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. 

This volume reviews the broad topic of welfare in nonhuman primates under human care. Chapters detail the history of primates in captivity, ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of nonhuman primates as entertainment or...

Depression and anxiety are some of the most prevalent and debilitating mental health conditions in humans. They can present on their own or as co-morbidities with other disorders. Like humans, non-human primates (NHPs) can develop...

Animal welfare is a key issue not only for aquaculture industry and food production, but also for daily husbandry practices in research topics related to physiology in wild and farmed animals. In this context, teleost...

The monitoring and assessment of animals is important for their health and welfare. The appropriate selection of multiple, validated, and feasible welfare assessment indicators is required to effectively identify compromises or improvements to animal welfare...

Gilthead sea bream is a highly cultured marine fish throughout the Mediterranean area, but new and strict criteria of welfare are needed to assure that the intensification of production has no negative effects on animal...

Drug safety and efficacy studies frequently use oral gavage, but repetitive usage may cause problems. Administration through voluntary ingestion represents an opportunity for refinement. We aimed to develop a protocol for voluntary ingestion of gelatin-based...

This work aimed to define a humane endpoint scoring system able to objectively identify signs of animal suffering in a rat model of type 2 diabetes. Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into control and induced...

The aim of this scoping review was to provide an overview of the published welfare and quality of life assessments that are available for shelter cats. The specific objectives were to identify the available assessments...

Accredited zoos and aquariums are required to have a welfare assessment process in place for the animals in their care. However, welfare assessment theoretical frameworks and methodologies vary widely. Previous studies have shown that taxonomic...

Welfare assessment currently is less well-characterized for aquatic animals and the classical methodologies used for terrestrial animals are not adequate to improve our knowledge about fish well-being. Among different approaches, the status of organism responses...

Some animal species exhibit considerable physiological and behavioural alterations in response to captivity. It has been hypothesized, but rarely tested, that such changes reflect a negative affective state that is associated to this specific context...

This study aimed to expand knowledge on lumpfish stress physiology by investigating the effects of acute stress on primary (i.e., cortisol) and secondary (e.g., metabolites) stress responses, as well as oxidative stress biomarkers, from stress...

Welfare assessment currently is less well-characterized for aquatic animals and the classical methodologies used for terrestrial animals are not adequate to improve our knowledge about fish well-being. Among different approaches, the status of organism responses...

Welfare assessments have risen to prominence in the aquaculture industry, with increasing awareness of their significance among stakeholders in Thailand. In this study, we conducted a welfare assessment of tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) farms in Thailand...

An improved understanding of behaviors reflecting acute pain in cats is a priority for feline welfare. The aim of this study was to create and validate a comprehensive ethogram of acute pain behaviors in cats...

Dogs in shelters are faced with the challenge of adapting to a kennel after relinquishment and to a novel home after adoption. To measure adaptability of dogs, more feasible behavioural and physiological parameters need to...

Animal welfare assessments have struggled to investigate the emotional states of animals while focusing solely on available empirical evidence. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) may provide insights into an animal’s subjective experiences without compromising scientific rigor...

Judgement bias paradigms are increasingly being used as a measure of affective state in dogs. Approach to an ambiguous stimulus is commonly used as a measure of affect, however, this may also be influenced by...

Modified Handling for Mice: Handling mice by gripping the base of the tail has been shown to negatively impact animal welfare by increasing anxiety and aversion to handling. We aimed to refi ne the dosing...

Recent years have witnessed major advances in the ability of computerized systems to track the positions of animals as they move through large and unconstrained environments. These systems have so far been a great boon...

Research primates may undergo surgical procedures making effective pain management essential to ensure good animal welfare and unbiased scientific data. Adequate pain mitigation is dependent on whether veterinarians, technicians, researchers, and caregivers can recognize and...

The exchange of fish for research may expose an aquatic laboratory to pathogen contamination as incoming fish can introduce bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses capable of affecting both experimental results and fish and personnel health...

Animal welfare monitoring is a vital part of veterinary medicine and can be challenging due to a range of factors that contribute to the perception of welfare. Tools can be used, however; there are few...