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. 
Machado, M., Freitas Silveira, R. M., Machado Bittar, C. M. et al. 2023. Can the emotional state of calves be noticed by their facial expression and heart rate? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 260, 105874.

The aim of this study was to identify whether or not dairy calves change their facial expression and heart rate according to their emotional state when subjected to a stroking or umbrella stimulus. Thirty-two mixed-breed...

Bakony, M., Kovács, L., Kézér, L. F. et al. 2023. The use of body surface temperatures in assessing thermal status of hutch-reared dairy calves in shaded and unshaded conditions. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

The study was carried out in a Hungarian large-scale dairy farm during a 5-day period in hot August weather. Altogether 16 preweaning calves were chosen for the study. An agricultural mesh with 80% shielding was...

Brezov, D., Hristov, H., Dimov, D. et al. 2023. Predicting the rectal temperature of dairy cows using infrared thermography and multimodal machine learning. Applied Sciences 13(20), 11416.

The paper proposes an approach for estimating the rectal temperature of dairy cows based on the non-invasive real-time monitoring of their respiration rates and the temperature-humidity index (THI) of the environment, combined with the analysis...

Chiba, Y., Nozaki, I., Itoh, M. et al. 2023. Noninvasive measurement of blood calcium concentration using electrocardiography in peripartum Jersey cows. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

We previously developed a noninvasive method for measuring blood calcium concentration (Ca) in Holstein cows on site using electrocardiographic (ECG) variables and calving number, based on a high positive correlation between Ca. Jersey cows easily...

Poudel, S., Fike, J. H., Wright, L. et al. 2023. Non-invasive techniques reveal heifer response to fescue endophyte type in grazing studies. Animals 13(14), 2373.

Cattle grazing tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceous) infected with wild-type endophytes (WE) leads to a syndrome commonly known as fescue toxicosis. Replacing WE tall fescue with a novel endophyte-infected (NE) tall fescue can mitigate this problem...

Turcu, M.-C., Paștiu, A. I., Bel, L.-V. et al. 2023. Minimally invasive sampling methods for molecular sexing of wild and companion birds. Animals 13(21), 3417.

Birds are highly social and must be paired in order to increase their welfare. Most bird species are monomorphic; therefore, molecular sexing helps provide appropriate welfare for birds. Moreover, early sex determination can be of...

Barton, J. C., Didier, M. D., Silvestrini, P. et al. 2022. A noninvasive method of temperature measurement using a noncontact handheld infrared thermometer fails to correlate with rectal temperature in dogs and cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 260(7), 752-757.

OBJECTIVE: To perform a retrospective, multicenter observational study that compares the agreement of rectal temperature with the temperature measured with noncontact infrared thermometer (NCIT) in a population of dogs and cats. ANIMALS: 168 dogs and...

Giannetto, C., Acri, G., Pennisi, M. et al. 2022. Short communication: Use of infrared thermometers for cutaneous temperature recording: Agreement with the rectal temperature in Felis catus. Animals 12(10), 1275.

In veterinary medicine, the gold standard for assessing body temperature is rectal temperature assessment. Considering that this procedure is stressful for many species, in particular for cats, it could be clinically important to consider an...

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...

Böswald, L. F., Matzek, D., Mohr, H. et al. 2022. Morphometrics of Xenopus laevis kept as laboratory animals. Animals 12(21), 2986.

Morphometric data that provide information on body conditions can be used to monitor the health and well-being of animals. In laboratory animals, they can help to evaluate the stress due to experiments or treatments, following...

Kulyar, M. F.-A., Ashfaq, K., Aqib, A. I. et al. 2022. Enhanced healing activity of manuka honey and nitrofurazone composite in full-thickness burn wounds in the rabbit model. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 875629.

Burns cause many significant changes in metabolism and inflammatory reactions, leading to poor regeneration in animals and humans. A list of medicines to treat burns is available in the market. But due to the high...

Naidenko, S. V., Alekseeva, G. S., Klyuchnikova, P. S. et al. 2022. Application of felid hair for non-invasive tracking of animal reproductive status and adrenal activity. Animals 12(20), 2792.

Hair can be a useful matrix to examine the hormonal status of an animal, although it is difficult to correlate the results to a specific time point. The aim of this study was to evaluate...

Idris, M., Uddin, J., Sullivan, M. et al. 2021. Non-invasive physiological indicators of heat stress in cattle. Animals 11(1), 71.

Cattle are susceptible to heat stress, especially those kept on high levels of nutrition for the purpose of maximising growth rates, which leads to a significant heat increment in their bodies. Consequences include compromised health...

Kim, S., Hidaka, Y. 2021. Breathing pattern analysis in cattle using infrared thermography and computer vision. Animals 11(1), 207.

Breathing patterns can be considered a vital sign providing health information. Infrared thermography is used to evaluate breathing patterns because it is non-invasive. Our study used not only sequence temperature data but also RGB images...

Kovács, L., Kézér, F. L., Bodó, S. et al. 2021. Salivary cortisol as a non-invasive approach to assess stress in dystocic dairy calves. Scientific Reports 11(1), 6200.

The intensity and the magnitude of saliva cortisol responses were investigated during the first 48 h following birth in newborn dairy calves which underwent normal (eutocic, EUT, n = 88) and difficult (dystocic, DYS, n = 70) calvings. The...

Chmurska-Gąsowska, M., Sowińska, N., Pałka, S. et al. 2021. Non-invasive measurement of thyroid hormones in domestic rabbits. Animals 11(5), 1194.

Thyroid hormones are essential for metabolism, energy homeostasis and reproduction. Hormones can be measured in various biological source materials: blood, feces, urine, saliva and others. The aim of our study was to verify usefulness of...

Nagasawa, T., Ohta, M., Uchiyama, H. 2021. The urinary hormonal state of cats associated with social interaction with humans. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 680843.

Research to assess the relationship between cats and humans is in a nascent stage. Some studies have assessed the stress status in cats using physiological indicators, such as the cortisol hormone, but have not focused...

Huber, N., Mahr, K., Tóth, Z. et al. 2021. The stressed bird in the hand: Influence of sampling design on the physiological stress response in a free-living songbird. Physiology & Behavior 238, 113488.

Despite the widely used application of standardized capture-handling protocols to collect blood and assess the physiological stress response, the actual sampling design (e.g., timing and the number of blood samples) often differs between studies, and...

Lange, A., Waiblinger, S., van Hasselt, R. et al. 2021. Effects of restraint on heifers during gentle human-animal interactions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 243, 105445.

Gentle human-animal interactions can induce positive emotions in cattle and enhance their welfare. We investigated whether a change in the animals’ perceived control over the situation influences their perception of the interactions. We compared the...

Thomas, A. D., Orsel, K., Cortés, J. A. et al. 2021. Impact of digital dermatitis on feedlot cattle behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 244, 105468.

Digital dermatitis (DD) is an infectious disease affecting the bovine digital skin which can cause lameness and significantly affect animal welfare and economics. Digital dermatitis has emerged in feedlots and early identification of DD lesions...

Grigg, E. K., Ueda, Y., Walker, A. L. et al. 2021. Comparative assessment of heart rate variability obtained via ambulatory ECG and polar heart rate monitors in healthy cats: A pilot study. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 741583.

Chronic exposure to stressful environments can negatively impact cats' health and welfare, affecting behavioral, autonomic, endocrine, and immune function, as with cats in shelters. Low-stress handling practices likely improve shelter cat welfare, but data supporting...

Anderson, J., Kaplan-Stein, S., Adolph, S. et al. 2020. Assessment of non-contact infrared thermometer measurement sites in birds. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 23(2), 131-139.

The standard method of obtaining body temperature in a bird can be a stressful event, making routine evaluations challenging. Twenty-eight privately owned birds in good health were enrolled in the study to compare digital and...

Moody, C. M., Mason, G. J., Dewey, C. E. et al. 2020. Getting a grip: Cats respond negatively to scruffing and clips. Veterinary Record 186(12), 385.

Use of scruffing and scruffing tools (eg, clipnosis clips) to immobilise cats is contentious, and cat handling guidelines vary in recommendations regarding these techniques. The current study examined whether cats show negative responses to the...

Wang, P., Ma, Y., Liang, F. et al. 2020. Non-contact vital signs monitoring of dog and cat using a UWB radar. Animals 10(2), 205.

As pets are considered members of the family, their health has received widespread attention. Since pets cannot talk and complain when they feel uncomfortable, monitoring vital signs becomes very helpful in disease detection, as well...

Lowe, G., McCane, B., Sutherland, M. et al. 2020. Automated collection and analysis of infrared thermograms for measuring eye and cheek temperatures in calves. Animals 10(2), 292.

As the reliance upon automated systems in the livestock industry increases, technologies need to be developed which can be incorporated into these systems to monitor animal health and welfare. Infrared thermography (IRT) is one such...