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. 
Niklaus, S., Albertini, S., Schnitzer, T. et al. 2020. Challenging a myth and misconception: Red-light vision in rats. Animals 10(3), 422.

Due to the lack of L-cones in the rodent retina, it is generally assumed that red light is invisible to rodents. Thus, red lights and red filter foils are widely used in rodent husbandry and...

Araújo Tavares, G., Cavalcanti do Amaral Almeida, L., Araújo de Souza, J. et al. 2020. Early weaning disrupts feeding patterns in female juvenile rats through 5HT-system modulations. Behavioural Processes 170, 103981.

Convergent evidence in literature shows that rapid disruption of maternal care and breastfeeding due to an early weaning protocol changes the development of several neurobehavioral patterns in rodents, including the circadian pattern of feeding. The...

Ballantine, A., Rodgers, D., Watts, C. et al. 2020. The cotton rat – a new challenge. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(1), 92-95.

This poster describes how the Animal Technologists at Envigo adapted their current practices and procedures for a new species at their laboratory: the cotton rat. The paper describes cotton rat biology and behaviour; housing; environmental...

Stevens, C., Finnegan, E., Clarkson, J. et al. 2020. Report of the 2019 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 101-111.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 26 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues, and share experiences of...

Henderson, S. 2020. Development of a sifting cage change method for rats to improve welfare. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 145-148.

This poster describes the development of a sifting cage change method for rats to improve welfare. I came up with the idea after seeing how skittish and stressed the rats in my unit were and...

Dupepe, L. M., Dauchy, R. T., McAndrew, D. et al. 2020. Eliminating light-at-night contamination during a lab animal facility renovation. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(5) (September/October), 60-62.

Relocating laboratory animal research from one animal facility room to another in advance of major renovations can be a daunting task for scientists and animal care personnel alike. This is especially so regarding controlled lighting...

Murai, T., Sukoff Rizzo, S. J. 2020. The importance of complementary collaboration of researchers, veterinarians, and husbandry staff in the successful training of marmoset behavioral assays. ILAR Journal 61(2-3), 230-247.

Interest in marmosets as research models has seen exponential growth over the last decade, especially given that the research community is eager to improve on gaps with historical animal models for behavioral and cognitive disorders...

LaFollette, M. R., Swan, M. P., Smith, R. K. et al. 2019. The effects of cage color and light intensity on rat affect during heterospecific play. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 219, 104834.

Environmental enrichment provides physiological and emotional benefits to laboratory rodents. Red tinted shelters are a common enrichment found in laboratories that provide rodents with a hiding space shielded from bright light. Red tinting alters the...

King, J. 2019. Team awesome: Why we can be proud. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 127-131.

The presentation I gave at IAT Congress 2019 was based on the changes and refinements the University of Dundee, Medical School Resource Unit (MSRU) has made over the past 18 months. These changes, described in...

Makowska, I. J., Weary, D. M. 2019. A good life for laboratory rodents? ILAR Journal 60(3), 373-388.

Most would agree that animals in research should be spared “unnecessary” harm, pain, or distress, and there is also growing interest in providing animals with some form of environmental enrichment. But is this the standard...

McMahen, R., Williams, A. 2018. An easy way to trim guinea pig nails. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(2) (June), 39-40.

Here, we provide a few easy steps on how to trim guinea pigs’ nails.

Hawkins, P., Golledge, H. D. R. 2018. The 9 to 5 Rodent − Time for Change? Scientific and animal welfare implications of circadian and light effects on laboratory mice and rats. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 300, 20-25.

Rodents, particularly rats and mice, are the most commonly used laboratory animals and are extensively used in neuroscience research, including as translational models for human disorders. It is common practice to carry out scientific procedures...

Mogil, J. S. 2017. Laboratory environmental factors and pain behavior: The relevance of unknown unknowns to reproducibility and translation. Lab Animal 46(4), 136-141.

The poor record of basic-to-clinical translation in recent decades has led to speculation that preclinical research is “irreproducible”, and this irreproducibility in turn has largely been attributed to deficiencies in reporting and statistical practices. There...

Gordon, C. J., Puckett, E. T., Repasky, E. S. et al. 2017. A device that allows rodents to behaviorally thermoregulate when housed in vivariums. JAALAS 56(2), 173-176.

Laboratories and vivariums typically are maintained at ambient temperatures of 20 to 24 °C, leading to cold stress in mice. When mice are inactive and sleeping during the light phase, their zone of thermoneutrality associated...

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...

Laaksonen, S., Nevalainen, T., Ketola, J. et al. 2017. Behaviour, stress and welfare of Sprague Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus) on diet board feeding for 24 months. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 194, 86-94.

Diet board (DB) feeding aims to reduce the health hazards associated with ad libitum (AL) feeding. Rats have to gnaw wood to detach food from the DB, reducing their food consumption. We studied the welfare...

Danner, L., Rao, V. P. 2017. Should rat enrichment devices be used beyond a month? Laboratory Animal Science Professional 5(1) (March), 41-43.

Enrichment devices made of materials such as nylon and wood are common gnawing devices used in animal facilities. In most institutions, these devices are used for a limited period and then discarded. At Pfizer, enrichment...

Wallace, P. Y., Asa, C. S., Agnew, M. et al. 2016. A review of population control methods in captive-housed primates. Animal Welfare 25(1), 7-20.

The success of breeding primates in captivity has led to a surplus number of animals in collections. This review examines published journals and key books to investigate the various methods of primate population control. Hormonal...

Koontz, J. M., Kumsher, D. M., Kelly, R. 3rd et al. 2016. Effect of 2 bedding materials on ammonia levels in individually ventilated cages. JAALAS 55(1), 25–28.

This study sought to identify an optimal rodent bedding and cage-change interval to establish standard procedures for the IVC in our rodent vivarium. Disposable cages were prefilled with either corncob or α-cellulose bedding and were...

Fuller, G., Raghanti, M. A., Dennis, P. M. et al. 2016. A comparison of nocturnal primate behavior in exhibits illuminated with red and blue light. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 184, 126-134.

Over evolutionary time, light from the sun, moon, and stars has provided organisms with reliable information about the passage of time; but modern artificial lighting has drastically altered these cues. Evidence is accumulating that exposure...

Abou-Ismail, U. A., Mohamed, R. A., El-Kholya, S. Z. 2015. The effects of witnessing managemental procedures during the light versus the dark phase of the light cycle on behaviour, performance and welfare of laboratory rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 162, 47-57.

Research has indicated that witnessing managemental procedures are stressful to laboratory rats. Yet there has been little investigation into whether the time of witnessing these procedures affects behaviour and welfare in these animals. Ninety-six rats...

Bakker, J., Ouwerling, B., Hedit, P. J. et al. 2015. Advantages and risks of housing changes to improve animal wellbeing in a breeding colony of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). JAALAS 54(3), 273-279.

Between 1975 and 2014, housing conditions for laboratory-housed marmosets changed dramatically after the introduction of new guidelines designed to improve their care and wellbeing. According to these guidelines, our facility provided marmosets with outside enclosures...

Monts de Oca, N., Diaz, L., McMahen, D. et al. 2014. The use of lean management principles to enhance a nonhuman primate environmental enrichment program. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 580-581. (Abstract #P122).

Sewage back-up and overflows in the rooms of our primate facility initiated an analysis of the factors contributing to the clogging of the drains. An investigation reviewing the materials responsible for the clogging of the...

Sorensen, D. B. 2014. Shedding ultraviolet light on welfare in laboratory rodents: Suggestions for further research and refinement. Animal Welfare 23(3), 259-261.

The welfare of laboratory rats and mice is sought to be optimised through adjustment of a variety of environmental factors, including light intensity and photoperiodicity. However, the fact that rodents are able to perceive ultraviolet...