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. 
Omidi, A., Jafari, R., Nazifi, S. et al. 2018. Potential role for selenium in the pathophysiology of crib-biting behavior in horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 23, 10-14.

Crib-biting is a repetitive and compulsive behavior that is characterized by “grasping a fixed object with incisor teeth and aspirating air with an audible grunt.” Little is known about etiology and pathophysiology of crib-biting behavior...

Oelke, C. A., Lourdes Bernardi, M., Raymundo Nunes, P. et al. 2018. Physiological and behavioral response of sows fed with different levels of dietary fiber during gestation. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 28, 54-57.

Efficiency is not the only goal in animal production. Nowadays, consumers are very concerned about animal welfare and can decide their preferences based on this aspect. The present study evaluated the effect of variation in...

Wilson, L. A., Miller, J. J., Work, R. K. et al. 2018. Novel diet regimen for rabbits in a compromised oral wound healing study. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(1) (March), 49-51.

Rabbits are known to be finicky about food and will reject it based upon several factors: odor, texture, form, or method of presentation. It can be an even greater challenge to get rabbits to eat...

Diana, A., Manzanilla, E. G., Calderón Díaz, J. A. et al. 2017. Do weaner pigs need in-feed antibiotics to ensure good health and welfare? PLOS ONE 12(10), e0185622.

Antibiotics (AB) are used in intensive pig production systems to control infectious diseases and they are suspected to be a major source of antibiotic resistance. Following the ban on AB use as growth promoters in...

van der Meer, Y., Gerrits, W. J. J., Jansman, A. J. M. 2017. A link between damaging behaviour in pigs, sanitary conditions, and dietary protein and amino acid supply. PLOS ONE 12(5), e0174688.

The tendency to reduce crude protein (CP) levels in pig diets to increase protein efficiency may increase the occurrence of damaging behaviours such as ear and tail biting, particularly for pigs kept under suboptimal health...

Sommerville, R., Ruiz, R., Averós, X. 2017. A meta-analysis on the effects of the housing environment on the behaviour, mortality, and performance of growing rabbits. Animal Welfare 26(2), 223-238.

Although the number of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) produced in Europe is important, they are under-represented in welfare research. Studies on the effects of housing conditions have focused on performance and mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis...

Kliphuis, S. 2017. Humane Endpoints website huge success in Spain and the rest of the world. Laboratory Animals 51(2), 218-219.

The Humane Endpoints website (https://www.humane-endpoints.info/) provides information and training modules on how to recognize humane endpoints in laboratory animals. This helps to prevent further distress in the animals by removing the animals from the experiment...

Gaskill, B. N., Garner, J. P. 2017. Stressed out: providing laboratory animals with behavioral control to reduce the physiological effects of stress. Lab Animal 46(4), 142-145.

Laboratory animals experience a large amount of environmental stress. An animal’s environment can include both physiological and social stressors that may require an animal to adapt to maintain allostatic balance. For example, thermal stress can...

Vermeer, H., Dirx-Kuijken, N., Bracke, M. 2017. Exploration feeding and higher space allocation improve welfare of growing-finishing pigs. Animals 7(5), 36.

Lack of environmental enrichment and high stocking densities in growing-finishing pigs can lead to adverse social behaviors directed to pen mates, resulting in skin lesions, lameness, and tail biting. The objective of the study was...

Nordquist, R., van der Staay, F., van Eerdenburg, F. et al. 2017. Mutilating procedures, management practices, and housing conditions that may affect the welfare of farm animals: Implications for welfare research. Animals 7(2), 12.

A number of mutilating procedures, such as dehorning in cattle and goats and beak trimming in laying hens, are common in farm animal husbandry systems in an attempt to prevent or solve problems, such as...

Honeycutt, J. A., Nguyen, J. Q. T., Kentner, A. C. et al. 2017. Effects of water bottle materials and filtration on bisphenol A content in laboratory animal drinking water. JAALAS 56(3), 269-272.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins that are found in laboratory animal husbandry materials including cages and water bottles. Concerns about BPA exposure in humans has led to...

Leliveld, L. M. C., Düpjan, S., Tuchscherer, A. et al. 2017. Vocal correlates of emotional reactivity within and across contexts in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). Physiology & Behavior 181, 117-126.

Vocalizations have long been recognized to encode information about an individual's emotional state and, as such, have contributed to the study of emotions in animals. However, the potential of vocalizations to also encode information about...

Reed, B., Beatham, S., Carter, S. et al. 2017. Report of a RSPCA/APHA meeting on the welfare of wild animals used in research. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(1), 13-25. [Meeting Report]

This is a report of a one-day meeting jointly convened by the RSPCA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), which brought together around 70 researchers, veterinarians, animal technologists, regulators and others with an...

Hawkins, P., McNeilly, A., Watson, J. et al. 2017. Report of the 2016 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 77-86.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Welfare Group held a one-day meeting on 1 November 2016 at the University of Edinburgh and was attended by 70 delegates. Presentation topics included refinements in blood sampling rodents...

Carlson, A., Allen, C., Skoumbourdis, E. et al. 2017. Cooked food for non-human primates: A discussion by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 124-126.

"Do any of you give cooked food like pasta, potatoes or vegetables to non-human primates? What’s your experience? Do the animals benefit from cooked food; do they like it; does it affect their health in...

Casal-Plana, N., Manteca, X., Dalmau, A. et al. 2017. Influence of enrichment material and herbal compounds in the behaviour and performance of growing pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 195, 38-43.

Pigs reared in barren conditions are exposed to many different stressors, compromising their welfare and producing physiological and behavioural changes. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of environmental enrichment (EE) consisting...

Mesarec, N., Prevolnik Povše, M., Škorjanc, D. et al. 2017. Gangs of piglets: Welfare and growth of imprinted and guided weaners. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 195, 44-49.

Weaning stress accompanied by outburst of aggression is a critical point in pig production as it compromises piglets’ welfare and leads to poor growth rate and health problems. Therefore, a weaning methods to smoothen the...

de Ruyter, E. M., van Wetter, W. H. E. J., Lines, D. S. et al. 2017. Gradually reducing sow contact in lactation is beneficial for piglet welfare around weaning. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 193, 43-50.

This study tested whether a gradual reduction in sow contact during lactation, achieved through housing the sow in a ‘sow only’ area, would influence piglet stress responses to weaning. Gradual reduction in sow contact was...

Turner, S. P., Nevison, I. M., Desire, S. et al. 2017. Aggressive behaviour at regrouping is a poor predictor of chronic aggression in stable social groups. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 191, 98-106.

Commercial pigs globally are routinely mixed into new social groups. This results in regrouping aggression predominantly during the first 24h which compromises welfare and productivity. Chronic aggression persists thereafter and is also undesirable. Management strategies...

Greenwood, E. C., Plush, K. J., van Wettere, W.H.E.J. et al. 2017. A novel method for the analysis of social structure allows in-depth analysis of sow rank in newly grouped sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 189, 29-35.

Chronic stress response in fearful animals can result in depression of growth and reproductive performance. It is therefore important to be aware of at risk animals in the herd. Thus far ‘hierarchy’ calculations have involved...

McBride, S. D., Parker, M. O., Roberts, K. et al. 2017. Applied neurophysiology of the horse; implications for training, husbandry and welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 190, 90-101.

Understanding the neural circuits underlying equine behaviour has the potential to help optimise strategies of husbandry and training. This review discusses two areas of neurophysiological research in a range of species and relates this information...

Gülden, A., Büscher, W. 2017. The effect of a compressed air stimulus on blocking times in a concentrate feeding station for horses in group housing. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 191, 39-48.

Concentrate feeding stations are used to meet the different feeding requirements of group-housed horses. In practice, blocking times caused by horses remaining in the feeding station without concentrate allowance constrain the feeding process considerably. To...

Górecka-Bruzda, A., Jaworski, Z., Suwała, M. et al. 2017. Aversiveness of husbandry procedures for pre-weaned foals: A comparison using behavioural and physiological indices. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 191, 31-38.

Husbandry procedures are necessary for different purposes in horse breeding. The aim of the present study was to assess the aversiveness and effects on the horse-human relationship of a range of common husbandry procedures, in...

Roberts, K., Hemmings, A. J., McBride, S. D. et al. 2017. Causal factors of oral versus locomotor stereotypy in the horse. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 20, 37-43.

Stereotypic behaviors are commonly observed in domestic equids as they are in a range of captive nondomesticated species. Estimates suggest that 19.5%-32.5% of horses perform a stereotypy. The presence of these behaviors is thought to...

Rose, P. E., Nash, S. M., Riley, L. M. 2017. To pace or not to pace? A review of what abnormal repetitive behavior tells us about zoo animal management. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 20, 11-21.

Performance of abnormal repetitive behavior (ARB) is noted in many captive wild species. ARB can be categorized into 2 basic forms: those whose aim appears to be to compulsively reach an inappropriate goal and those...