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. 
Edwards, S. (Ed.) 2021. Understanding the behaviour and improving the welfare of pigs. Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited, Sawston, Cambridge, UK. 594 p.

With growing concern from consumers and regulatory agencies about the welfare of farmed animals such as pigs, the livestock sector must assess how animal welfare can be improved whilst ensuring livestock production remains economically and...

Soriano, V. S., Stamm, F. O., Taconeli, C. A. et al. 2020. To dock or not to dock? Faecal soiling measurement in sheep. Animal Welfare 29(1), 81-87.

Faecal soiling is one of the welfare indicators in the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for sheep (Ovis aries) and is measured by dag scores. Studies on dag scoring for ewes with docked and undocked tails...

Harris, C., White, P., Mohler, V. et al. 2020. Electroencephalography can distinguish between pain and anaesthetic intervention in conscious lambs undergoing castration. Animals 10(3), 428.

Australian sheep routinely undergo painful surgical husbandry procedures without anaesthesia or analgesia. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been shown to be a successful measure of pain in livestock under a general anaesthetic. The aim of this study...

Kells, N. J., Beausoleil, N. J., Godfrey, A. J. R. et al. 2020. Effect of analgesic strategies on pain behaviour associated with combined ring castration and hot iron tail docking in Merino lambs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 222, 104914.

Most countries don’t require analgesia to be provided to lambs

Kress, K., Weiler, U., Schmucker, S. et al. 2020. Influence of housing conditions on reliability of immunocastration and consequences for growth performance of male pigs. Animals 10(1), 27.

Immunocastration is a sustainable alternative to piglet castration but faces limited market acceptance. The phenomenon of non-responders has not to date been examined in detail, but adverse and stressful housing conditions (e.g., mixing of groups)...

Byrd, C. J., Radcliffe, J. S., Craig, B. A. et al. 2020. Measuring piglet castration pain using linear and non-linear measures of heart rate variability. Animal Welfare 29(3), 257-269.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether linear and non-linear measures of heart rate variability (HRV) could be used as indicators of piglet castration pain. Thirty piglets were allocated to 1 of 4...

Park, R. M., Cramer, M. C., Wagner, B. K. et al. 2020. A comparison of behavioural methodologies utilised to quantify deviations in piglet behaviour associated with castration. Animal Welfare 29(3), 285-292.

Surgical castration is a painful procedure that is routinely performed without pain relief on commercial pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) farms. Previous research has focused on quantifying piglet pain response through behaviours. However, to date, behavioural...

Bøgh, N., Agger, P., Omann, C. et al. 2020. New device for noninvasive telemetric monitoring of vital signs in healthy and newly operated piglets. JAALAS 59(1), 90–93.

Measuring vital signs is central to medical practice, but they are difficult to monitor in awake laboratory animals. We examined the feasibility of a noninvasive device [Cortrium C3 device] for telemetric assessment of respiration rate...

Millecam, J., van Bergen, T., Devreese, M. 2020. Gastrostomy tube placement via a laparotomic procedure in growing conventional piglets to perform multidose preclinical paediatric drug studies. Laboratory Animals 54(3), 261-271.

The use of juvenile conventional pigs as a preclinical animal model to perform pharmacokinetic (PK), pharmacodynamic (PD) and safety studies for the paediatric population is increasing. Repetitive oral administration of drugs to juvenile pigs is...

Hagemeister, K., Ernst, L., Kadaba Srinivasan, P. et al. 2020. Severity assessment in pigs after partial liver resection: Evaluation of a score sheet. Laboratory Animals 54(3), 251–260.

Severity assessment in biomedical research is required by the European authorities. Therefore, a variety of score sheets are available. The first score sheets were designed and introduced by Morton and Griffith (M&G) in 1985, to...

Saller, A. M., Werner, J., Reiser, J. et al. 2020. Local anesthesia in piglets undergoing castration—A comparative study to investigate the analgesic effects of four local anesthetics on the basis of acute physiological responses and limb movements. PLOS ONE 15(7): e0236742.

Surgical castration of male piglets without analgesia is a painful procedure. This prospective, randomized and double-blinded study aimed to evaluate the analgesic effects of four different local anesthetics for piglet castration during the first week...

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...

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...

Rydén, A., Manell, E., Biglarnia, A. et al. 2020. Nursing and training of pigs used in renal transplantation studies. Laboratory Animals 54(5), 469-478.

The pig is commonly used in renal transplantation studies since the porcine kidney resembles the human kidney. To meet the requirements of intense caretaking and examination without stress, a 2-week socialisation and training programme was...

Masłowska, K., Mizzoni, F., Dwyer, C. M. et al. 2020. Qualitative behavioural assessment of pain in castrated lambs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 233, 105143.

This study investigates for the first time the application of Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) to the analysis of acute pain expression in castrated lambs. Eighty 2-day-old male lambs were allocated to one of 4 groups...

Chou, J.-Y., Sandercock, D. A., D'Eath, R. B. et al. 2020. A High Enrichment replenishment rate reduces damaging behaviors and increases growth rate in undocked pigs kept in fully slatted pens. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 584706.

One of the difficulties in complying with the prohibition of routine tail docking is a lack of effective alternative solutions to prevent tail biting, especially in fully slatted systems. This study compared three slat-compatible enrichment...

Ferrer, L. M., Lacasta, D., Ortín, A. et al. 2020. Impact of a topical anaesthesia wound management formulation on pain, inflammation and reduction of secondary infections after tail docking in lambs. Animals 10(8), 1255.

We examined several procedures for surgical tail docking; with and without general anaesthesia (GA), including the use of a topical wound gel formulation to provide pain relief (PR) and improve healing after surgery, containing local...

Grant, E. P., Wickham, S. L., Anderson, F. et al. 2020. Preliminary findings on a novel behavioural approach for the assessment of pain and analgesia in lambs subject to routine husbandry procedures. Animals 10(7), 1148.

The identification and assessment of pain in sheep under field conditions are important, but, due to their stoic nature, are fraught with many challenges. In Australia, various husbandry procedures that are documented to cause pain...

Morrison, R., Hemsworth, P. 2020. Tail docking of piglets 1: Stress response of piglets to tail docking. Animals 10(9), 1701.

This experiment compared the stress responses of piglets to tail docking. Two hundred and eighty-eight piglets were allocated to the following treatments at 2 d post-farrowing: (1) sham handling treatment; (2) surgical castration; (3) tail...

Morrison, R., Hemsworth, P. 2020. Tail docking of piglets 2: Effects of meloxicam on the stress response to tail docking. Animals 10(9), 1699.

This experiment compared the stress responses of piglets to tail docking. Two hundred and eighty-eight piglets were allocated to the following treatments at 2 d post-farrowing: (1) sham handling treatment; (2) surgical castration; (3) tail...

Sheil, M., Polkinghorne, A. 2020. Optimal methods of documenting analgesic efficacy in neonatal piglets undergoing castration. Animals 10(9), 1450.

Analgesic products for piglet castration are critically needed. This requires extensive animal experimentation such as to meet regulatory-required proof of efficacy. At present, there are no validated methods of assessing pain in neonatal piglets. This...

Ober, R. A., Geist, G. E. 2020. Assessment of a noninvasive chronic glucose monitoring system in euglycemic and diabetic swine (Sus scrofa). JAALAS 59(4), 430-437.

Models of type-I diabetes are well-characterized and commonly used in the preclinical evaluation of drugs and medical devices. The diabetic minipig is an excellent example of a translational model. However, chronic glucose monitoring in this...

Harper, S. B., Bayne, K., Anderson, K. E. 2020. High-containment agriculture animal research: An AAALAC International perspective. ILAR Journal 61(1), 10-17.

Institutions that conduct high-containment agricultural research involving domestic livestock represent a specialized category of programs that are accredited by AAALAC International. The accreditation process includes a comprehensive assessment of the overall program of animal care...

Nawroth, C., Gygax, L. 2020. The legislative, ethical, and conceptual importance of replicability in farm animal welfare science. agriRxiv 2020, 20203211980.

In this commentary, we discuss three replicability issues that are specifically relevant to research regarding farm animal welfare: (1) Legislative action, and its potential economic consequences, should derive from robust and replicable research to benefit...

Nalon, E., De Briyne, N. 2019. Efforts to ban the routine tail docking of pigs and to give pigs enrichment materials via EU Law: Where do we stand a quarter of a century on? Animals 9(4), 132.

In its role as guardian of the Treaties, the European Commission must ensure that Member States enforce EU law within their territories. If adequate enforcement is found to be wanting, the Commission also has the...