The objective of this study was to test the hypotheses that female rats are stressed by being in the same room as animals subjected to common husbandry and experimental procedures and that the level of...
Capturing rodents, nonhuman primates and birds who have escaped from their primary enclosure does not need to be a chaotic event and does not necessitate the use of stress-inducing, possibly injurious methods in most cases...
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...
New World monkeys represent an important but often poorly understood research resource. The relatively small size and low zoonotic risk of these animals make them appealing as research subjects in a number of areas. However...
Successful housing requires knowledge of ferret behaviors including social behavior, eating habits, a general inquisitive nature, and a species-typical need to burrow and hide. Regular handling is necessary to maintain well-being. A ferret health care...
While strictly using positive reinforcement and applying patient gentle-firmness, most macaques can be trained to cooperate during the pole-attachment-chairing procedure. Some cannot be trained, because they have problems overcoming their often-legitimate mistrust of humans.
Rats can be playfully handled (tickled) in a manner that mimics playful social contact with conspecifics. We hypothesized that the timing of tickling in relation to an intraperitoneal injection would affect the efficacy of tickling...
COST Action B-24 established four working groups to research and discuss issues relevant to laboratory animal science. These included the housing of animals, environmental needs, refinement of procedures, genetically modified animals, and cost-benefit analysis. Based...
Handling experience (which includes routine maintenance) can have positive or negative effects on stress responses that influence experiments, depending on the animals' experience during handling. The most common method used to capture and handle laboratory...
We conclude that handling experimental animals more often than only at the time their cage is changes is beneficial.