So I have spoken with the vet, but not the one that performed the surgery - an appointment is being set up for this. Interestingly they are only calling me from 'withheld' numbers now for some reason.
I told her what we all know here, Bea didn't eat a thing post-surgery. Everything was measured out, she was not interested. The pathology report specifies:
'A moderate amount of green-brown fibrous material was present in the oral cavity. A small amount of green-brown fibrous material was present in the
oesophagus.
There were moderate amounts of green-brown fibrous material intermixed with green-brown fluid and a small amount of froth within the lumen of the
full length of the trachea.'
The green-brown fibrous material I suspect, is the recovery food fed to her by the vet nurse.
The vet is trying to say Bea died of heart failure, since her death doesn't sound as if it's from aphyxiation - no coughing, gasping etc. Which I do agree with the latter, there was none of this. She then however went on to say this is very unusual, she hasn't seen it in rabbits before, and 'silent' regurgitation can occur.
She mentioned that this regurgitation couldn't have occured during surgery, because they would have noticed this when they put the tube in. I had to correct her that the vet nurse had told me 'they couldn't put the tube in, it was too tight, so went for the mask instead'.
She also originally said that they don't know if the rabbits eat post-op, they just offer the food and if they want they can take it. I stopped her and said 'Er no, I was specifically told she was syringe fed recovery food, it was all over her mouth plain to see'. The vet responded 'Oh yes that's usual we do that with all the rabbits'. So I don't know, it just sounds as if they can't keep a story straight.
She also said 'It's possible she eaten something while you were sleeping and you didn't notice'. Again, I corrected her that we didn't sleep, she's in the room with us and we kept a very sharp eye on her because we were worried. She barely moved let alone would eat.
I haven't been given a possible reason for Bea regurgitating.
Does anybody know where I go from here if I want to find out if this was missed upon Bea's 'recovery' at the vet surgery, or, if the regurgitation was due to her being syringe fed the recovery food by the vet nurse? Or even if it just happened later at home, for some reason. Something really just isn't right.
Thanks all. I am not upset (well, I am, but not because of the report) - Bea died and there's nothing that can be done about it now, and I am very glad I have the answers I so desperately wanted. I am glad it wasn't hypothermia or something that we missed, but it is extremely odd that we didn't notice this, we were in the room with Bea and there was no coughing, struggling for breath or anything. Cases of this according to the vet is extremely unusual too.
I am glad we have the report and answers as to what happened, but knew this would not necessarily answer why. I am thinking of asking the vets for a full report on Bea's procedure - has anyone done this before? Can anyone advise whether the vets can refuse etc?
Thanks xx