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. 
Schmitz, S., Tacke, S., Guth, B. et al. 2017. Repeated anaesthesia with isoflurane and medetomidine-midazolam-fentanyl in guinea pigs and its influence on physiological parameters. PLOS ONE 12(3), e0174423.

Repeated anaesthesia may be required in experimental protocols and in daily veterinary practice, but anaesthesia is known to alter physiological parameters in GPs (Cavia porcellus, GPs). This study investigated the effects of repeated anaesthesia with...

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...

Tsang, B., Zahid, H., Ansari, R. et al. 2017. Breeding zebrafish: A review of different methods and a discussion on standardization. Zebrafish 14(6), 561-573.

In recent years, a rapidly increasing number of scientific papers have been published that utilize zebrafish (Danio rerio) as an alternative model organism in the study of a wide range of biological phenomena from cancer...

Pasmans, F., Bogaerts, S., Braeckman, J. et al. 2017. Future of keeping pet reptiles and amphibians: Towards integrating animal welfare, human health and environmental sustainability. Veterinary Record 181(17), 450.

The keeping of exotic pets is currently under debate and governments of several countries are increasingly exploring the regulation, or even the banning, of exotic pet keeping. Major concerns are issues of public health and...

Reupke, V., Walliser, K., Perl, T. et al. 2017. Total intravenous anaesthesia using propofol and sufentanil allows controlled long-term ventilation in rabbits without neuromuscular blocking agents. Laboratory Animals 51(3), 284-291.

The aim of this study was to evaluate a total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) protocol using propofol and sufentanil without neuromuscular blocking agents (NBAs) for a non-recovery lung pathology study in rabbits including 10 h of...

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...

Gaskill, B. N., Garner, J. P. 2017. Stressed out: providing laboratory animals with behavioral control to reduce the physiological effects of stress. Lab Animal 46(4), 142-145.

Laboratory animals experience a large amount of environmental stress. An animal’s environment can include both physiological and social stressors that may require an animal to adapt to maintain allostatic balance. For example, thermal stress can...

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...

De Lombaert, M. C. M., Rick, E. L., Krugner-Higby, L. A. et al. 2017. Behavioral characteristics of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) after MS222 anesthesia for fin excision. JAALAS 56(4), 377-381.

The health of laboratory animals is an ethical responsibility of researchers and a critical determinant of experimental outcome. Therefore, all Husbandry & Management procedures should be evaluated for their effects on mortality, behavior, and physiology...

Williams, M. D., Long, C. T., Durrant, J. R. et al. 2017. Oral transmucosal detomidine gel in New Zealand White rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). JAALAS 56(4), 436-442.

Handling and restraining rabbits for routine procedures may be impossible without prior sedation, result in unnecessary stress or injury to the rabbit or handler, and increase experimental variability. Parenteral administration of sedatives can cause stress...

Chatigny, F., Kamunde, C., Creighton, C. M. et al. 2017. Uses and doses of local anesthetics in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. JAALAS 56(3), 244-253.

Local anesthetics are an integral part of routine pain management in mammals, yet their use is relatively limited in fish, amphibians and reptiles. These animals frequently undergo potentially painful surgical procedures and therefore could possibly...

Honeycutt, J. A., Nguyen, J. Q. T., Kentner, A. C. et al. 2017. Effects of water bottle materials and filtration on bisphenol A content in laboratory animal drinking water. JAALAS 56(3), 269-272.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins that are found in laboratory animal husbandry materials including cages and water bottles. Concerns about BPA exposure in humans has led to...

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...

Phillips, B. E., Posner, L. P., Lewbart, G. A. et al. 2017. Effects of alfaxalone administered intravenously to healthy yearling loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) at three different doses. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 250(8), 909-917.

OBJECTIVE To compare physiologic and anesthetic effects of alfaxalone administered IV to yearling loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) at 3 different doses. DESIGN Randomized crossover study. ANIMALS 9 healthy yearling loggerhead sea turtles. PROCEDURES Animals...

Reed, B., Beatham, S., Carter, S. et al. 2017. Report of a RSPCA/APHA meeting on the welfare of wild animals used in research. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(1), 13-25. [Meeting Report]

This is a report of a one-day meeting jointly convened by the RSPCA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), which brought together around 70 researchers, veterinarians, animal technologists, regulators and others with an...

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...

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...

Van Os, J. M. C., Mintline, E. M., DeVries, T. J. et al. 2017. Motivation of naïve feedlot cattle to obtain grain and individual responses to novelty. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 197, 68-74.

Beef cattle may be fattened before slaughter using a high-energy, grain-based diet. Although previous research suggests cattle prefer grain, their motivation to obtain this feed has not been quantified. The objective of this study was...

Buchli, C., Raselli, A., Bruckmaier, R. et al. 2017. Contact with cows during the young age increases social competence and lowers the cardiac stress reaction in dairy calves. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 187, 1-7.

Separating calf and cow within 24h after birth is common practice in dairy farms. Some dairy farmers, however, practice a rearing system in which the calves are nursed by their dam or by foster cows...

Meagher, R. K., Weary, D. M., von Keyserlingk, M. A. G. 2017. Some like it varied: Individual differences in preference for feed variety in dairy heifers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 195, 8-14.

Motivation to explore is believed to be widespread among animals, but exploratory behaviour varies within populations. Offering variety in feed is one simple way of allowing intensively housed dairy cattle to express exploratory foraging behaviour...

Sutherland, M. A., Lowe, G. L., Watson, T. J. et al. 2017. Dairy goats prefer to use different flooring types to perform different behaviours. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 197, 24-31.

Flooring is an important component of indoor housing systems for livestock as it can impact animal hygiene and welfare. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the lying and elimination preferences of goats...