Death from Blood Clots in Lung

Question
I took my rabbit in to get spayed a few days ago. I picked her up the next morning doctor said everything went well and she was doing great. She was doing alright at home considering she had quite the wound on her tummy. Suddenly she wasnt breathing normally with very short struggled breaths. She stopped breathing soon after that and passed away. My vet guessed it was a blood clot in her lung and pretty much sent me on my way. I want to get another rabbit someday but was this clot something that came about because of her operation or was it probably going to happen either way?

Answer
Dear Stephanie,

I am very sorry about the loss of your friend.  For your vet to toss this off so casually is really distressing.  Without a necropsy (which a competent, compassionate vet will often do for no charge if a rabbit died immediately after surgery at his/her hands), there is no way to know exactly what happened, but an embolism is certainly a possibility.

It is also not possible to know whether the embolism came from a pre-existing condition or was a result of surgery, but risk of embolism is always greater after trauma, and that include surgery.

I am very sorry for your loss.  But since this happened several days ago, it is too late for a necropsy, which would be the only way to shed any light on this tragic end.  

Sincerely,

Dana