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. 
Golledge, H., Richardson, C. (Eds.) 2024. The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other Research Animals (9th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. 1040 p.

The latest edition of the seminal reference on the care and management of laboratory and research animals. The newly revised ninth edition of The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other...

Warner-Hough, M. 2024. Enriching the lives of zebra finches. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 12(1) (January/February), 28-30.

Zebra finches are an uncommon animal model in the biomedical industry but are widely used in language development, memory, and learning studies. Native to Australia, they are desert birds that like warm days and 40%+...

Mantz, M., Pugerud, A. 2024. Overcoming the hurdles of lab animal enrichment: Natural behaviors vs. scientific need. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 12(1) (January/February), 32-34.

The Animal Resources Core (ARC) at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) faces many of the same challenges other institutions manage in terms of enrichment for laboratory animals. A Behavior...

Brennan, J. 2024. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Not much if they’re provided with the right enrichment! Laboratory Animal Science Professional 12(1) (January/February), 46-48.

Husbandry & Management,Environmental Enrichment

Kelly, R., Rose, P. E. 2024. Assessing the impact of environmental enrichment on behavior in understudied armadillo species: A case study. Zoo Biology 43(1), 100–109.

The implementation of environmental enrichment (EE) can be effective in promoting zoo animal welfare by enhancing the performance of natural or species-typical behaviors. Research on the effects of EE is biased towards larger mammalian species...

Urrego, A. C. B., Aguilar, D. A. B. 2024. Impact of diet and environmental enrichment management in stereotyped behaviours: A case study in tayra Eira barbara. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 12(1), 49–55.

Holistic approaches have been implemented to minimise stress expressed as stereotypies associated with low welfare conditions, which can arise from a range of factors such as frustration, adaptation attempts and neurological problems. Such behaviour was...

Herlofson, E. A. G., Tavola, F., Engdahl, K. S. et al. 2023. Evaluation of primary wound healing and potential complications after perioperative infiltration with lidocaine without adrenaline in surgical incisions in dogs and cats. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 65(1), 21.

Pre-emptive local analgesia with the use of lidocaine is practised increasingly in veterinary medicine as part of applied multimodal analgesia, despite its controversial impact on wound healing. The purpose of this prospective, randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled...

Marks, C. A., Allen, L., Lindeberg, H. 2023. Non-lethal dose-response models replace lethal bioassays for predicting the hazard of para-animopropiophenone to Australian wildlife. Animals 13(3), 472.

Para-aminopropiophenone (PAPP) is a potent methaemoglobin (MetHb) forming agent used for the lethal control of exotic carnivores and mustelids. To assess the sensitivity of Australian wildlife to PAPP we developed an in vivo assay that...

Lucchini, K., Umeed, R., Parreira dos Santos, P. J. et al. 2023. Tactile responses to environmental enrichment in captive Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 261, 105879.

Tactile signals are essential for Antillean manatee communication and survival because they facilitate interactions with conspecifics and the environment. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about tactile signal usage. This study aimed to assess captive Antillean...

Meira, J. E. S., Nogueira-Filho, S. L. G., Mendl, M. et al. 2023. Responses to environmental enrichment are associated with personality characteristics in chestnut-bellied seed finches (Sporophila angolensis). Behavioural Processes 204, 104801.

Environmental enrichment (EE) is used to promote natural behaviours in captive animals and may hold promise as a form of pre-release training, a strategy for improving coping skills of translocated birds. We investigated the use...

Deininger, M. M., Benner, C.-F., Strudthoff, L. J. et al. 2023. Post-mortem extracorporeal membrane oxygenation perfusion rat model: A feasibility study. Animals 13(22), 3532.

The development of biomedical soft- or hardware frequently includes testing in animals. However, large efforts have been made to reduce the number of animal experiments, according to the 3Rs principle. Simultaneously, a significant number of...

Henaut, Y., Delfour, F. 2023. Manatees in zoological parks throughout the world: History, state, and welfare. Animals 13(20), 3228.

The order Sirenia comprises several species of manatees and one species of dugong. These popular marine mammals are relatively recent acquisitions to zoological parks throughout the world. As far as we know, there are less...

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...

Vullo, C., Falcone, A., Marino, G. et al. 2023. Comparison between the effects of epidural lidocaine, tramadol, and lidocaine–tramadol on postoperative pain in cats undergoing elective orchiectomy. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 65(1), 33.

In veterinary clinical practice, orchiectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures for cats and is performed mainly in young animals. The purpose of this study was to compare three different epidural (EP) analgesic...

Powell, J., Collins, T., Beaty, T. et al. 2023. A fat tailed what?!: Navigating husbandry for the fat tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata). Laboratory Animal Science Professional 11(4) (July/August), 46-48.

FTDs are Australian carnivorous nocturnal marsupials, whose diet, environmental needs, and enrichment vary from typical research species. Due to the limited working knowledge on the husbandry and care of this species in a biomedical setting...

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...

Gardhouse, S., Beaufrere, H., Hawkins, M. G. et al. 2023. Evaluation of oral transmucosal administration of pentobarbital for euthanasia of conscious wild birds. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 26(1), 4–14.

This prospective study evaluated oral transmucosal pentobarbital sodium at three doses in 110 wild-caught wild birds requiring euthanasia. Birds received transmucosal pentobarbital at five (430 mg/kg), six (516 mg/kg), and seven times (602 mg/kg) the...

Libonate, S. T., Suchak, M. 2023. Predictors of the use of enrichment items in colony housed shelter cats. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 26(3), 300–312.

Colony rooms provide cats with many opportunities to use enrichment, but animal shelters usually have finite resources to provision items. This study examined how cats select enrichment items when given a variety of options. Our...

Okabe, K., Fukuizumi, H., Kawamura, A. et al. 2023. An investigation of browsing enrichment, especially non-leaf foraging, on giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) at Kyoto City Zoo in Japan. Zoo Biology 42(1), 157–161.

Browsing enrichment may aid in developing species-specific behaviors for giraffes managed in zoos as a means of improving animal welfare. By nature, giraffes are tree-feeding animals, including tree bark, but the extent of food other...

Rossi, A. P., dos Santos, C. R. C., Maia, C. M. et al. 2023. Rescued cats prefer to scratch fabrics commonly used to cover upholstered furniture. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 26(3), 313–324.

Preference responses of cats for scratching fabrics commonly used on furniture were evaluated during four consecutive days in three Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that rescue companion animals. Cats were grouped and their choices were registered at...

Sato, S. T. M., de Farias, M. R., Daros, R. R. 2023. Enrichment sessions as a complementary therapy for hospitalized cats: Implications for stress reduction and sporotrichosis’ lesion recovery. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 269, 106114.

Sporotrichosis treatment in cats requires long-term isolation of infected animals. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of environmental enrichment sessions on the behaviour and lesion progression of cats hospitalized for sporotrichosis...

Trelfa-Stewart, E., Cox, L. 2023. Battle of the enrichments: Comparing the impact of nutritional and sensory enrichment on the behaviour of captive lowland tapirs Tapirus terrestris. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 11(3), 336–344.

Environmental enrichment is used to improve the welfare of captive animals by providing increased environmental variety, the provision of choice, and the opportunity to develop competency. The efficacy of a range of environmental enrichment should...

LaFollette, M. R., Cloutier, S., Brady, C. M. et al. 2023. Benchmarking enrichment efforts in the US & Canada across species and enrichment categories. JAALAS 62(4), 303–316.

Enrichment is important for animal welfare and data quality. Provision of enrichment opportunities varies between species and enrichment category. However, data benchmarking these differences does not exist. Our objective was to characterize enrichment provision and...

Brereton, J., Rose, P. 2022. An evaluation of the role of 'biological evidence' in zoo and aquarium enrichment practices. Animal Welfare 31(1), 13-26.

Evidence-based approaches are key to advancing all areas of zoo and aquarium practice. Output from empirical study must be disseminated to those within the industry so that results can support changes to husbandry and management...

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...