Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every four months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Tips for using the database:

  • This landing page displays all of the publications in the database.
  • Use the drop-down menus to filter these publications by Animal Type, Setting, and/or Topic.
  • Clicking on a parent category (e.g., Rodent) will include publications relating to all the items in that category (e.g., Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, etc.).
  • You may also add a keyword to further narrow your search.
  • Please note that at this time, only publications dated 2010 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Animal Type and Topic, and only publications dated 2020 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Setting. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
Zvarev, C., Baker, S., Patel, D. 2019. Animal handling in containment. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 140-142. (IAT Congress 2018 Poster Presentation)

As Animal Technologists we are constantly looking at refining and enriching the environmental conditions of all our animals to give them both physical exercise and mental stimulation regardless of their size. However, animals can still...

Cowley, P. M., Roberts, C. R., Baker, A. J. 2019. Monitoring the health status of mice with bleomycin-induced lung injury by using body condition scoring. Comparative Medicine 69(2), 95–102.

Well-defined, humane endpoints aid in monitoring animal health status during disease development. Body condition scoring (BCS) is a method for assessing health status in mouse studies where wasting and death are potential endpoints. Whether BCS...

Deninvan Low, D., Leong Peng, J. Z., Tay, Y. Q. et al. 2019. Playtime! Exploring habituation techniques in laboratory rats. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 7(4) (December), 42-45.

Our rat training program teaches the standard method of handling and restraining that involves picking the rat up by the base of the tail and placing it on the wire mesh to be restrained. We...

Mertens, S., Vogt, M. A., Gass, P. et al. 2019. Effect of three different forms of handling on the variation of aggression-associated parameters in individually and group-housed male C57BL/6NCrl mice. PLOS ONE 14(4), e0215367.

Mice are social animals hence group-housing of mice is preferred over individual housing. However, aggression in group-housed male mice under laboratory housing conditions is a well-known problem leading to serious health issues, including injury or...

Correia de Lima Almeida Paz, I., Correia de Lima Almeida, I., Milbradt, E. L. et al. 2019. Effects of analgesic and noise stimulus in gait score assessment. PLOS ONE 14(1), e0208827.

This experiment was carried out aiming to assess walking manner and speed of broiler chickens with different gait scores (GS), with or without sound stimulus, and with or without administration of analgesic. To that end...

Gouveia, K., Hurst, J. L. 2019. Improving the practicality of using non-aversive handling methods to reduce background stress and anxiety in laboratory mice. Scientific Reports 9, 20305.

Handling can stimulate stress and anxiety in laboratory animals that negatively impacts welfare and introduces a confounding factor in many areas of research. Picking up mice by the tail is a major source of handling...

Cox, R. J., Nol, P., Ellis, C. K. et al. 2019. Research with agricultural animals and wildlife. ILAR Journal 60(1), 66-73.

In fiscal year 2016, agricultural animals such as swine, sheep, goats, and cattle represented 10% of the 820 812 animals used in USDA-regulated research. In addition to traditional agricultural animals, research studies using captive wildlife...

Stevens, C. 2019. Refining handling for small laboratory fishes. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(3), 191-193.

Fishes in captivity, such as those used in laboratory research, may experience handling on a regular basis. In the laboratory, handling is usually done with dip-nets, and involves pursuit, confinement and capture and removal of...

Doerning, C. M., Thurston, S. E., Villano, J. S. et al. 2019. Assessment of mouse handling techniques during cage changing. JAALAS 58(6), 767–773.

Mouse handling during cage changing and health evaluation has traditionally been performed by using forceps. This method was adopted as a biosecurity measure but can adversely affect employee ergonomics and rodent behavior. In this study...

Makowska, I. J., Weary, D. M. 2019. A good life for laboratory rodents? ILAR Journal 60(3), 373-388.

Most would agree that animals in research should be spared “unnecessary” harm, pain, or distress, and there is also growing interest in providing animals with some form of environmental enrichment. But is this the standard...

Eusemann, B. K., Baulain, U., Schrader, L. et al. 2018. Radiographic examination of keel bone damage in living laying hens of different strains kept in two housing systems. PLOS ONE 13(5), e0194974.

A high prevalence of deviations and fractures of the keel bone is a widespread welfare problem in laying hens. The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate this multifactorial problem throughout the laying period...

Toscano, M., Booth, F., Richards, G. et al. 2018. Modeling collisions in laying hens as a tool to identify causative factors for keel bone fractures and means to reduce their occurrence and severity. PLOS ONE 13(7), e0200025.

Keel fractures represent a major productivity and welfare issue for the laying hen industry with greater than 50% of birds in recent surveys across various commercial operations and nations exhibiting some form of damage by...

Clarkson, J. M., Dwyer, D. M., Flecknell, P. A. et al. 2019. Handling method alters the hedonic value of reward in laboratory mice. Scientific Reports 8, 2448.

Mice are the most widely used model species for drug discovery and scientific research. Consequently, it is important to refine laboratory procedures and practices to ensure high standards of welfare and scientific data quality. Recent...

Swan, A. 2018. Refining mouse handling - do we or don't we? An animal technologist's perspective. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 130-131.

Recent research in the industry identified that picking up mice in a tunnel or cupping them in the hand significantly reduces their stress levels. As Animal Tecgnologists, we could see advantages and disadvantages with this...

Jung, L., Knierim, U. 2018. Are practice recommendations for the prevention of feather pecking in laying hens in non-cage systems in line with the results of experimental and epidemiological studies? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 200, 1-12.

Feather pecking (FP) in laying hens is an important animal welfare problem in practice, despite extensive research and increasing sources of advice for farmers. We aimed to give an overview over results from experimental and...

Kittelsen, K. E., Granquist, E. G., Aunsmo, A. L. et al. 2018. An evaluation of two different broiler catching methods. Animals 8(8), 141.

Catching is the first step in the pre-slaughter chain for broiler chickens. The process may be detrimental for animal welfare due to the associated handling. The aim of this pilot study was to compare two...

Muvhali, P. T., Bonato, M., Engelbrecht, A. et al. 2018. The effect of extensive human presence at an early age on stress responses and reactivity of juvenile ostriches towards humans. Animals 8(10), 175.

The effect of extensive human presence and regular gentle handling performed at an early age (0–3 months old) on stress responses and reactivity of juvenile ostriches towards humans was investigated. A total of 416 ostrich...

Neely, C., Lane, C., Torres, J. et al. 2018. The effect of gentle handling on depressive-like behavior in adult male mice: Considerations for human and rodent interactions in the laboratory. Behavioural Neurology 2018, 2976014.

Environmental factors play a significant role in well-being of laboratory animals. Regulations and guidelines recommend, if not require, that stressors such as bright lighting, smells, and noises are eliminated or reduced to maximize animal well-being...

Collymore, C., Kent, L., Ahn, S. K. et al. 2018. Humane endpoints for guinea pigs used for Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine research. Comparative Medicine 68(1), 41–47.

Guinea pigs are a commonly used model for tuberculosis vaccine research. Loss of body weight is the most frequently described humane endpoint for animals used in these studies. During a chronic study, we noted labored...

Toth, L. A. 2018. Identifying and implementing endpoints for geriatric mice. Comparative Medicine 68(6), 439–451.

The types of changes in physical appearance and behavior that occur in elderly people similarly develop in elderly animals. Signs and symptoms that might cause concern in younger people or mice may be normal in...

Edwards, G. L., Michael, J. A., Parks., A. 2018. Agricultural animals as biomedical models: Occupational health and safety considerations. ILAR Journal 59(2), 161-167.

The use of agricultural animals in biomedical research is increasing. Their overall size and metabolic rate, organ size, longer gestation period, and other physiological similarities make them good candidates for animal models of human disease...

O’Rourke, D. P., Baccanale, C. L., Stoskopf, M. K. 2018. Nontraditional laboratory animal species (cephalopods, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds). ILAR Journal 59(2), 168-176.

Aquatic vertebrates and cephalopods, amphibians, reptiles, and birds offer unique safety and occupational health challenges for laboratory animal personnel. This paper discusses environmental, handling, and zoonotic concerns associated with these species.

Zepp, M., Louton, H., Erhard, M. et al. 2018. The influence of stocking density and enrichment on the occurrence of feather pecking and aggressive pecking behavior in laying hen chicks. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 24, 9-18.

The housing conditions and environments experienced during the rearing period can influence the development of feather pecking in chickens during this time and in the subsequent laying period. The aim of this study was to...

Ekesbo, I., Gunnarsson, S. 2018. Farm Animal Behaviour: Characteristics for Assessment and Welfare (2nd ed). CABI, Wallingford, UK.

Completely updated and revised, and with a new author team, this second edition of Farm Animal Behaviour continues to provide essential information on normal and stereotypic behaviors in a wide variety of farm animals to...

Döring, D., Nick, O., Bauer, A. et al. 2017. How do rehomed laboratory Beagles behave in everyday situations? Results from an observational test and a survey of new owners. PLOS ONE 12(7), e0181303.

When laboratory dogs are rehomed into private households, they experience an extreme change in their life situation. They leave their familiar, limited environment in the research facility and encounter a multitude of animate and inanimate...