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. 
Hawkins, P., McBride, A., Paiba, G. et al. 2018. Report of the 2017 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 75-83. [Meeting Report]

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...

Pearson, K., Gant, J. 2018. Improving rabbit enrichment: Developing a rolling enrichment plan. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 121-123.

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...

King, R. L., Baxter, E. M., Matheson, S. M. et al. 2018. Sow free farrowing behaviour: Experiential, seasonal and individual variation. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 208, 14-21.

Although sow confinement at farrowing is inherently stressful, farrowing crates remain in widespread commercial use. Sows adapt to their environment, however adaptation may be counter-productive if the farrowing system changes. The current study observed the...

Schild, S.-L. A., Rangstrup-Christensen, L., Bonde, M. et al. 2018. The use of a shaded area during farrowing and lactation in sows kept outdoors. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 209, 22-29.

The hut temperature in outdoor pig production during summer can exceed the upper critical temperature of lactating sows. Therefore, sows may experience hyperthermia, a condition which has several adverse consequences for the welfare of both...

Edwards, G. L., Michael, J. A., Parks., A. 2018. Agricultural animals as biomedical models: Occupational health and safety considerations. ILAR Journal 59(2), 161-167.

The use of agricultural animals in biomedical research is increasing. Their overall size and metabolic rate, organ size, longer gestation period, and other physiological similarities make them good candidates for animal models of human disease...

White, E., Fernandez, J., Wilson, J. M. 2018. Mini-pig urine collection within a laboratory environment. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(1) (March), 36-39.

Urinalysis is a commonly used method of evaluating urinary tract or kidney function and to screen for progression of experimentally induced models of infection, urinary tract disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension, among others. The ideal...

Maia, C. M., Volpato, G. L. 2017. Preference index supported by motivation tests in Nile tilapia. PLOS ONE 12(4), e0175821.

The identification of animal preferences is assumed to provide better rearing environments for the animals in question. Preference tests focus on the frequency of approaches or the time an animal spends in proximity to each...

Rodrigues, M. V., de Castro, S. O., de Albuquerque, C. Z. 2017. The gingival vein as a minimally traumatic site for multiple blood sampling in guinea pigs and hamsters. PLOS ONE 12(5), e0177967.

Laboratory animals are still necessary in scientific investigation and vaccine testing, but while novel methodological approaches are not available for their replacement, the search for new, humane, easy, and painless methods is necessary to diminish...

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...

Pluschke, A. M., Simmons, G. S., Keates, H. L. et al. 2017. An updated method for the jugular catheterization of grower pigs for repeated blood sampling following an oral glucose tolerance test. Laboratory Animals 51(4), 397-404.

Jugular catheterization is a common procedure used under experimental conditions. However, there is considerable variation in the reported techniques, particularly for grower pigs (>40 kg and 10 mL) are required. This paper provides a complete...

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...

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...

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...

Holmes, J., Waters, D., Maisonave, I. et al. 2017. Social interaction for non-sibling pregnant New Zealand white rabbits on reproductive toxicology. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 139-141.

Rabbits are gregarious animals that live in social groups in the wild so individually housing our animals, while meeting the present scientific objectives, restricts their natural social behaviour. How to meet the social needs of...

Bulens, A., Van Beirendonck, S., Van Thielen, J. et al. 2017. Hiding walls for fattening pigs: Do they affect behavior and performance? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 195, 32-37.

The prevalence of harmful and unwanted behavior in fattening pigs is influenced by different factors including housing. Housing may include the opportunity to hide from aggressive pen mates and this ability is related to pen...

Zomeño, C., Birolo, M., Zuffellato, A. et al. 2017. Aggressiveness in group-housed rabbit does: Influence of group size and pen characteristics. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 194, 79-85.

The aim of this work was to study how the group size and the number of doorways in a pen may influence the aggressive interactions throughout the reproductive cycle among does kept in a part-time...

Bryan, K., Bremner-Harrison, S., Price, E. et al. 2017. The impact of exhibit type on behaviour of caged and free-ranging tamarins. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 193, 77-86.

The lack of appropriate stimuli associated with captive environments has been documented to cause several behavioural and physiological issues in captive species, including loss of natural behaviours, psychopathologies and decreased reproductive success. Providing free-ranging, naturalistic...

Cooper, J. E., Hull, G. 2017. Gorilla Pathology and Health: With a Catalogue of Preserved Materials. Elsevier/Academic Print, London, UK.

Gorilla Pathology and Health: With a Catalogue of Preserved Materials consists of two cross-referenced parts. The first, the book itself, is a review of pathological changes and tissue responses in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla and G...

van Nieuwamerongen, S. E., Mendl, M., Held, S. et al. 2017. Post-weaning social and cognitive performance of piglets raised pre-weaning either in a complex multi-suckling group housing system or in a conventional system with a crated sow. Animal Cognition 20(5), 907–921.

We studied the social and cognitive performance of piglets raised pre-weaning either in a conventional system with a sow in a farrowing crate (FC) or in a multi-suckling (MS) system in which 5 sows and...

Martín, O., Vinyoles, D., García-Galea, E. et al. 2016. Improving the welfare of a zoo-housed male drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus poensis) aggressive toward visitors. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 19(4), 323-334.

Improving the welfare of nonhuman animals in captivity and maintaining behavioral competence for future conservation purposes is of the highest priority for zoos. The behavior of an aggressive male drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus poensis) was assessed...

Byrd, C. P., Winnicker, C., Gaskill, B. N. 2016. Instituting dark-colored cover to improve central space use within guinea pig enclosure. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 19(4), 408-413.

Domestic guinea pigs (Cavia aperea f. porcellus) in laboratories have been shown to actively avoid the centers of their cages. This experiment tested a novel, dark-colored “shader” placed over the central portion of a cage...

Cornale, P., Macchi, E., Renna, M. et al. 2016. Effect of cage type on fecal corticosterone concentration in buck rabbits during the reproductive cycle. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 19(1), 90-96.

Fecal corticosterone concentration (FCC) was measured in 14 buck rabbits individually housed in standard-dimension cages (SC) or in bigger cages (BC; with a volume more than double that of SC and equipped with a plastic...

Ross, S. R., Shender, M. A. 2016. Daily travel distances of zoo-housed chimpanzees and gorillas: Implications for welfare assessments and space requirements. Primates 57(3), 395-401.

The degree to which the relatively smaller area of artificial environments (compared with natural habitats) has measureable effects on the behavior and welfare of captive animals has been debated for many years. While there is...

Hooper, J. 2016. An assessment of enrichment strategies for sanctuary housed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi). Canopy 17(1), 14-16.

From May- July 2014, I conducted research within a private spider monkey sanctuary, Ecoparque el Fenix, in Campeche, Mexico, home to 20 spider monkeys obtained from the illegal pet trade. Limited financial resources had resulted...

Enser, S. 2016. Comparison of housing and welfare of group housed rabbits. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 77-79.

This poster is based on welfare improvements gained from group housing rabbits in floor pens in the new Antibody Production Facility with a focus on development, behaviours and environmental enrichment in both male and female...