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. 
Hanniba, D., Beisner, B., Nathman, A. et al. 2018. Removals based on low within-matriline relatedness can reduce severe aggression in captive rhesus macaques. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 48 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #151).

Previous observational research of captive rhesus macaques suggests that higher coefficients of relatedness within matrilines are associated with lower rates of severe within‐matriline aggression and more cohesive grooming communities. We tested whether experimental removals targeted...

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...

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...

Clay, A. W., Bard, K. A., Bloomsmith, M. A. 2018. Effects of sex and early rearing condition on adult behavior, health, and well-being in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Behavioural Processes 156, 58-76.

Scientific evaluation of management strategies for captive species is part of the establishment of best practices for animal welfare. Here we report the effects of sex, rearing, and a sex-by-rearing interaction on adult, captive chimpanzees’...

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...

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...

Benedict, D., Megrath, B. 2018. Upgrades to nonhuman primate tethered infusion system. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(3) (September), 62-64.

Continuous tethered infusions in any animal model pose a unique set of problems. These problems are amplified when nonhuman primates are the model. A high tolerance to the tether system by an animal model is...

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.

Wilson, L. A., Miller, J. J., Work, R. K. et al. 2018. Novel diet regimen for rabbits in a compromised oral wound healing study. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(1) (March), 49-51.

Rabbits are known to be finicky about food and will reject it based upon several factors: odor, texture, form, or method of presentation. It can be an even greater challenge to get rabbits to eat...

Hopper, L. M., Cronin, K. A., Ross, S. R. 2018. A multi-institutional assessment of a short-form personality questionnaire for use with macaques. Zoo Biology 37(5), 281-289

There are two commonly used methods for calculating primates’ personality dimensions, behavioral assessments and surveys, which can be used separately or in conjunction. However, these methods have limitations. Behavioral assessments, such as the novel object...

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)...

Sommerville, R., Ruiz, R., Averós, X. 2017. A meta-analysis on the effects of the housing environment on the behaviour, mortality, and performance of growing rabbits. Animal Welfare 26(2), 223-238.

Although the number of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) produced in Europe is important, they are under-represented in welfare research. Studies on the effects of housing conditions have focused on performance and mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis...

Miranda, A., Pego, J. M., Correia-Pinto, J. 2017. Animal facility videoendoscopic intubation station: Tips and tricks from mice to rabbits. Laboratory Animals 51(2), 204-207.

Endotracheal intubation of laboratory animals is a common procedure shared by several research fields for different purposes, such as mechanical ventilation of anaesthetized animals, instillation of cytotoxic nanoparticles, infectious agents or tumour cells for induction...

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...

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...

Theil, J. H., Beisner, B. A., Hill, A. E. et al. 2017. Effects of human management events on conspecific aggression in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). JAALAS 56(2), 122-130.

Conspecific aggression in outdoor-housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at primate research facilities is a leading source of trauma and can potentially influence animal wellbeing and research quality. Although aggression between macaques is a normal part...

von Keyserlingk, M. A. G., Amorim Cestari, A., Franks, B. 2017. Dairy cows value access to pasture as highly as fresh feed. Scientific Reports 7, 44953.

Many dairy cows in the developed world are now housed exclusively indoors with fewer than 5% of the 10 million lactating cows in the United States having access to pasture during the grazing season. Indoor...

Hawkins, P., McNeilly, A., Watson, J. et al. 2017. Report of the 2016 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 77-86.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Welfare Group held a one-day meeting on 1 November 2016 at the University of Edinburgh and was attended by 70 delegates. Presentation topics included refinements in blood sampling rodents...

Carlson, A., Allen, C., Skoumbourdis, E. et al. 2017. Cooked food for non-human primates: A discussion by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 124-126.

"Do any of you give cooked food like pasta, potatoes or vegetables to non-human primates? What’s your experience? Do the animals benefit from cooked food; do they like it; does it affect their health in...

McGowan, R. T. S., Ellis, J. J., Bensky, M. K. et al. 2017. The ins and outs of the litter box: A detailed ethogram of cat elimination behavior in two contrasting environments. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 194, 67-78.

Few studies have sought to describe cat elimination behavior in detail and much of the information presently available focuses on factors that potentially cause cats to reject a litter box. Thus, the ethograms published in...

Mandel, R., Nicol, C. J. 2017. Re-direction of maternal behaviour in dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 195, 24-31.

In the milk producing industry, most aspects of maternal behaviour are discouraged, but milk production is actively maintained in the absence of the calf. The process of milk let down, is mediated, at least partly...