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. 

Refinement of animal care and housing is an important shared goal - and challenge - of the team of research, veterinary, and animal care personnel charged with ensuring the wellbeing of laboratory animals. This study...

Documenting behavioral effects of routine procedures such as the cage washing process in nonhuman primate facilities is an important step in identifying procedures that may be stressful to the primates, and in determining ways to...

Veterinary technician Evelyn Skoumbourdis and environmental enrichment coordinator Casey Coke Murphy discuss proper feeding of small laboratory mammals.

Obesity is a concern with nonhuman primates (NHPs) housed in captivity for extended periods of time, mostly due to overfeeding and lack of exercise. This is often compounded by environmental enrichment programs that include different...

Provision of shade to dairy cattle in summer can alleviate negative effects of heat stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative importance of shade to lactating dairy cows in different ambient...

Concerns for the lives of animals have been voiced for centuries, with concerns about the welfare of agricultural animals increasing since the 1960s. Animal welfare concerns arise for many reasons: care about the quality of...

Valuable recommendations for the species-adequate housing and species-approriate care of guinea pigs; topics include Housing (enclosure size, substrate, shelter, nesting material), Environmental Enrichment, and Husbandry (light, temperature, humidity, cleaning).

This article provides details to consider when preparing to use animals in biomedical research. The stress of transport and receipt of animals into a new environment mandate the need for a period of stabilization and...

In common with all vertebrates, fish respond to environmental challenges with a series of adaptive neuro‐endocrine adjustments that are collectively termed the stress response. These in turn induce reversible metabolic and behavioural changes that make...

Many aspects of the research animal's housing environment are controlled for quality and/or standardization. Of recent interest is the potential for environmental enrichment to have unexpected consequences such as unintended harm to the animal, or...

Captive rhesus macaques are not intrinsically aggressive, but poor husbandry and handling practices can trigger their aggression towards conspecifics and towards the human handler. The statement 'rhesus macaques are so aggressive animals' is probably based...

The perceived benefits of permanent, pre-weaning mother-infant separation are not supported by scientific findings. ... As long as there is an excessive number of monkeys and insufficient cage space, there is no ethically legitimate reason...

Evidence indicates that allowing beef calves to stay in the maternal herd beyond the age of natural weaning promotes animal welfare and may enhance the cows' natural reproductive potential.

A survey of 96 primatological articles revealed that cage location of research monkeys is usually not mentioned (98%), in spite of the fact that the environment of upper- and lower-row housed animals markedly differs in...

Group housing [female] guinea pigs can save space and money, while improving housing standards. The authors describe enclosure design, enrichments, and husbandry techniques that facilitate group housing female guinea pigs. No data are included in...

The objective of toxicology and pharmacology studies is to detect change or variation from normal and to interpret the significance of such change, with the intention of assessing risk to man. With non-human primates (NHPs)...

Enrichment techniques designed to encourage captive primates to spend more species-appropriate amounts of time in foraging behaviours have been successful. The present study measured the behavioural effects of four feeding enhancements: two devices (mats and...

Differences in housing location and the amount of room disturbance associated with blood sampling have a significant impact on cell counts, but not on ACTH or cortisol levels. We believe that the critical factor that...

Eight single-caged adult rhesus macaques were given the choice of freely collecting their standard food ration, i.e. 33 biscuits, from an ordinary food box or working for its retrieval from a custom- made food puzzle...

Ninety-nine of the biscuits were placed in a freely accessible dish attached to the mesh of the front of the cage. Thirty-three biscuits were offered in a food puzzle. Twenty-five percent (4/16) of the subjects...

Review of the implications of experimental or management-related manipulations of the social environment of captive primates for the animals' welfare. Relatively little empirical work has been done on the effects of manipulation of the social...

An attempt was made to encourage more foraging behaviour in eight pair-housed adult rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). No special device and no special food were used. Daily commercial dry food rations consisting of 33 bar-shaped...

Ordinary feeder-boxes were converted into food puzzles by remounting them onto the mesh of the front of the cages, away from original access holes. The total amount of time [pair-housed] adult male rhesus macaques engaged...

New techniques were developed to avoid the manual transfer - and the associated health hazard - of caged macaques during handling procedures.