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. 
O’Driscoll, K., Lewis, E., Kennedy, E. 2019. Effect of feed allowance at pasture on the lying behaviour of dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 213, 40-46.

In temperate climates where cows are primarily managed at pasture shortages of grass could result in nutritional deficits for the cow and may have a variety of behavioural consequences. Lying behaviour is one of the...

Tuomisto, L., Huuskonen, A., Jauhiainen, L. et al. 2019. Finishing bulls have more synchronised behaviour in pastures than in pens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 213, 26-32.

The objective of the present study was to compare the synchronisation of the lying, feeding and standing behaviour of bulls housed in an uninsulated barn and in a pasture. Dairy (Ayrshire and Holstein-Friesian) and beef...

Grau, C., Leclercq, J., Descout, E. et al. 2019. Ethanol and a chemical from fox faeces modulate exploratory behaviour in laboratory mice. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 213, 117-123.

Mice are macrosmatic animals that use olfaction as their main source of information to increase fitness; they process predator cues to assess risk, and plants and fruit cues to find nutritional resources and assess their...

Orihuela, A., Galina, C. S. 2019. Effects of separation of cows and calves on reproductive performance and animal welfare in tropical beef cattle. Animals 9(5), 223.

Nursing a calf suppresses postpartum ovarian activity prolonging the period of anestrus. Diverse methods are used to reduce the effect of suckling; the most popular, restricted suckling, reduces the number of encounters mother-calf. Temporal weaning...

O'Connor, C., Dowling, S., Cave, V. et al. 2019. Cow lying behaviour and bedding quality changes during five weeks on a stand-off pad. Animals 9(5), 257.

Bedding quality and cow lying time were measured during five weeks in a normal farm practice (NFP) off-paddock system with no bedding refreshment. Two groups of 100 non-lactating dairy cows were compared to groups of...

LaFollette, M. R., Swan, M. P., Smith, R. K. et al. 2019. The effects of cage color and light intensity on rat affect during heterospecific play. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 219, 104834.

Environmental enrichment provides physiological and emotional benefits to laboratory rodents. Red tinted shelters are a common enrichment found in laboratories that provide rodents with a hiding space shielded from bright light. Red tinting alters the...

Filby, E. 2019. Give us a break! Animal Technology and Welfare 18(1), 45-48.

Literature is replete with studies on stressors to laboratory rodents; knowing the impact research and husbandry interventions, such as routine cage changing, have on rodents’ stress levels, physiology and behaviour, we hypothesised that animals recovering...

Stevens, C., Hawkins, P., Lovell-Badge, R. et al. 2019. Report of the 2018 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 81-91.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Working Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 25 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues and...

White, M. 2019. Pro’s and pro’s of selective cleaning. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 121-126.

The Kathleen Lonsdale Building (KLB), is a high specification, high health status animal facility that is a full IVC facility with an integral quarantine section. It houses transgenic (TG) mice, inbred, outbred and immuno-suppressed mice...

King, J. 2019. Team awesome: Why we can be proud. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 127-131.

The presentation I gave at IAT Congress 2019 was based on the changes and refinements the University of Dundee, Medical School Resource Unit (MSRU) has made over the past 18 months. These changes, described in...

Yao, L., Li, Y., Qian, Z. et al. 2019. Loss of control over mild aversive events produces significant helplessness in mice. Behavioural Brain Research 376, 112173.

This article is about the importance of giving mice control over what happens to them. Most of the pathophysiology of depression are still unknown because of its numerous disease states of distinct etiology and pathogenesis...

Nash, C. G. R., Kelton, D. F., Vasseur, E. et al. 2019. A survey of practices implemented to improve cow comfort following an initial assessment on Canadian dairy farms. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 99(1), 107-115.

The objectives of this study were to determine the difficulty of implementing changes to improve cow comfort on Canadian dairy farms, to determine if any changes were implemented to improve dairy cow comfort following an...

Marti, S., Meléndez, D. M., Pajor, E. A. et al. 2019. Effect of a single dose of subcutaneous meloxicam before knife castration alone or combined with hot-iron branding on scrotal healing, inflammatory response, and behaviour in 2-mo-old beef calves over 42 d post procedure. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 99(1), 179-190.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single subcutaneous injection of meloxicam on scrotal healing, inflammatory response, and behaviour in castrated or castrated and branded beef calves for 42 d...

Kelln, L., Newkirk, R. W., Smillie, J. et al. 2019. Does pellet size affect the ability of beef heifers to consume a pelleted supplement in a simulated grazing model? Canadian Journal of Animal Science 99(4), 943-950.

The objective was to evaluate pellet consumption and refusals as affected by pellet size. Six ruminally cannulated heifers were used in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square. Heifers were individually housed and fed a...

Bellin, M. A., Reitnauer, K. J., Gomez, A. M. et al. 2019. Evaluation of a synthetic bedding substrate for mice (Mus musculus). JAALAS 58(2), 154-159.

This study compared a synthetic bedding substrate (SBS), which has the potential to be a particulate-free animal bedding system, with the standard woodchip bedding. The objective was to demonstrate that the SBS is habitable for...

Taylor, J. L., Noel, P., Mickelsen, M. 2019. Evaluation of a 16-week change cycle for ventilated mouse cages. JAALAS 58(4), 443-449.

The methods and conditions for housing research mice have been the subject of many discussions and publications in recent years. At our institution, we began to explore these matters with the goal of reducing stress...

ur Rahman, M. A., Xia, C., Ji, L. et al. 2019. Nutrient intake, feeding patterns, and abnormal behavior of growing bulls fed different concentrate levels and a single fiber source (corn stover silage). Journal of Veterinary Behavior 33, 46-53.

Twenty-eight bulls weighing 227 ± 6.8 (SD) kg were randomly assigned to four concentrate levels (1-1.5 kg [low level of concentrate {LC}], 1.5-2 kg [medium level of concentrate], 2-2.5 kg [high level of concentrate {HC}]...

Jensen, T. L., Kiersgaard, M. K., Mikkelsen, L. F. et al. 2019. Fasting of male mice – Effects of time point of initiation and duration on clinical chemistry parameters and animal welfare. Laboratory Animals 53(6), 587–597.

Fasting of mice is a common procedure, which can affect the outcome of the study as well as animal welfare. In this study, we assess the effects of fasting, fasting duration and fasting initiation time...

Robinson-Junker, A., O’Hara, B., Durkes, A. et al. 2019. Sleeping through anything: The effects of unpredictable disruptions on mouse sleep, healing, and affect. PLOS ONE 14(1), e0210620.

Many aspects of the laboratory environment are not tailored to the needs of rodents, which may cause stress. Unpredictable stressors can cause ulcers, prolonged pituitary-adrenal activation, and anhedonia. Similarly, pain has been demonstrated to slow...

Kojima, T., Oishi, K., Matsubara, Y. et al. 2019. Cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid biting fly attack. PLOS ONE 14(10), e0223447.

Experimental and comparative studies suggest that the striped coats of zebras can prevent biting fly attacks. Biting flies are serious pests of livestock that cause economic losses in animal production. We hypothesized that cows painted...

Wang, X., Zhang, Y., Lu, T. et al. 2019. The effect of cage ventilation rate on the health of mice housed in Individually Ventilated Cages. Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science 45(3).

The number of air changes per hour (ACH), an important index for individually ventilated cages (IVC), strongly affects the cage microenvironment and the health of laboratory animals. The objective of this study was to determine...

Franchi, G. A., Herskin, M. S., Jensen, M. B. 2019. Dairy cows fed a low energy diet before dry-off show signs of hunger despite ad libitum access. Scientific Reports 9, 16159.

Drying-off is one important management step in commercial dairy farms and consists of ceasing milk production artificially at a specific point in time, generally 2 months before the next calving. Drying-off typically comprises dietary changes...

Barabas, A. J., Aryal, U. K., Gaskill, B. N. 2019. Proteome characterization of used nesting material and potential protein sources from group housed male mice, Mus musculus. Scientific Reports 9, 17524.

Laboratory mice (Mus musculus) communicate a variety of social messages through olfactory cues and it is often speculated that these cues are preserved in nesting material. Based on these speculations, a growing number of husbandry...

Schwarzkopf, S., Kinoshita, A., Kluess, J. et al. 2019. Weaning Holstein calves at 17 weeks of age enables smooth transition from liquid to solid feed. Animals 9(12), 1132.

Development of calves depends on prenatal and postnatal conditions. Primiparous cows were still maturing during pregnancy, which can lead to negative intrauterine conditions and affect the calf’s metabolism. It is hypothesized that weaning calves at...

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...