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. 
Gleerup, K. B., Andersen, P. H., Munksgaard, L. et al. 2015. Pain evaluation in dairy cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 171,25-32.

Pain compromises the welfare of animals. A prerequisite for being able to alleviate pain is that we are able to recognize it. Potential behavioural signs of pain were investigated for dairy cattle with the aim...

Barnard, S., Matthews, L. R., Messori, S., et al. 2015. Behavioural reactivity of ewes and lambs during partial and total social isolation. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 163, 89-97.

This work investigated the differences in the reactivity of Sarda (primiparous n = 18, multiparous n = 17) and Dorset (multiparous n = 8) breeds of sheep and their singleton lambs to two challenging test...

Nääs, I. A., Garcia, R. G., Caldara, F. R. 2015. Infrared thermal image for assessing animal health and welfare. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 2(3), 66-72.

Infrared thermal imaging is a non-destructive testing technology that can be used to determine the superficial temperature of objects. This technology has an increasing use in detecting diseases and distress in animal husbandry within the...

Sneddon, L. U., Elwood, R. W., Adamo, S. A. et al. 2014. Defining and assessing animal pain. Animal Behaviour 97, 201-212.

The detection and assessment of pain in animals is crucial to improving their welfare in a variety of contexts in which humans are ethically or legally bound to do so. Thus clear standards to judge...

Burlingame, L. A., Na, J., Dunbar, M. et al. 2014. Behavioral ethogram as a health assessment tool in a feline vaccine study. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 610. (Abstract #P227).

For infectious disease studies, assessment of feline health is traditionally limited to metrics such as body temperature (BT), change in body weight (BW), and clinical signs (CS). Recently, behavioral ethograms designed for assessment of rabbits...

Chapagain, D., Uvns-Moberg, K., Lidfors, L. M. 2014. Investigating the motivation to play in lambs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 160, 64-74.

The aim of this study was to identify behaviours and ear postures linked to the appetitive, consummatory and post-consummatory motivational phases of play in male lambs, and to evaluate how cortisol was affected by play...

Proctor, H. S., Carder, G. 2014. Can ear postures reliably measure the positive emotional state of cows? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 161, 20-27.

Animal welfare science is increasingly concerned with the promotion of positive emotions in animals, yet little is known about how to measure them. We examined whether ear postures in dairy cows were reliable indicators of...

Turner, P. V., Viscardi, A., Lawli, P. et al. 2014. Evaluation of analgesic efficacy in piglets using a novel pig grimace scale. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 530 (Abstract #PS12).

There is a critical lack of information surrounding methods to improve the wellbeing of piglets undergoing painful procedures. It is not uncommon for piglets to undergo potentially painful procedures without anesthesia or analgesia, particularly for...

Roller, J. E., Meyers, M. 2014. Positive reinforcement training in a research setting: An introduction to sling training the Ossabaw pig. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 539. (Abstract #PS51).

Over the past year, the large animal care staff at our institution was introduced to an unfamiliar breed of pig, the Ossabaw Island pig. Not only were they tasked with adapting to this unique research...

Rushen, J., de Passillé, A. M., Appleby, M. C. et al. 2014. Alone or together: A risk assessment approach to group housing. In: Dilemmas in Animal Welfare. Appleby, M. C., Weary, D. M., Sandøe, P. (eds), 169-187. CAB International, Oxfordshire, UK.

The question of whether it is better to house animals in groups rather than alone deals with the unresolved issues at the heart of animal welfare. In particular, we need to be able to rank...

Martínez Silvestre, A. 2014. How to assess stress in reptiles. Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine 23(3), 240-243.

Stress, as an adaptive response of any animal to a stimulus that presents a threat to homeostasis, can occur in reptiles. Yet, many veterinarians fail to recognize the signs of stress in reptiles. In this...

Horback, K. 2014. Nosing around: Play in pigs. Animal Behavior and Cognition 2(2), 186.

The predominant method of measuring welfare in swine focuses on overt physical ailments, such as skin lesions, lameness, and body condition. An alternative metric for assessing welfare in swine can be to measure the frequency...

Reinhardt, V. (ed.) 2013. Compassion Makes a Difference - Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum [LAREF], Volume III. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

This is the third volume of discussions that took place on the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum (LAREF). This forum is dedicated to the exchange of personal experiences of refining the conditions under which...

Warwick, C., Arena, P., Lindley, S. et al. 2013. Assessing reptile welfare using behavioural criteria. In Practice 35(3), 123-131.

While clinical reptile medicine as a science is in its ascendancy among veterinary surgeons and other interested groups, familiarity with the often related issue of reptilian behavioural and psychological health appears less common. Behavioural change...

Neubauer, T., Betts, T., Evans, C. 2011. The use of enrichment to facilitate data collection in a pig study. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 762-763 (Abstract #P80).

Recently a researcher approached our large animal facility manager about housing 19, 2-mo-old piglets and assisting with data collection. Part of the protocol required that the piglets be fed an individually measured high-sugar/high-fat diet over...

Ekesbo, I. 2011. Sheep. In: Farm Animal Behavior: Characteristics for Assessment of Health and Welfare, 1st edition. Fraser, A. F. , Broom, D. M. (ed). CABI, Oxfordshire, UK. pp. 82-92.

Each chapter follows a consistent pattern describing the behavioral characteristics of the species featured. Reference is made to the natural state before domestication, leading us through the various changes to the present, demonstrating along the...

Arblaster, F. 2010. Clicker training in minipigs. Animal Technology and Welfare 9, 115-118.

Clicker training minipigs provides a significant improvement in the dermal dosing procedures.

Pell, C., Armellino, K., Williams, A. et al. 2010. Swine enrichment techniques that increase efficiency and promote animal welfare in the laboratory environment. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 716 (Abstract #P109).

Obtaining accurate body weights for swine is important for calculating anesthetic drug dosages as well as an indicator used for tracking overall health. Scales used for acquiring such weights require that the pigs stand still...

Brodersen, T., Glerup, P., Mølgaard, S. et al. 2010. The use of positive reinforcement with Göttinger minipigs. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 721-722 (Abstract #P128).

Experimental procedures, such as dosing, weighing, and physical exams are usual parameters included in nonclinical safety and efficacy studies using laboratory animals. Many of these procedures are often associated with discomfort for the animals and...

Branson, E. J. (Ed.) 2008. Fish Welfare. Blackwell Publishing Ltd: Oxford, UK, 300 p.

Fish have the same stress response and powers of nociception as mammals. Their behavioural responses to a variety of situations suggest a considerable ability for higher level neural processing – a level of consciousness equivalent...

Smith, A. C., Swindle, M. M. 2006. Preparation of swine for the laboratory. ILAR Journal 47(4), 358-363.

Swine are an important model in many areas of biomedical research. These animals have been used predominantly as preclinical models involving surgical and interventional protocols. The systems most commonly studied include cardiovascular, integumentary, digestive, and...

National Research Council. 2003. Guidelines for the Care and Use of Mammals in Neuroscience and Behavioral Research. National Academic Press: Washington, DC, 223 pp.

Expanding on the National Research Council’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, this book deals specifically with mammals in neuroscience and behavioral research laboratories. It offers flexible guidelines for the care of...

Hutson, G. D. 1980. The effect of previous experience on sheep movement through yards. Applied Animal Ethology (Applied Animal Behaviour Science) 6, 233-240.

Positive reinforcement such as barley reduced the amount of time needed to move sheep through a race system.