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. 
Trębacz, P., Frymus, J., Barteczko, A. et al. 2023. Accuracy of instrument portal placement using a custom-made 3D-printed aiming device versus free hand technique in canine elbow arthroscopy. Animals 13(23), 3592.

While the insertion of the arthroscope into the elbow joint is relatively easy based on anatomical landmarks, obtaining a correctly located instrument portal is often difficult. Therefore, the goal of the study was to create...

van der Laan, J. E., Vinke, C. M., Arndt, S. S. 2023. Nocturnal activity as a useful indicator of adaptability of dogs in an animal shelter and after subsequent adoption. Scientific Reports 13(1), 19014.

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...

Wiese, T. R., Rey Planellas, S., Betancor, M. et al. 2023. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment as a welfare indicator for farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in response to a stressful challenge. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

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...

Wilson, C., Hall, N., Aviles-Rosa, E. O. et al. 2023. The effect of repeated testing on judgement bias in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Animal Cognition 26(2), 477–489.

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...

Jones, S. M., Burns, C. C., Reed, R. A. et al. 2023. The effect of adding a heated humidified breathing circuit on body temperature in healthy anesthetized dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 261(8), 1181–1185.

OBJECTIVE To compare the effect of a circulating warm water blanket (WWB) in combination with a heated humidified breathing circuit (HHBC) heated to 45 °C on rectal temperature (RT) in dogs undergoing general anesthesia for...

Mercier, P., Honeckman, L., Jokela, F. et al. 2023. Using standardized scales to assess fear at veterinary visits: Intra- and inter-rater reliability. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 62, 12–17.

Behavioral, emotional, and physical signs of distress are increasingly recognized in veterinary patients during routine care. Fear and distress are humane and welfare concerns themselves, but such behavior may also result in deferred veterinary care...

Uskenov, R., Mirmanov, A., Tretyakov, I. et al. 2023. Automatic cattle weighing on pastures with behavioral analysis during drinking. Journal of Animal Behaviour Biometeorology 11(3), e2023020.

Livestock body weight (BW) and average daily weight gain (ADG) are primary indicators of beef cattle productivity. The conventional method of weighing involves moving the cattle to a weighing location, which is labor-intensive, stressful for...

Mainau, E., Llonch, P., Temple, D. et al. 2022. Alteration in activity patterns of cows as a result of pain due to health conditions. Animals 12(2), 176.

The main conditions and diseases considered painful in dairy cows are mastitis, lameness, calving (including dystocia and caesarean section) and metritis. The cattle literature reports that deviation from normal daily activity patterns (both increased and/or...

Rowe, E., Mullan, S. 2022. Advancing a “good life” for farm animals: Development of resource tier frameworks for on-farm assessment of positive welfare for beef cattle, broiler chicken and pigs. Animals 12(5), 565.

There is increasing recognition that farm animal welfare standards should ensure positive welfare, as well as prevent negative welfare. Resources that are valued by an animal and that provide opportunities to engage in motivated behaviours...

Serinelli, I., Soloperto, S., Lai, O. R. 2022. Pain and pain management in sea turtle and herpetological medicine: State of the art. Animals 12(6), 697.

In sea turtle rescue and rehabilitative medicine, many of the casualties suffer from occurrences that would be considered painful in other species; therefore, the use of analgesic drugs should be ethically mandatory to manage the...

Diggins, R., Burrie, R., Ariel, E. et al. 2022. A review of welfare indicators for sea turtles undergoing rehabilitation, with emphasis on environmental enrichment. Animal Welfare 31(2), 219-230.

For animals undergoing rehabilitation it is vital to monitor welfare in a way that is feasible, practical, and limits stress to the animal. The industry gold standard is to assess welfare under the Five Domains...

Nicolis, I. N., Beale, C. N., Bidot, W. A. et al. 2022. Performance and consistency of circulating warm water blankets for rodents. JAALAS 61(1), 96-100.

General anesthesia as used for rodent research can have adverse effects on physiologic mechanisms. Thermoregulation is often greatly inhibited, with resultant deleterious effects on cardiac and respiratory function. These potential effects can be mitigated by...

Windsor, P. A. 2022. Role of topical anaesthesia in pain management of farm animals, a changing paradigm. Animals 12(18), 2459.

Field evidence indicates that livestock producers are motivated by access to products that readily deliver pain management during husbandry interventions and, more recently, viral epidermal infectious diseases, including FMD. There has been impressive adoption in...

Thomas, A. D., Orsel, K., Cortés, J. A. et al. 2022. Objective determination and quantification of pain and inflammation associated with digital dermatitis in feedlot cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 253, 105684.

Digital dermatitis (DD) is an infectious skin disease in cattle that causes pain and discomfort, significantly impacting animal welfare. Although DD lesions are painful and prone to bleeding when touched, pain resulting from DD has...

Mocho, J.-P., Collymore, C., Farmer, S. C. et al. 2022. FELASA-AALAS recommendations for monitoring and reporting of laboratory fish diseases and health status, with an emphasis on zebrafish (Danio rerio). Comparative Medicine 72(3), 127-148.

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...

Malkani, R., Paramasivam, S., Wolfensohn, S. 2022. Preliminary validation of a novel tool to assess dog welfare: The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 940017.

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...

O’Neil, B. A., Linklater, A. K J. 2022. Supplemental reflective blankets and wool socks help maintain body temperature in dogs undergoing celiotomy procedures: A prospective randomized controlled clinical trial. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 260(11), 1316-1323.

OBJECTIVE: To compare results for body (esophageal) temperature measurements obtained during celiotomy in normothermic (presurgical) canine patients receiving routine heat support versus routine heat support plus supplemental support (consisting of covering the thorax in a...

Schnaider, M. A., Heidemann, M. S., Pescatori Silva, A. H. et al. 2022. Vocalization and other behaviors indicating pain in beef calves during the ear tagging procedure. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 47, 93-98.

Vocalization and other behavior signals are used as tools to assess animal welfare in beef calves. This paper aimed to compare vocal parameters and behavior signals expressed by beef calves submitted either to ear tagging...

Hamlaoui, A., Keeling, L., Burman, O. et al. 2022. Investigating attentional scope as a novel indicator of emotional state in animals. Scientific Reports 12(1), 17452.

In humans, contrasting emotional states can lead to a broadening or narrowing of attentional scope. Whether this is also the case in animals has yet to be investigated. If confirmed, measurement of attentional scope has...

Espadas-González, L., Usón-Casaús, J. M., Pastor-Sirvent, N. et al. 2022. Evaluation of the two-point ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block for laparoscopic canine ovariectomy. Animals 12(24), 3556.

The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block causes desensitization of the abdominal wall and peritoneum. Of all the approaches proposed to perform it, the two-injection-point TAP showed the best results in terms of the area reached...

Fischer-Tenhagen, C., Meier, J., Pohl, A. 2022. “Do not look at me like that”: Is the facial expression score reliable and accurate to evaluate pain in large domestic animals? A systematic review. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 1002681.

Facial expression scoring has proven to be useful for pain evaluation in humans. In the last decade, equivalent scales have been developed for various animal species, including large domestic animals. The research question of this...

Hamlaoui, A., Keeling, L., Burman, O. et al. 2022. Investigating attentional scope as a novel indicator of emotional state in animals. Scientific Reports 12(1), 17452.

In humans, contrasting emotional states can lead to a broadening or narrowing of attentional scope. Whether this is also the case in animals has yet to be investigated. If confirmed, measurement of attentional scope has...

Malkani, R., Paramasivam, S., Wolfensohn, S. 2022. Preliminary validation of a novel tool to assess dog welfare: The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 940017.

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...

Meers, L. L., Contalbrigo, L., Samuels, W. E. et al. 2022. Canine-assisted interventions and the relevance of welfare assessments for human health, and transmission of zoonosis: A literature review. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 899889.

CAIs (canine-assisted interventions) include “canine-assisted therapy” in which a therapist sets client-oriented goals, “canine-assisted activities” with recreational goals for clients, and “canine-assisted education/learning” in which teachers or coaches create learning goals for students or clients...

Ruge, L., Mancini, C. 2022. An ethics toolkit to support animal-centered research and design. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 891493.

Designers and researchers who work with animals need to employ an array of ethical competencies to guarantee the welfare of animals taking part in animal-centered research. The emerging field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), which deals...