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. 

Laboratory mice (Mus musculus) are susceptible to hypothermia, especially during anesthetic events, disease states, and exposure to environmental stressors. Thermal support devices for small mammals are numerous, but often require a power source and may...

Aggression among mice remains a common undesirable problem in laboratory settings, and animal welfare and scientific outcomes may become compromised depending on the severity of aggression. This study evaluated the effect of cage enrichment comprising...

NSAID analgesics may confound models that require inflammation to mimic disease development in humans. This effect presents a challenge for veterinary staff and investigators, because surgery is often necessary to create mouse models of disease...

Provision of liquid enteral nutrition (LEN) during the perioperative period is standard practice for rodents undergoing bariatric surgery, yet these diets are associated with several challenges, including coagulation of the liquid diet within the delivery...

Sleep disruption in humans, caused by shift work, can be detrimental to physical and behavioral health. Nocturnal laboratory mice may experience a similar disruption caused by human daytime activities, but whether this disruption affects their...

Recent studies have revealed some of the most frequently used analgesics in mice are not effectively treating postoperative pain. Our laboratory sought to compare and assess the validity and reliability of 2 cageside pain assessments...

Time-weighted exposure limits to ammonia are established for humans; however similar guidelines have not been defined for laboratory rodents. The Guide recommends maintaining air pollutants at concentrations below levels irritating to mucous membranes but does...

All currently accepted methods of euthanasia for laboratory mice involve some degree of stress, fear, anxiety, or pain. We evaluated the voluntary oral administration of a euthanasia drug in 99 male and 81 female mice...

Mice are the most widely used model species for drug discovery and scientific research. Consequently, it is important to refine laboratory procedures and practices to ensure high standards of welfare and scientific data quality. Recent...

Body temperature is a valuable parameter in determining the wellbeing of laboratory animals. However, using body temperature to refine humane endpoints during acute illness generally lacks comprehensiveness and exposes to inter-observer bias. Here we compared...

Voluntary wheel running occurs in mice of all strains, sexes, and ages. Mice find voluntary wheel running rewarding, and it leads to numerous health benefits. For this reason wheels are used both to enhance welfare...

The odor of blood may have both aversive and attractive properties for mammals, depending on the species of the odor donor and the species perceiving the odor. To better understand the informational content of blood...

Many animals display a suite of increased vigilance and/or activity responses in relation to upcoming events, termed “anticipatory behavior.” Anticipatory behavior toward positive events has been suggested as a cross‐species measure of affective state as...

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Welfare Group held a one-day meeting on 14 November 2017 in Weybridge, UK. The first session addressed meeting animals' needs and aiming for a 'good life', with the needs...

Surgical implantation of tumour pieces has been used regularly in the passage of tumour models. This involves an invasive surgical procedure, carried out under anaesthesia, ensuring mice have adequate pain relief and peri-operative care. The...

A three-week enrichment preference study trialling different substrates, food and pen structures was carried out in three, group-housed female New Zealand White Rabbits (NZW). Preference results: structural - rabbits spent the most time with a...

Recent research in the industry identified that picking up mice in a tunnel or cupping them in the hand significantly reduces their stress levels. As Animal Tecgnologists, we could see advantages and disadvantages with this...

Synchronisation of oestrous cycle is a commonly used method to manage pregnancies either for breeding or for research purposes. Based on Whitten effect, the aim of our study was to introduce a new refined method...

Common enrichment for mice is usually restricted to the floor and easily damaged, leading to frequent replacement. We have been studying the behaviour of NSG mice towards a 'swing' made from plastic cable ties. This...

A host of scholarly work has characterized the positive effects of exercise and environmental enrichment on behaviour and cognition in animal studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the uptake and longitudinal impact...

The aim of the present review is to discuss how housing conditions affect behavioral performance in laboratory rodents from an ethological view. Commonly used laboratory rodents such as rats and mice, are originally captured animals...

In natural environments, cattle use trees and other abrasive surfaces to scratch and groom themselves. Modern indoor dairy cattle housing systems often lack appropriate grooming substrates, restricting the animals’ ability to groom. We assessed the...

This work aimed at evaluating the effects of housing system, pen floor type, and lactation management on rabbit doe and kit performance throughout a reproductive cycle, including categorization of aggressiveness and injuries. Forty multiparous pregnant...

In the search for stress-free analgesia administration for laboratory mice suffering pain, oral delivery of Tramadol:Paracetamol (T:P) shows great promise. Here, we monitored the analgesic efficacy and side effects of a T:P combination administered solely...

Persistence of willingness to work has been used to measure the importance of resources and performance of species-specific behaviors. Our objectives were to develop and validate a “push-door” model to assess cattle motivation to lie...