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. 
López-Salesansky, N., Mazlan, N. H., Whitfield, L. E. et al. 2016. Olfactory variation in mouse husbandry and its implications for refinement and standardization: UK survey of non-animal scents. Laboratory Animals 50(4), 286-295.

With their highly sensitive olfactory system, the behaviour and physiology of mice are not only influenced by the scents of conspecifics and other species, but also by many other chemicals in the environment. The constraints...

Koontz, J. M., Kumsher, D. M., Kelly, R. 3rd et al. 2016. Effect of 2 bedding materials on ammonia levels in individually ventilated cages. JAALAS 55(1), 25–28.

This study sought to identify an optimal rodent bedding and cage-change interval to establish standard procedures for the IVC in our rodent vivarium. Disposable cages were prefilled with either corncob or α-cellulose bedding and were...

Haughton, C. L., Gawriluk, T. R., Seifert, A. W. 2016. The biology and husbandry of the African spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) and the research uses of a laboratory colony. JAALAS 55(1), 9–17.

African spiny mice (Acomysspp.) are unique precocial rodents that are found in Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia. They exhibit several interesting life-history characteristics, including precocial development, communal breeding, and a suite of physiologic...

Hawkins, P., Atkinson, J., Birt, R. et al. 2016. Report of the 2015 RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 9-22. [Meeting Report]

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 21 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on rodent welfare issues and share experiences...

Gardiner, P. 2016. Going outside ASPA guidelines. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 47-52.

This article will discuss an improved and refined technique used for working and caring for a group of diabetic mice. As a team of animal technologists, academics and named veterinary surgeon, we developed a new...

Robertson, A. 2016. Refinement in post-surgical recovery. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 62-63.

Pre- and post-surgical care includes providing the animals with a soft version of their standard Irradiated diet. Food pellets are soaked in sterile water and this turns into a mash. This ensures that the animals...

Fuller, G., Raghanti, M. A., Dennis, P. M. et al. 2016. A comparison of nocturnal primate behavior in exhibits illuminated with red and blue light. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 184, 126-134.

Over evolutionary time, light from the sun, moon, and stars has provided organisms with reliable information about the passage of time; but modern artificial lighting has drastically altered these cues. Evidence is accumulating that exposure...

Kapogiannatou, A., Paronis, E., Paschidis, K. et al. 2016. Effect of light colour temperature and intensity on the behaviour of male C57CL/6J mice. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 184, 135-140.

Light is an important environmental factor affecting laboratory animals' well-being but still there is a range of light parameters in animal research facilities that need further study. Behavioural testing was conducted to study the impact...

Mejdell, C. M., Buvik, T., Jørgensen, G. H. M. et al. 2016. Horses can learn to use symbols to communicate their preferences. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 184, 66-73.

This paper describes a method in which horses learn to communicate by touching different neutral visual symbols, in order to tell the handler whether they want to have a blanket on or not. Horses were...

van den Berg, M., Giagos, V., Lee, C. et al. 2016. Acceptance of novel food by horses: The influence of food cues and nutrient composition. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 183, 59-67.

Compared to ruminants little is known about how horses modulate food intake and learn about flavour-to-post-ingestive consequences. While it has been suggested that due to hindgut fermentation horses' foraging preferences may be largely influenced by...

van den Berg, M., Giagos, V., Lee, C. et al. 2016. The influence of odour, taste and nutrients on feeding behaviour and food preferences in horses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 184, 41-50.

While it has been established that nutrients and flavours (odour, taste) play an important role in diet selection by horses, previous studies have not always clarified what type of flavouring (e.g. non-nutritive or nutritive) was...

Merkies, K., DuBois, C., Marshall, K. et al. 2016. A two-stage method to approach weaning stress in horses using a physical barrier to prevent nursing. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 183, 68-76.

Many domestic horses are weaned through abrupt physical separation of the foal and mare. Deviations from normal behaviours testify that this abrupt method has an adverse effect on the well-being of both mares and foals...

Collyer, P. B., Wilson, H. S. 2016. Does a commercial pheromone application reduce separation anxiety in separated horse pairs? Journal of Veterinary Behavior 15, 94. (12th International Society of Equitation Science (ISES) Conference Abstract)

Horses may display increased locomotory and vocal activity when separated from their preferred partners, which can increase anxiety levels and injury risk. This study evaluated physiological and behavioral evidence of separation anxiety in separated preferred...

Löckener, S., Reese, S., Erhard, M. et al. 2016. Pasturing in herds after housing in horseboxes induces a positive cognitive bias in horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 11, 50-55.

Horses are kept in various housing systems, for example, with conspecifics in horse pens or singly in horseboxes, with or without pasturing. To provide appropriate living conditions for horses, it is necessary to know in...

Evans, H. 2016. Blending up solutions for nesting needs. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 4(4) (December), 31-32.

This article describes a creative solution to enable poor nest building mice to use compressed cotton squares: putting the squares in a blender for 5 seconds. This results in a billowy, completely shredded fluff that...

Merrill, C., Ordile, J. 2016. Litter box training of rabbits housed in pens. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 4(1) (March), 44-46.

At Pfizer’s Pearl River site, rabbits are socially housed in pairs or triples in dog runs that have been converted into rabbit pens. The daily husbandry and maintenance of these pens, however, proved to be...

Abou-Ismail, U. A., Mohamed, R. A., El-Kholya, S. Z. 2015. The effects of witnessing managemental procedures during the light versus the dark phase of the light cycle on behaviour, performance and welfare of laboratory rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 162, 47-57.

Research has indicated that witnessing managemental procedures are stressful to laboratory rats. Yet there has been little investigation into whether the time of witnessing these procedures affects behaviour and welfare in these animals. Ninety-six rats...

Lockworth, C. R., Kim, S., Liu, J. et al. 2015. Effect of enrichment devices on aggression in manipulated nude mice. JAALAS 54(6), 731-736.

Agonistic behavior in group-housed male mice is a recurring problem in many animal research facilities. Common management procedures, such as the removal of aggressors, are moderately successful but often fail, owing to recurrence of aggressive...

Pritchett-Corning, K. R., Gaskill, B. N. 2015. Lack of negative effects on Syrian hamsters and Mongolian gerbils housed in the same secondary enclosure. JAALAS 54(3), 261-266.

In cases where different species might be housed in the same room or secondary enclosure, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals recommends that the animals should be behaviorally compatible and have...

Li, Y., Rabey, K. N., Schmitt, D. et al. 2015. Characteristics of vibration that alter cardiovascular parameters in mice. JAALAS 54(4), 372-377.

We hypothesized that short-term exposure of mice to vibration within a frequency range thought to be near the resonant frequency range of mouse tissue and at an acceleration of 0 to 1 m/s2 would alter...

Prebble, J. L., Langford, F. M., Shaw, D. J. et al. 2015. The effect of four different feeding regimes on rabbit behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 169, 86-92.

Dietary composition and presentation impacts on the behaviour of animals, and failure to provide a suitable diet can lead to reduced welfare through the development of poor health, the inability to express normal behaviours and...

Jackson, E., Demarest, K., Eckert, W. J. et al. 2015. Aspen shaving versus chip bedding: Effects on breeding and behavior. Laboratory Animals 49(1), 46-56.

The choice of laboratory cage bedding material is often based on both practical and husbandry issues, whereas behavioral outcomes rarely appear to be considered. It has been noted that a breeding success difference appears to...

Bloomsmith, M., Kim, N., Franklin, A. et al. 2015. Positive reinforcement methods to train chimpanzees to cooperate with urine collection. JAALAS 54, 66-69.

Positive reinforcement training can be used in many ways to enhance the welfare of captive primates. Training for biologic sample collection is one application of positive reinforcement training. In this study, 35 adult female chimpanzees...

Maher, R. L., Barbash, S. M., Lynch, D. V. et al. 2015. Group housing and nest building only slightly ameliorate the cold stress of typical housing in female C57BL/6J mice. American Journal of Physiology 308(12), R1070-R1079.

Huddling and nest building are two methods of behavioral thermoregulation used by mice under cold stress. In the laboratory, mice are typically housed at an ambient temperature (Ta) of 20°C, well below the lower end...

Case, L., Yanagi, A., Loeser, E. et al. 2015. Human-animal relationships: The use of species-typical food calls and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) names: Welfare-oriented tools to manage sanctuary chimpanzees. Animal Behavior and Cognition 2(3), 254–266.

In captivity, positive human-animal interactions are often part of daily management procedures, which can enhance the welfare of animals and help caregivers with routine husbandry tasks. For example, the provisioning of food (produce or enrichment)...