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. 

In this article, laws and guidelines relating to rodent enrichment are reviewed, the natural behaviors of select rodent species are discussed, and an overview of widely used types of enrichment in laboratory rodent management is...

Environmental conditions such as housing and husbandry have a major impact on the laboratory animal throughout its life and will thereby influence the outcome of animal experiments. However, housing systems for laboratory animals have often...

The question was raised how the environment of guinea pigs can be best enriched in the research laboratory setting. In summary, social-housing is the most species-appropriate living environment for guinea pigs. If a research protocol...

Evidence indicates that allowing beef calves to stay in the maternal herd beyond the age of natural weaning promotes animal welfare and may enhance the cows' natural reproductive potential.

Neonatal (early) handling (EH) and environmental enrichment (EE) of laboratory rodents have been the two most commonly used methods of providing supplementary environmental stimulation in order to study behavioral and neurobiological plasticity. A large body...

Group housing [female] guinea pigs can save space and money, while improving housing standards. The authors describe enclosure design, enrichments, and husbandry techniques that facilitate group housing female guinea pigs. No data are included in...

Commercial caging systems for cats are described and recommendations made for cat-appropriate housing. By housing cats in groups and with appropriate enrichments, according to their physical and psychological needs, researchers can decrease the animal's stress...

Giving captive animals the opportunity to interact with objects in a “playful” manner is often considered a method of environmental enrichment. However, the occurrence of play in nonavian reptiles is controversial and poorly documented. Similarly...

With female ferrets subjected to different degrees of intensity of light irradiation as measured by placing them at different distances from a 1000 W. lamp, the acceleration of the oestrous cycle, generally speaking, was correlated...