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. 
Vittis, Y., Kaler, J. 2020. Environmental and field characteristics associated with lameness in sheep: A study using a smartphone lameness app for data recording. Veterinary Record 186(12), 384.

Sheep lameness is a major concern among farmers and policymakers with significant impacts on animal welfare standards as well as financial and production performance. The present study attempts to identify the relative importance of environmental...

Serres, A., Hao, Y., Wang, D. 2020. Swimming features in captive odontocetes: Indicative of animals’ emotional state? Behavioural Processes 170, 103998.

Captive welfare studies in odontocete species have been mostly conducted on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) while the welfare of many other species’ -including endangered species- remains poorly studied. More research is needed to find and...

Marino, L., Rose, N. A., Visser, I. N. et al. 2020. The harmful effects of captivity and chronic stress on the well-being of orcas (Orcinus orca). Journal of Veterinary Behavior 35, 69-82.

Orcas are large, deep-diving cetaceans who are known for their global distribution, wide-ranging behavior, intelligence, and social complexity. They possess one of the largest and most complex brains in the mammalian kingdom. However, they are...

Ross, S. R., Leinwand, J. G. 2020. A review of research in primate sanctuaries. Biology Letters 16(4), 1620200033.

While non-human primate studies have long been conducted in laboratories, and more recently at zoological parks, sanctuaries are increasingly considered a viable setting for research. Accredited sanctuaries in non-range countries house thousands of primates formerly...

Costa, R., Leite Tamascia, M., Sanches, A. et al. 2020. Tactile stimulation of adult rats modulates hormonal responses, depression-like behaviors, and memory impairment induced by chronic mild stress: Role of angiotensin II. Behavioural Brain Research 379, 112250.

Physical touch can help to decrease the effects of stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of tactile stimulation on the hormonal and behavioral responses of young adult rats submitted to...

Schneeberger, K., Röder, G., Taborsky, M. 2020. The smell of hunger: Norway rats provision social partners based on odour cues of need. PLOS Biology 18(3), e3000628.

When individuals exchange helpful acts reciprocally, increasing the benefit of the receiver can enhance its propensity to return a favour, as pay-offs are typically correlated in iterated interactions. Therefore, reciprocally cooperating animals should consider the...

Składanowska-Baryza, J., Ludwiczak, A., Pruszyńska-Oszmałek, E. et al. 2020. Effect of two different stunning methods on the quality traits of rabbit meat. Animals 10(4), 700.

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of two different stunning methods on the level of blood stress indicators (cortisol, insulin, glucose) and rabbit meat quality. The experiment was conducted on crossbreds...

Reese, L., Baumgartner, K., von Fersen, L. et al. 2020. Feather corticosterone measurements of greater flamingos living under different forms of flight restraint. Animals 10(4), 605.

Deflighting zoo birds is a practice that receives increasing criticism due to its presumed incompatibility with animal welfare. To our knowledge, this is the first approach to address this problem in a scientific way. To...

Piirsalu, P., Kaart, T., Nutt, I. et al. 2020. The effect of climate parameters on sheep preferences for outdoors or indoors at low ambient temperatures. Animals 10(6), 1029.

Threshold temperatures for cold stress in sheep are not well understood, the available literature is somewhat dated and reports relate to winter temperatures that are relatively benign. Sheep’s preferences for outdoor versus indoor environments, when...

Frost, K., Shah, M., Leung , V. S. Y. et al. 2020. Aversion to desflurane and isoflurane in Sprague-Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus). Animals 10(6), 950.

Carbon dioxide and isoflurane are widely used for killing rats, yet may not truly achieve “euthanasia”, because they elicit aversion. The inhalant anesthetic desflurane is faster acting than isoflurane, representing a potential refinement. Using an...

Forrest, G., Sattar, A., Evenden, P. et al. 2020. A sweet change to the needle. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(1), 73-75.

The Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS) at the Royal Veterinary College in London suggested providing post-operative pain relief (carprofen) to rats in raspberry flavoured jelly to avoid the use of s.c. injections. This article provides a...

Ballantine, A., Rodgers, D., Watts, C. et al. 2020. The cotton rat – a new challenge. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(1), 92-95.

This poster describes how the Animal Technologists at Envigo adapted their current practices and procedures for a new species at their laboratory: the cotton rat. The paper describes cotton rat biology and behaviour; housing; environmental...

Améndola, L., Weary, D. M. 2020. Understanding rat emotional responses to CO2. Translational Psychiatry 10, 253.

The aim of this review is to summarize evidence regarding rat emotional experiences during carbon dioxide (CO2) exposure. The studies reviewed show that CO2 exposure is aversive to rats, and that rats respond to CO2...

Hedenqvist, P., Trbakovic, A., Mellgren, T. et al. 2020. The effect of housing environment on bone healing in a critical radius defect in New Zealand white rabbits. PLOS ONE 15(5), e0233530.

In animal studies on bone healing, the effect of housing space and physical activity are seldom taken into account. Bone formation was evaluated in New Zealand White rabbits (mean ± SEM BW: 3.9 ± 0.11...

Okabe, S., Takayanagi, Y., Yoshida, M. et al. 2020. Gentle stroking stimuli induce affiliative responsiveness to humans in male rats. Scientific Reports 10, 9135.

Gentle tactile stimuli have been shown to play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of affiliative social interactions. Oxytocin has also been shown to have similar actions. We investigated the effects of gentle...

Kneeland, M. R., Spagnuolo, V. A., Evers, D. C. et al. 2020. A novel method for captive rearing and translocation of juvenile common loons. Zoo Biology 39(4), 263–270.

Common loons (Gavia immer) are diving waterbirds that are particularly challenging to keep in captivity due to their specific behavioral and physiologic needs, special housing requirements, and susceptibility to stress‐related disease. We report a novel...

Bari, M. S., Downing, J. A., Dyall, T. R. et al. 2020. Relationships between rearing enrichments, range use, and an environmental stressor for free-range laying hen welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 480.

Enrichments during pullet rearing may improve adaptation and welfare of hens as they move from indoor rearing to a free-range system. Individual variation in outdoor ranging may also affect welfare. This study assessed the effects...

Turner, P. V., Hickman, D. L., van Luijk, J. et al. 2020. Welfare impact of carbon dioxide euthanasia on laboratory mice and rats: A systematic review. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 411.

Background: There has been increased concern about the suitability of CO2 as a method for euthanasia of laboratory mice and rats, including the potential discomfort, pain or distress that animals may experience prior to loss...

Reinhardt, V. (ed.) 2020. It’s Okay to Cry - Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum [LAREF], Volume V. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

This is the 5th volume of selected discussions that took place on the electronic Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum between February 2016 and December 2019. The forum was created in October 2002; it allows...

Stevens, C., Finnegan, E., Clarkson, J. et al. 2020. Report of the 2019 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 101-111.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 26 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues, and share experiences of...

Shomer, N. H., Allen-Worthington, K. H., Hickman, D. L. et al. 2020. Review of rodent euthanasia methods. JAALAS 59(3), 242–253.

The optimal choice of euthanasia method for laboratory rodents depends on a number of factors, including the scientific goals of the study, the need to minimize animal pain and/or distress, applicable guidelines and laws, the...

Laferriere, C. A., Pang, D. S. 2020. Review of intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital as a method of euthanasia in laboratory rodents. JAALAS 59(3), 254–263.

Euthanasia is one of the most commonly performed procedures in biomedical research, involving tens of millions of animals in North America and Europe every year. The use of sodium pentobarbital, injected intraperitoneally, for killing rodents...

Augustin, A. J., Crabbs, M. A., Sour, M. C. et al. 2020. Efficient, effective, reusable, and customizable social housing for chickens in the laboratory. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(5) (September/October), 56-58.

The Iowa State University Laboratory Animal Resources Department needed caging specifically designed and purposed to socially house chickens in the laboratory. As indoor housing requests for chickens increased, the need for a dedicated caging system...

Bill, J., Rauterberg, S. L., Herbrandt, S. et al. 2020. Agonistic behavior and social hierarchy in female domestic rabbits kept in semi-groups. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 38, 21-31.

In semi-natural mixed-sex groups, rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) organize their social life by forming a hierarchy, which is characterized by linearity and stability. Compared to the natural environment, many factors are different in contemporary breeding systems...

Gebhardt-Henrich, S. G., Jordan, A., Toscano, M. J. et al. 2020. The effect of perches and aviary tiers on the mating behaviour of two hybrids of broiler breeders. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 233, 105145.

Broiler breeders are kept for the production of fertile eggs. They face serious welfare problems like aggressive behaviour of the males towards females during mating. Furthermore, broiler breeders are usually kept without perches which are...