bunny health question: picky eater

Question
hello,

my bunny stopped eating pellets, and will only eat a small amount of timothy hay. she is being very picky about her food. her poop used to be dark in color, black, but now her poop is light brown.

is something wrong with my bunny? should i take her to a vet? she is still very playful and energetic, so i am not sure if she is just being picky?

thank you very much for your time,
yen ^_^

Answer
Dear Yen,

Please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

to learn how to tell if your bunny is sick, and what to do if she is.  You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

if you need one.

If she's happy and playful, but just has developed picky eating habits, a very common cause of this is dental problems, such as molar spurs.  Please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

and ask the vet to do a deep oral exam to find an then file any spurs that might be causing her discomfort.  The light brown poop is not a problem as long as the poops are large and friable (easy to crumble).  But if they become smaller, she could not only be getting dehydrated (bunnies with painful molar spurs often will not drink enough), but also could be having a GI slowdown:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

So the next stop is a good rabbit vet for a full wellness check including deep oral exam of the molars.  

Hope this helps!

Dana