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. 
Jung, L., Brenninkmeyer, C., Niebuhr, K. et al. 2020. Husbandry conditions and welfare outcomes in organic egg production in eight European countries. Animals 10(11), 2102.

In the European research project HealthyHens, welfare indicators as well as husbandry and management conditions were recorded in 107 organic laying hen farms in eight countries. Farms were visited at peak and end of lay...

Monckton, V., Ellis, J. L., Harlander-Matauschek, A. 2020. Floor substrate preferences of chickens: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 584162.

Environmental enrichment promotes sensory and motor stimulation for species-typical behaviors, which in turn enhance animal well-being. For farmed Galliformes, housing systems often limit enrichment to bedding and litter, that simultaneously act as material for dustbathing...

Monckton, V., van Staaveren, N., Baes, C. F. et al. 2020. Are turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) motivated to avoid excreta-soiled substrate? Animals 10(11), 2015.

The soiling of bedding on modern turkey farms combined with turkeys’ reduced ability and opportunity to perch and roost at elevation, forces them to spend most, if not all, of their time in contact with...

Rokavec, N., Zupan Šemrov, M. 2020. Psychological and physiological stress in hens with bone damage. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 589274.

Abnormalities in bone development in humans and non-humans can lead to impaired physical and psychological health; however, evidence is lacking regarding the role of individual psychosocial factors in the development of poor bone conditions. Addressing...

Rufener, C., Rentsch, A. K., Stratmann, A. et al. 2020. Perch positioning affects both laying hen locomotion and forces experienced at the keel. Animals 10(7), 1223.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of perch positioning on laying hens’ locomotion and the resulting energy experienced at the keel. Twenty Nick Chick and 20 Brown Nick hens were trained...

de Castro Travnik, I., de Souza Machado, D., de Silva Gonçalves, L. et al. 2020. Temperament in domestic cats: A review of proximate mechanisms, methods of assessment, its effects on human—cat relationships, and one welfare. Animals 10(9), 1516.

Temperament can be defined as interindividual differences in behavior that are stable over time and in different contexts. The terms ‘personality’, ‘coping styles’, and ‘behavioral syndromes’ have also been used to describe these interindividual differences...

Rufiange, M., Leung, V. S.Y., Simpson, K. et al. 2020. Prewarming followed by active warming is superior to passive warming in preventing hypothermia for short procedures in adult rats (Rattus norvegicus) under isoflurane anesthesia. JAALAS 59(4), 377-383.

General anesthesia is a common procedure in laboratory rats; however, it impairs thermoregulation, rapidly leading to hypothermia as warm core blood is distributed to the cooler periphery. The protective strategy of prewarming before the onset...

Blanchett, M., Finegan, E., Atkinson, J. 2020. The effects of increasing visitor and noise levels on birds within a free-flight aviary examined through enclosure use and behavior. Animal Behavior and Cognition 7(1), 49–69.

Visitors in a zoo environment have the potential to impact the animals that they are viewing in a variety of ways. Recently, there have been suggestions that free-range enclosures, where visitors can walk directly through...

Estien, C., O’Connell, C., Francis, X. et al. 2020. Temporary behavioral responses to playbacks by a pest parrot and implications for management. Animal Behavior and Cognition 9(4), 363–384.

Human-wildlife interactions continue to increase due to anthropogenic disturbances, with some interactions resulting in conflict. Leveraging a taxa’s bias for a particular sensory cue is a promising management avenue for reducing the potential and realized...

Pedersen, I. J., Forkman, B. 2019. Improving leg health in broiler chickens: A systematic review of the effect of environmental enrichment. Animal Welfare 28(2), 215-230.

Leg problems are highly prevalent in modern broiler production and provision of environmental enrichment could be a strategy to improve leg health. Different types of environmental enrichment have undergone evaluation. Our objective was to conduct...

Decina, C., Berke, O., van Staaveren, N. et al. 2019. An investigation of associations between management and feather damage in Canadian laying hens housed in furnished cages. Animals 9(4), 135.

Feather pecking is a continuous welfare challenge in the housing of egg-laying hens. Canada is currently making the transition from conventional cages to alternative housing systems. However, feather damage (FD) among laying hens due to...

Sadeghi, M.-H., Sari, M., Mohammadabadi, T. et al. 2019. Effect of a short-term training on intake of Halocnemum strobilaceum forage by sheep. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 213, 74-80.

Halocnemum strobilaceum (Chenopodiaceae) is a halophyte plant that can produce relatively high consumable biomass during drought and it is important for sustaining grazing animals when other plants are rare. Previous studies indicate that sheep may...

McGlone, J. J., Garcia, A., Thompson, W. G. et al. 2019. Maternal-neonatal pheromone/interomone added to cat litter improves litter box use and reduces aggression in pair-housed cats. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 22(2), 127-138.

Introducing a new cat into a household with one or more resident cats can be a significant source of stress for the cats involved. These studies sought to determine if rabbit maternal-neonatal pheromone (2-methyl-2-butenal [2M2B])...

Arechavala-Lopez, P., Saraiva, J. L. 2019. Welfare of Cultured and Experimental Fishes. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI, 132 pages.

This open access book is a printed edition of the Special Issue on Welfare of Cultured and Experimental Fishes that was published in the journal Fishes. The PDF is free for download.

Silva, P. F., de Leaniz, C. G., Luchiari, A. C. 2019. Fear contagion in zebrafish: A behaviour affected by familiarity. Animal Behaviour 153, 95-103.

Emotional contagion has recently been described in fish but whether it is affected by familiarity is not known. We tested whether the sight of a distressed conspecific elicited fear in zebrafish, Danio rerio, and whether...

Larrondo, C., Bustamante, H., Paredes, E. et al. 2019. Long-term hyperalgesia and traumatic neuroma formation in tail-docked lambs. Animal Welfare 28(4), 443-454.

This study aimed to determine if tail-docking induces long-term hyperalgesia, chronic pain and histopathological changes in tail stumps of tail-docked lambs. Fifty male lambs of 45 days of age were randomly allocated in two groups...

Decina, C., Berke, O., van Staaveren, N. et al. 2019. Development of a scoring system to assess feather damage in Canadian laying hen flocks. Animals 9(7), 436.

Feather damage (FD) due to feather pecking behavior is an ongoing welfare concern among commercial egg-laying hens. Canada's current transition from conventional cage housing to alternative housing systems, where FD can spread easily within large...

Struthers, S., Gupta, A., Gomis, S. et al. 2019. Understanding how infrared beak treatment affects the beak tissue and the healing response of brown and white feathered layer pullets. Animals 9(9), 665.

Infrared beak treatment has less of a negative impact on laying hen welfare compared to other methods of beak treatment; however, it is still not fully understood how infrared beak treatment affects the beak tissue...

Frayne, J., MacDonald Murray, S., Croney, C. et al. 2019. The behavioural effects of innovative litter developed to attract cats. Animals 9(9), 683.

Urination and/or defecation outside a designated location has been reported as the most common behavioural reason for surrendering a cat and comprises approximately 30% of cat intakes to shelters. The objective of this study was...

Shi, H., Li, B., Tong, Q. et al. 2019. Effects of LED light color and intensity on feather pecking and fear responses of layer breeders in natural mating colony cages. Animals 9(10), 814.

Natural mating colony cages for layer breeders have become commonplace for layer breeders in China. However, feather pecking (FP) and cannibalism are prominent in this system. The objective of this study was to investigate the...

Lambert, H., Carder, G., D'Cruze, N. 2019. Given the cold shoulder: A review of the scientific literature for evidence of reptile sentience. Animals 9(10), 821.

We searched a selection of the scientific literature to document evidence for, and explorations into reptile sentience. The intention of this review was to highlight; (1) to what extent reptile capability for emotions have been...

Tracy, L. M., Temple, S. M., Bennett, D. C. et al. 2019. The reliability and accuracy of palpation, radiography, and sonography for the detection of keel bone damage. Animals 9(11), 894.

Palpation is the most popular method of measuring keel bone damage on live birds, although it has been criticized for being subjective and inaccurate. The goals of this study were to examine intra- and inter-rater...

Stratmann, A., Mühlemann, S., Vögeli, S. et al. 2019. Frequency of falls in commercial aviary-housed laying hen flocks and the effects of dusk phase length. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 216, 26-32.

Even though aviary systems provide a range of benefits for laying hens in terms of animal welfare, falls and collisions have been observed in experimental settings. These falls are likely stressful for the birds and...

Rentsch, A. K., Rufener, C. B., Spadavecchia, C. et al. 2019. Laying hen’s mobility is impaired by keel bone fractures and does not improve with paracetamol treatment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 216, 19-25.

Keel bone fractures (KBF) in laying hens pose a severe problem for animal welfare as they are likely to be associated with pain and suffering. Furthermore, they are suspected to hinder or restrict hens in...

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...