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. 
Damián, J. P., Hötzel, M. J., Banchero, G. et al. 2018. Growing without a mother during rearing affects the response to stressors in rams. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 209, 36-40.

Early maternal care contributes to the normal development of the physiological, social and emotional functions of the offspring. As sheep are a strongly gregarious species, separation and isolation of an individual from the flock provokes...

Paronis, E., Kapogiannatou, A., Paschidis, K. et al. 2018. Lighting environment: What colour of light do male C57BL/6J prefer? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 209, 99-103.

Environmental factors applied in animal research facilities need to be regulated accurately not only for the welfare of laboratory animals but also for the reliability of the experimental results. However, the effect of lighting environment...

Campler, M. R., Jensen, M. B., Munksgaard, L. 2018. The effect of deep straw versus cubicle housing on behaviour during the dry period in Holstein cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 209, 1-7.

The present observational study assessed the effect of deep straw bedding compared to cubicles during the dry period on lying-, feeding- and agonistic behaviour in Holstein cows. A total of 74 primi- (heifers) and multiparous...

Schou, T. M., Malmkvist, J. 2018. Maternal nest building and choice of nest site are temperature dependent in mink: Parent-offspring temperature conflict? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 209, 88-98.

We investigated whether nest building and nest site preference are temperature dependent in female mink. We designed two experiments: in Experiment 1, female mink had access to unheated (7 °C, Room7C group) or heated (25...

Masilkova, M., Weiss, A., Konečná, M. 2018. How long does it take? Reliable personality assessment based on common behaviour in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Behavioural Processes 157, 59-67.

Individual variation in behaviour has been shown to have important ecological and evolutionary consequences. Research on animal personality has therefore received considerable attention, yet some methodological issues remain unresolved. We tested whether assessing personality by...

Omidi, A., Jafari, R., Nazifi, S. et al. 2018. Potential role for selenium in the pathophysiology of crib-biting behavior in horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 23, 10-14.

Crib-biting is a repetitive and compulsive behavior that is characterized by “grasping a fixed object with incisor teeth and aspirating air with an audible grunt.” Little is known about etiology and pathophysiology of crib-biting behavior...

Lush, J., Ijichi, C. 2018. A preliminary investigation into personality and pain in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 24, 62-68.

Adherence to basic animal welfare standards involves effective monitoring and control of pain, especially in a veterinary setting. Assessment relies on behavioral and physiological indicators. However, individual differences in physiology mediate consistent individual differences in...

Naik, R., Witzel, A., Albright, J. D. et al. 2018. Pilot study evaluating the effect of feeding method on overall activity of neutered indoor pet cats. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 25, 9-13.

Indoor housing of cats is associated with a higher incidence of multiple diseases, including obesity. Increased exercise is often recommended as a method of creating or increasing the negative energy balance required for weight loss...

Villeneuve-Beugnet, V., Beugnet, F. 2018. Field assessment of cats' litter box substrate preferences. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 25, 65-70.

Cats living inside a home without any possibility of outdoor access have to defecate in a litter box. To suit the cats' needs, several recommendations seem to be agreed upon. The litter box has to...

Hermiston, C., Montrose, V. T., Taylor, S. 2018. The effects of dog-appeasing pheromone spray upon canine vocalizations and stress-related behaviors in a rescue shelter. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 26, 11-16.

Exposure to dog-appeasing pheromones (DAPs) has been suggested to reduce stress-related behaviors in dogs; however, the effects of DAP administered using a portable, rapid use spray has not received as much attention as the plug-in...

Döring, D., Backofen, I., Schmidt, J. et al. 2018. Use of beds by laboratory beagles. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 28, 6-10.

Comfortable resting areas for laboratory dogs have been recommended by many authors and by the European Directive 2010/63/EU. They are particularly important for geriatric dogs for age- and health-related reasons. Systematic research in this area...

McMahen, R., Williams, A. 2018. An easy way to trim guinea pig nails. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(2) (June), 39-40.

Here, we provide a few easy steps on how to trim guinea pigs’ nails.

Green, T. J., Wolfenden, D. C. C., Sneddon, L. U. 2018. An investigation on the impact of substrate type, temperature, and iodine on moon jellyfish production. Zoo Biology 37(6), 434-439.

Jellyfish are a popular public aquarium species, however, their collection from natural populations is undesirable due to impact on species abundance and bycatch. Thus, a sustainable supply of jellyfish bred in-house would be highly desirable...

Hawkins, P., Golledge, H. D. R. 2018. The 9 to 5 Rodent − Time for Change? Scientific and animal welfare implications of circadian and light effects on laboratory mice and rats. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 300, 20-25.

Rodents, particularly rats and mice, are the most commonly used laboratory animals and are extensively used in neuroscience research, including as translational models for human disorders. It is common practice to carry out scientific procedures...

Rooke, J. A., Arnott, G., Dwyer, C. M. et al. 2017. Impact of maternal stress and nutrition on behavioural and physiological outcomes in young lambs. Animal Welfare 26(4), 403-415.

The pre-natal period is of critical importance in defining how individuals respond to their environment throughout life. Stress experienced by pregnant females has detrimental effects on offspring behaviour, health and productivity. The sheep (Ovis aries)...

Freymann, J., Tsai, P.-P., Stelzer, H. D. et al. 2017. Impact of bedding volume on physiological and behavioural parameters in laboratory mice. Laboratory Animals 51(6), 601-612.

The standard housing temperature in animal facilities is substantially below the lower critical temperature of mice. This does not only endanger animal welfare, it can also jeopardize scientific research as cold stress has a major...

Robinson-Junker, A., Morin, A., Pritchett-Corning, K. et al. 2017. Sorting it out: Bedding particle size and nesting material processing method affect nest complexity. Laboratory Animals 51(2), 170-180.

As part of routine husbandry, an increasing number of laboratory mice receive nesting material in addition to standard bedding material in their cages. Nesting material improves health outcomes and physiological performance in mice that receive...

Lemos Teixeira, D., Hötzel, M. J., Pinheiro Machado Filho, L. C. et al. 2017. Designing better water troughs: Does trough color influence dairy cows’ preference? Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 20(2), 192-197.

Eighteen lactating dairy cows were used to elucidate their preference for green, grey, or red troughs. The herd was managed under a rotational grazing system with ad-libitum access to water until 11:30 h. For 9...

Mogil, J. S. 2017. Laboratory environmental factors and pain behavior: The relevance of unknown unknowns to reproducibility and translation. Lab Animal 46(4), 136-141.

The poor record of basic-to-clinical translation in recent decades has led to speculation that preclinical research is “irreproducible”, and this irreproducibility in turn has largely been attributed to deficiencies in reporting and statistical practices. There...

Gaskill, B. N., Stottler, A. M., Garner, J. P. et al. 2017. The effect of early life experience, environment, and genetic factors on spontaneous home-cage aggression-related wounding in male C57BL/6 mice. Lab Animal 46(4), 176-184.

Aggression is a major welfare issue in mice, particularly when mice unfamiliar to each other are first placed in cages, as happens on receipt from a vendor, and following cage cleaning. Injuries from aggression are...

Sadiq, M., Ramanoon, S., Shaik Mossadeq, W. et al. 2017. Association between lameness and indicators of dairy cow welfare based on locomotion scoring, body and hock condition, leg hygiene and lying behavior. Animals 7(11), 79.

Dairy cow welfare is an important consideration for optimal production in the dairy industry. Lameness affects the welfare of dairy herds by limiting productivity. Whilst the application of LS systems helps in identifying lame cows...

Fournel, S., Ouellet, V., Charbonneau, É. 2017. Practices for alleviating heat stress of dairy cows in humid continental climates: A literature review. Animals 7(5), 37.

Heat stress negatively affects the health and performance of dairy cows, resulting in considerable economic losses for the industry. In future years, climate change will exacerbate these losses by making the climate warmer. Physical modification...

Nordquist, R., van der Staay, F., van Eerdenburg, F. et al. 2017. Mutilating procedures, management practices, and housing conditions that may affect the welfare of farm animals: Implications for welfare research. Animals 7(2), 12.

A number of mutilating procedures, such as dehorning in cattle and goats and beak trimming in laying hens, are common in farm animal husbandry systems in an attempt to prevent or solve problems, such as...

Gerwin, P. M., Ricart Arbona, R. J., Riedel, E. R. et al. 2017. PCR testing of IVC filter tops as a method for detecting murine pinworms and fur mites. JAALAS 56(6), 752-761.

We evaluated PCR testing of filter tops from cages maintained on an IVC system through which exhaust air is filtered at the cage level as a method for detecting parasite-infected and -infested cages. Cages containing...

Gordon, C. J., Puckett, E. T., Repasky, E. S. et al. 2017. A device that allows rodents to behaviorally thermoregulate when housed in vivariums. JAALAS 56(2), 173-176.

Laboratories and vivariums typically are maintained at ambient temperatures of 20 to 24 °C, leading to cold stress in mice. When mice are inactive and sleeping during the light phase, their zone of thermoneutrality associated...