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. 
Robinson, L. M., Weiss, A. (Eds.) 2023. Nonhuman Primate Welfare: From History, Science, and Ethics to Practice. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. 671 p.

This volume reviews the broad topic of welfare in nonhuman primates under human care. Chapters detail the history of primates in captivity, ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of nonhuman primates as entertainment or...

Seck, M., Jobling, R., Brown, A. F. 2023. Trialling locally made, low-cost bits to improve bit-related welfare problems in cart horses: Findings from a study in Senegal. Animals 13(1), 2.

Bits used for cart horses in Senegal are typically made of recovered construction iron and often have defects related to design, shape, fit and metal quality. Consequently, there is widespread presence of bit-related oral injury...

Buijs, S., Weller, J., Budan, A. 2023. When the measurement affects the object – Impact of a multi-part head/neck mounted wearable device on dairy cow behaviour, health and productivity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 263, 105937.

Wearable technology is increasingly used in both dairy research and commercial dairy farming. Assessment of how such wearables affect cows is of major importance to rule out reductions in welfare and productivity that would hamper...

Trujanovic, R., Rohrbach, H. 2023. Ultrasound-guided block of the sciatic and the femoral nerves in rabbits—A descriptive anatomical study. Animals 13(14), 2393.

The rabbit is a popular animal model for human biomechanical research involving surgery on the hind limb. Mortality is higher in rabbits when undergoing general anesthesia compared to dogs and cats. Moreover, due to their...

Benato, L., Murrell, J., Rooney, N. 2023. Determining a cut-off point for intervention analgesia in rabbits using the Bristol Rabbit Pain Scale. Veterinary Record 193(5), e2995.

Background: The objective of this study was to determine the threshold of the Bristol Rabbit Pain Scale (BRPS) indicating the need for intervention analgesia. Methods: Fourteen members of veterinary staff were recruited to rate rabbits...

Vidament, M., Bonneau, C., Lansade, L. 2023. Personality of equids: Donkeys and draught horses behave differently in fear and tactile sensitivity tests. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 269, 106113.

Horses and donkeys are used for agriculture, leisure, urban services and therapy. Although these two species obviously behave differently, it is important to measure their behavioural specificity when tested in the same situations and to...

Miller, A. L., Clarkson, J. M., Quigley, C. et al. 2022. Evaluating pain and analgesia effectiveness following routine castration in rabbits using behavior and facial expressions. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 782486.

Prevention of pain in rabbits is a priority for both welfare and validity of scientific data. We aimed to determine if the rabbit grimace scale (RbtGS) could be used as a viable, rapid assessment tool...

Torcivia, C., McDonnell, S. 2022. Efficacy of lidocaine topical solution in reducing discomfort reaction of horses to intramuscular vaccination. Animals 12(13), 1659.

Vaccinations via intramuscular injection are a key component of preventative health care in horses. Development of problematic behavioral aversion to injections is quite common. Our clinical impression has been that topical anesthetic applied to injection...

Knaebe, B., Weiss, C. C., Zimmermann, J. et al. 2022. The promise of behavioral tracking systems for advancing primate animal welfare. Animals 12(13), 1648.

Recent years have witnessed major advances in the ability of computerized systems to track the positions of animals as they move through large and unconstrained environments. These systems have so far been a great boon...

Paterson, E. A., Turner, P. V. 2022. Challenges with assessing and treating pain in research primates: A focused survey and literature review. Animals 12(17), 2304.

Research primates may undergo surgical procedures making effective pain management essential to ensure good animal welfare and unbiased scientific data. Adequate pain mitigation is dependent on whether veterinarians, technicians, researchers, and caregivers can recognize and...

Raspa, F., Tarantola, M., Bergero, D. et al. 2020. Stocking density affects welfare indicators in horses reared for meat production. Animals 10(6), 1103.

Horses kept for meat production are reared in intensive breeding farms. We employed a checklist adapted from the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) assessment protocol. Our evaluation aims to assess whether welfare indicators are influenced by...

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...

Rankins, E. M., Wickens, C. L. 2020. A systematic review of equine personality. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 231, 105076.

Examining the literature suggests equine personality is of interest to behavior and welfare scientists and those involved in the equine industry. Study and assessment of personality is critical because of the profound implications certain traits...

Raspa, F., Tarantola, M., Bergero, D. et al. 2020. Time-budget of horses reared for meat production: Influence of stocking density on behavioural activities and subsequent welfare. Animals 10(8), 1334.

Horses reared for meat production can be kept in intensive breeding farms where they are housed in group pens at high stocking densities. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the expressed behaviours correlated with...

Andrews, D. D., Fajt, V. R., Baker, K. C. et al. 2020. A comparison of buprenorphine, sustained release buprenorphine, and high concentration buprenorphine in male New Zealand white rabbits. JAALAS 59(5), 546-556.

Pain management in rabbits can be difficult because they are adept at hiding pain and can be stressed by handling and restraint for injection. The use of opioid analgesics with prolonged durations of activity could...

Van der Saag, D., Lomax, S., Windsor, P. A. et al. 2019. Effect of lignocaine and a topical vapocoolant spray on pain response during surgical castration of beef calves. Animals 9(4), 126.

This study assessed the efficacy of pre-operative injected lignocaine and peri-operative topical vapocoolant spray, administered as most practical for incorporation into routine calf castration procedures. Calves were randomly allocated to: (1) sham castration (SHAM); (2)...

Fogarty, E. S., Swain, D. L., Cronin, G. M. et al. 2019. A systematic review of the potential uses of on-animal sensors to monitor the welfare of sheep evaluated using the Five Domains Model as a framework. Animal Welfare 28(4), 407-420.

This systematic review explores the use of on-animal sensors in sheep and their potential application in objective welfare monitoring. The key questions posed were: To what extent can current scientific knowledge inform a sensor-based approach...

Raillard, M., Detotto, C., Grepper, S. et al. 2019. Anaesthetic and perioperative management of 14 male New Zealand white rabbits for calvarial bone surgery. Animals 9(11), 896.

Calvarial bone surgery on rabbits is frequently performed. This report aims to document a simple and practical anaesthetic and perioperative management for this procedure. Fourteen male New Zealand white rabbits were included in the study...

Finkemeier, M.-A., Oesterwind, S., Nürnberg, G. et al. 2019. Assessment of personality types in Nigerian dwarf goats (Capra hircus) and cross-context correlations to behavioural and physiological responses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 217, 28-35.

The assessment of personality in farm animals and its relation to other behavioural and physiological traits is of growing scientific and practical interest. Therefore, the aims of the present study were first to assess the...

Lutz, J., Burla, J.-B., Gygax, L. et al. 2019. Horned and dehorned dairy cows differ in the pattern of agonistic interactions investigated under different space allowances. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 218, 104819.

Limited space in dairy cattle farming is associated with frequent encounters between cows, often resulting in agonistic interactions and injuries, especially in horned cows. Previous studies with dairy cows investigated space allowances in the waiting...

Stevens, C., Hawkins, P., Lovell-Badge, R. et al. 2019. Report of the 2018 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 81-91.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Working Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 25 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues and...

Ede, T., von Keyserlingk, M. A. G., Weary, D. M. 2019. Assessing the affective component of pain, and the efficacy of pain control, using conditioned place aversion in calves. Biology Letters 15(10), 20190642.

Pain in animals is typically assessed using reflexive and physiological responses. These measures allow inferences regarding nociception but provide little basis for conclusions about the affective component of pain (i.e. how negatively the experience is...

Marti, S., Meléndez, D. M., Pajor, E. A. et al. 2019. Effect of a single dose of subcutaneous meloxicam before knife castration alone or combined with hot-iron branding on scrotal healing, inflammatory response, and behaviour in 2-mo-old beef calves over 42 d post procedure. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 99(1), 179-190.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single subcutaneous injection of meloxicam on scrotal healing, inflammatory response, and behaviour in castrated or castrated and branded beef calves for 42 d...

Dunbar, M. L., Walkowiak, K. J., Schappa Faustich, J. et al. 2019. Preliminary evaluation of sustained-release compared with conventional formulations of meloxicam in sheep (Ovis aries). JAALAS 58(3), 339-345.

Sustained-release (SR) drugs refine current analgesic regimens by alleviating the need for multiple sessions of handling and restraint and by reducing the local tissue irritation that can occur due to repeated injections. Although a variety...

Bellini, L., De Benedictis, G. M. 2019. Effect of three opioid-based analgesic protocols on the perioperative autonomic-mediated cardiovascular response in sheep. Laboratory Animals 53(5), 491–499.

Few reports evaluate the clinical effects of opioids in sheep during experimental surgical procedures. Catecholamine-mediated haemodynamic changes resulting from surgical noxious stimulation are blunted by opioids. The aim of this study was to evaluate the...