Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every three months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Links to the full text for publications that appear in open access journals or are published on the AWI website are provided under the abstract.

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 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. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
Escobedo-Bonilla, C. M., Quiros-Rojas, N. M., Rudín-Salazar, E. 2022. Rehabilitation of marine turtles and welfare improvement by application of environmental enrichment strategies. Animals 12(3), 282.
Sea turtles perform various ecological services in several marine environments and are considered architects of the marine landscape. At present, they are endangered species due to anthropogenic threats, pollution and degradation of marine habitats. These...
Rowe, E., Mullan, S. 2022. Advancing a “good life” for farm animals: Development of resource tier frameworks for on-farm assessment of positive welfare for beef cattle, broiler chicken and pigs. Animals 12(5), 565.
There is increasing recognition that farm animal welfare standards should ensure positive welfare, as well as prevent negative welfare. Resources that are valued by an animal and that provide opportunities to engage in motivated behaviours...
Reyes, F. S., Gimenez, A. R., Anderson, K. M. et al. 2022. Impact of stationary brush quantity on brush use in group-housed dairy heifers. Animals 12(8), 972.
Our objectives were to evaluate the effect of stationary brush quantity on brush use and competition in weaned dairy heifers naïve to brushes. Sixty-three Holstein heifers (95 ± 5.7 days old) were housed in groups...
Diggins, R., Burrie, R., Ariel, E. et al. 2022. A review of welfare indicators for sea turtles undergoing rehabilitation, with emphasis on environmental enrichment. Animal Welfare 31(2), 219-230.
For animals undergoing rehabilitation it is vital to monitor welfare in a way that is feasible, practical, and limits stress to the animal. The industry gold standard is to assess welfare under the Five Domains...
Houser, B., Vitale, K. R. 2022. Increasing shelter cat welfare through enrichment: A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 248, 105585.
Research into cat behavior has gained more attention in recent years. As one of the world’s most popular companion animals, work in this field has potential to have wide-reaching benefits. Cats living in shelters are...
Zhang, C., Juniper, D. T., Meagher, R. K. 2022. Effects of physical enrichment and pair housing before weaning on growth, behaviour and cognitive ability of calves after weaning and regrouping. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 249, 105606.
Housing unweaned calves individually in barren environments negatively affects their growth, cognitive ability, and adaptability to environmental changes in later life. Social housing has been shown to improve those aspects, whereas physical environmental enrichment has...
Lane, S., Williams, W., Mayo, M. 2022. The impact of environmental enrichment on red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys elegans). Laboratory Animal Science Professional 10(3) (May/June), 18-20.
This study aimed to determine whether tank enrichment improved positive species-specific behaviors (those that benefit the animals' overall well-being), such as basking, and/or decreased negative behaviors (those that may indicate stress, agitation, or discomfort), such...
To improve animal welfare in collective park housing systems, this study assessed the effects of the provision of gnawing hay blocks and the group composition (F: females, M: males, FM: mixed sex) on performance, behavior...
Thomas, A. D., Orsel, K., Cortés, J. A. et al. 2022. Objective determination and quantification of pain and inflammation associated with digital dermatitis in feedlot cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 253, 105684.
Digital dermatitis (DD) is an infectious skin disease in cattle that causes pain and discomfort, significantly impacting animal welfare. Although DD lesions are painful and prone to bleeding when touched, pain resulting from DD has...
Snipes, M. M., Wofford, K. A., Funk, A. L. et al. 2022. Modernization of wall guard railing for safe enrichment in feline housing facilities. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 10(5) (September/October), 50-51.
Creatively adapting older lab animal housing spaces to improve psychological well-being, welfare, and safety for animals is necessary to meet expectations for animal enrichment. Traditional lab animal facilities are designed to have functional, flexible, durable...
Spitzer, H. B., Meagher, R. K., Proudfoot, K. L. 2022. The impact of providing hiding spaces to farmed animals: A scoping review. PLoS ONE 17(11), e0277665.
Many wild animals perform hiding behaviours for a variety of reasons, such as evading predators or other conspecifics. Unlike their wild counterparts, farmed animals often live in relatively barren environments without the opportunity to hide...
Tuozzi, A., Arhant, C., Anderle, K. et al. 2021. Effects of human presence and voice on the behaviour of shelter dogs and cats: A preliminary study. Animals 11(2), 406.
Reading books to shelter animals combining auditory enrichment with human presence is increasingly used although its effects on animal welfare have not yet been investigated. This study compared the behaviour of single-housed shelter dogs and...
Guisnet, A., Maitra, M., Pradhan, S. et al. 2021. A three-dimensional habitat for C. elegans environmental enrichment. PLoS ONE 16(1), e0245139.
As we learn more about the importance of gene-environment interactions and the effects of environmental enrichment, it becomes evident that minimalistic laboratory conditions can affect gene expression patterns and behaviors of model organisms. In the...
da Silva, P. M. R. S., Ferreira, I. C., da Fonseca Neto, A. M. et al. 2021. Does environmental enrichment consisting of brushing prepartum zebu heifers improve first-lactation behavior? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 234, 105206.
To date, Qualitative Behavior Assessment (QBA) has not been used to measure the welfare of pre-partum Zebu heifers treated with practices of positive handling. The study objective was to investigate the effect of brushing as...
Meneses, X. C. A., Park, R. M., Ridge, E. E. et al. 2021. Hourly activity patterns and behaviour-based management of feedlot steers with and without a cattle brush. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105241.
Environmental enrichment (EE) can increase the environmental complexity of feedlots by providing mental and physical stimulation. The objectives of the study were to 1) identify hourly patterns of feedlot steer behaviour and 2) evaluate the...
Sørensen, D., Cloutier, S., Gaskill, B. (Eds.). 2021. Animal-centric Care and Management - Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and...
Zhang, C., Juniper, D. T., Meagher, R. K. 2021. Effects of physical enrichment items and social housing on calves’ growth, behaviour and response to novelty. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 237, 105295.
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of social housing, the provision of physical enrichment, and the interaction between the two on calf growth, behaviour and fearfulness. Forty-eight calves were randomly allocated...
Nagabaskaran, G., Burman, O. H. P., Hoehfurtner, T. et al. 2021. Environmental enrichment impacts discrimination between familiar and unfamiliar human odours in snakes (Pantherophis guttata). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 237, 105278.
Environmental enrichment has been found to significantly influence the cognitive abilities of a variety of mammalian and avian species, with effects ranging from positive to negative, however, these effects have been little studied in reptiles...
Hoehfurtner, T., Wilkinson, A., Nagabaskaran, G. et al. 2021. Does the provision of environmental enrichment affect the behaviour and welfare of captive snakes? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 239, 105324.
There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating the benefits of environmental enrichment across a range of different animal species. However, there is comparatively little such research into the effect of enrichment provision on captive reptiles...
Lambert, K. 2021. DIY: Dehydrated watermelon training chips. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(4) (July/August), 48.
This simple DIY training treat is great for NHP, swine, rabbits, rodents, and dogs. Note that dehydrated watermelon may resemble muscle tissue!
Hollandt, T., Baur, M., Wöhr, A.-C. 2021. Animal-appropriate housing of ball pythons (Python regius)—Behavior-based evaluation of two types of housing systems. PLoS ONE 16(5), e0247082.
Considering animal welfare, animals should be kept in animal-appropriate and stress-free housing conditions in all circumstances. To assure such conditions, not only basic needs must be met, but also possibilities must be provided that allow...
Learmonth, M. J., Sherwen, S., Hemsworth, P. H. 2021. Assessing preferences of two zoo-housed Aldabran giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) for three stimuli using a novel preference test. Zoo Biology 40(2), 98-106.
Recent research has uncovered many complex cognitive traits and affective processes in many reptile species, such as the ability to make choices that are rewarding or pleasurable. The investigation herein was initiated after many years...
Bannister, C. C., Thomson, A. J. C., Cuculescu-Santana, M. 2021. Can colored object enrichment reduce the escape behavior of captive freshwater turtles? Zoo Biology 40(2), 160-168.
The effect of environmental enrichment on the behavior and welfare in captivity of reptiles and of freshwater turtles in particular, which are popular aquarium and pet species, is very little studied compared to other taxa...
Snowdon, C. T. 2021. Animal signals, music and emotional well-being. Animals 11(9), 2670.
Playing music or natural sounds to animals in human care is thought to have beneficial effects. An analysis of published papers on the use of human-based music with animals demonstrates a variety of different results...
Desforges, E. 2021. Challenges and solutions surrounding environmental enrichment for dogs and cats in a scientific environment. Animals 11(10), 2980.
Dogs and cats housed in research-, kennel- and cattery-type settings are reliant on caregivers to optimise their day-to-day experiences and welfare. The goal is to provide enriching environments for physical, social and environmental control; behavioural...

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