it all now as I'm at a loss as to what else to try to stop it keep happening

He had the usual treatment of antibiotic, metaclopromide & painkiller & is over the worst although he still seems a bit sorry for himself (although he's pooing fine now & eating - although not as much as usual).
Had two more trips to the vets (including this afternoon) where they've repeated the metaclopromide & antibiotic & they want to see him again on Thursday as long as he doesn't go downhill.

I just don't know what else to do... :?
He started with this problem about a year ago (not long after he was neutered - personally I think this is no coincidence!), another attack in November, then January & then now.
The vet says I'm doing everything right with his diet - all veges have been cut out/has permanent access to hay/excel pellets & excel forage & he has fennel in the summer.

Has anyone got any ideas/what helped their buns with this problem??

I'm seriously thinking of getting him booked in for a scan (although the vet said that he was sure they wouldn't find anything :roll: ) - do they have to be put under for this or just sedated?
Has anyone else been told that the problem is 'just bloat' only for them to have a scan and find another problem?

Any of your experiences would be gratefully received as I hate to see him keep going through this as he's still a baby really (2 yrs old) & I'm worried to death about leaving him when I go away in the spring/summer :?

Sorry to hear you're having lots of problems, poor bunny

I wonder whether it's worth slowly swapping onto a different food, excel and excel forage together will be quite high in protein, I'd suggest cutting right down on the forage and replacing it with another hay, ideally a timothy hay, or a good quality meadow hay if your bunny won't eat the timothy. Excel forage is around 15% protein 20% fibre, Timothy hay is around 7% protein 37% fibre. It will vary a bit with the cut but you can see there is quite a lot of difference, and low protein and high fibre is very important for your bunny's guts to work properly and keep everything moving.

Maybe also try swapping the excel pellets (protein 12%, fibre 14%) to another food like bunny basics T(protein 14%, fibre 29%) or allen & page (protein 12%, fibre 23%) or Science selective (protein 14%, fibre 19%) Some people find that swapping from excel onto one of these others reduces the incidence of sticky bottoms, (the ratio of fibre to protein is greater) so maybe there is something going on in your bunny's gut like this too? Given your bunny's gut history I would make any changes really slowly as it sounds like he has a sensitive gut for whatever reason. Whether you change food or not, I'd also limit the amount of pellets he is having. Chances are, with permanent access to them, he is eating more pellets and less hay, so the proportion of protein in his diet will be even higher. Just a small handful morning and evening should be sufficient and will encourage him to eat lots of hay.

Good luck, I hope Merlin feels much better soon.