Rabbit not eating after spay - died

2 weeks ago I had a rabbit spayed. Pippa was a dwarf lop who came from a breeder. Age unknown. She was mega-sleepy when I took her home, but she was a little overweight and they had done the op late, so I thought she was still recovering. Kept her on a heat mat overnight. next morning she seemed fine - except she wasnt eating.
Checked her wound - seemed fine. No bruising, no swelling, no scary signs.
A few hard small poos only. I watched her for an hour, then rang the vet, and got her back in.
She was put on a drip for 24 hours and given a painkiller (not sure what). Then as she had started eating again, I took her home.
I had a new home lined up for her, and the new owners were hoping to collect her that day - but I wanted to keep an eye on her and make sure she was eating and acting normal.
After 4 days, all seemed well, and I arranged for the new owners to collect her.
As they arrived, we noticed she had very mild diarhoea. I offered to keep her for another week or so, and get her checked over, but the new owners said they would take her and get her checked over - saving me the vet bill.
As it was very mild, and had only just happened, plus she was eating well and moving ok, and her spay wound looked great, I agreed to let her go - on the condition that they get her checked over.
Today I was told she was found dead in the hutch this morning.
They told me she had twice been to the vets since they had taken her, and had medication because she wasn't eating.
Not sure what meds she was given because it was not my own vet. I have spoken to my own vet today, and she wants to talk to the owners' vet regarding pippa.
I'm gutted. I thought all was well, and I was happy to let her go to her new home.... and now she's gone.
Has anyone any ideas?

Do you think it could have been just too much too soon?? with the stress of moving home, spay etc?

My girl buns both really took it badly when they were spayed, it took a good few weeks to win them back round and get them eating and back to full strength.

Sorry it didn't work out a happy ending

Yes I was wondering about that. What do others think?

I'm thinking this too, maybe the stress of the spay and moving to a new home was just too much for her I guess it's like a person having a major operation.

I'm sorry this happened x binky free Pippa x

This is Pippa. She is a bit overweight (not my fault btw). Would this have made her more at risk?

I'm not sure, I suppose it would have meant the recovery was longer. She was beautiful, I love agoutis

Yes, its much more risky for an animal to go through an op overweight. Our Katie was overweight and the vet wouldn't operate until she had dropped quite a bit. I think even fairly slender adults carry a fair bit of abdominal fat so a fat bun is has even more inside which is the bigger problem I think.

I'm so sorry for the loss of her. May she rest in peace and binky free now.

I don't know if it could be linked with the spey. I know rabbit speys are quite tricky. Aside from the annestectic, its tricky as unlike with dogs the vet have to as little handling with the guts as possible.
With dogs they can sort of move some things out of the way, as bad as that sounds but they can, with rabbits they can't touch the gut at all unless really needed to.
Also with her being overweight then that makes it harder. As basically the ovaries are just sitting on a lump of fat. My vet gets all female buns to loose some weight if they have any thats not needed before the spey.

One thing I do find very weird is how your vet actually hospitilized her the day after the operation as she didnt eat. It is pretty normal for them not to eat after an annestectic, scary but normal. But putting her to hospitilize her is a bit stressful and extreme just the day after the operation, it would of been very stressful for her aswell.

It sounds like she had a stressful few days and had no time to rest after her spey.

Again, Im sorry.

Oh so sorry I would agree, maybe it was just a bit too much too soon, the spay, the meds and then the move and also possibly because she was overwight, so that made things a bit more difficult for her. I'm no expert though, just my feelings. So sorry RIP Pippa.

Poor girl, I am so sorry for the loss...

I had my bun spayed last month too and went through a scary 36 hours after when she refused to eat. But I noticed that when I opened the transport cage, she went back on her own into her own (main) cage with her brother for company. A few hours later she was up and about hopping around and exploring.

My point is that I think managing stress post-op is a big factor in recoveries. I agree with some others that the stress of moving around too soon could have exacerbated things...