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. 
Krugmann, K. L., Mieloch, F. J., Krieter, J. 2021. Can tail and ear postures be suitable to capture the affective state of growing pigs? Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 24(4), 411-423.

The present study examined whether tail and ear postures in fattening pigs (n = 228) housed in different environments could be suitable for assessing their affective state. In doing so, it investigated the appearance of...

Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Crump, A. et al. 2021. Environmental complexity positively impacts affective states of broiler chickens. Scientific Reports 11(1), 16966.

Affective state can bias an animal’s judgement. Animals in positive affective states can interpret ambiguous cues more positively (“optimistically”) than animals in negative affective states. Thus, judgement bias tests can determine an animal’s affective state...

Espinoza, C., Lomax, S., Windsor, P. 2020. The effect of topical anaesthesia on the cortisol responses of calves undergoing dehorning. Animals 10(2), 312.

Dehorning causes pain and distress to cattle, and there is a need to provide effective and practical analgesia to improve animal welfare. We conducted an experiment to determine the effect of a modified post-operative topical...

Armstrong, E. A., Rufener, C., Toscano, M. J. et al. 2020. Keel bone fractures induce a depressive-like state in laying hens. Scientific Reports 10(1), 3007.

In commercial flocks of laying hens, keel bone fractures (KBFs) are prevalent and associated with behavioural indicators of pain. However, whether their impact is severe enough to induce a depressive-like state of chronic stress is...

Baciadonna, L., Briefer, E. F., McElligott, A. G. 2020. Investigation of reward quality-related behaviour as a tool to assess emotions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 225, 104968.

Animals are likely to appraise events as positive or negative based on their subjective perception, current state and past experiences. We tested the effects of anticipating positive (food anticipation), negative (inaccessible food) and neutral (clicker...

Padalino, B., Raidal, S. 2020. Effects of transport conditions on behavioural and physiological responses of horses. Animals 10(1), 160.

The regulations for minimal space and direction of travel for land transport in horses vary worldwide and there is currently no definitive guidance to promote equine health and welfare. This study evaluated the effects of...

Rogers, L., Sales, E., Shamsi, S. et al. 2020. Aggressive encounters lead to negative affective state in fish. PLOS ONE 15(4), e0231330.

Animals show various behavioural, neural and physiological changes in response to losing aggressive encounters. Here, we investigated affective state, which are emotion-like processes influenced by positive or negative experiences, in a territorial fish following aggressive...

Hempstead, M. N., Waas, J. R., Stewart, M. et al. 2020. Can isoflurane and meloxicam mitigate pain associated with cautery disbudding of 3-week-old goat kids? Animals 10(5), 878.

We evaluated the effect of pain mitigation strategies (isoflurane and meloxicam) on the behaviour and physiology of 3-week-old disbudded goat kids. Fifty Saanen does (mean ± SD, 21 ± 3 days old) were randomly allocated...

Hempstead, M. N., Lindquist, T. M., Shearer, J. K. et al. 2020. Acute cortisol and behavior of dairy goat kids administered local anesthesia, topical anesthesia or systemic analgesia prior to cautery disbudding. Physiology & Behavior 222, 112942.

Cautery disbudding of goat kids causes thermal burns and tissue destruction, which results in acute and post-operative pain and negatively affects animal welfare. The objectives of this study were to evaluate acute cortisol concentrations and...

Saller, A. M., Werner, J., Reiser, J. et al. 2020. Local anesthesia in piglets undergoing castration—A comparative study to investigate the analgesic effects of four local anesthetics on the basis of acute physiological responses and limb movements. PLOS ONE 15(7): e0236742.

Surgical castration of male piglets without analgesia is a painful procedure. This prospective, randomized and double-blinded study aimed to evaluate the analgesic effects of four different local anesthetics for piglet castration during the first week...

Parois, S. P., Duttlinger, A. W., Richert, B. T. et al. 2020. Effects of three distinct 2-week long diet strategies after transport on weaned pigs' short and long-term welfare markers, behaviors, and microbiota. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 140.

Alternative feed supplements have shown promising effects in terms of performance, but their effects on welfare have had little evaluation. In the present study, we aimed at evaluating the effect of diet supplementation on welfare...

Elwood, R. W. 2020. Do arthropods respond to noxious stimuli purely by reflex? Animal Sentience 29(10).

Mikhalevich & Powell (2020) argue that it is wrong to dismiss the idea of sentience in invertebrates. Here, I expand on the evidence for crustaceans responding to noxious stimuli in ways that are not explained...

Camerlink, I., Ursinus, W. W. 2020. Tail postures and tail motion in pigs: A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 230, 105079.

Animals’ tail posture and motion play an important role in communication, amongst others. In domestic pigs, the debate around tail docking and tail biting has made the tail an important research topic, and tail-related behaviour...

Lecorps, B., Nogues, E., von Keyserlingk, M. A. G. et al. 2020. Pessimistic dairy calves are more vulnerable to pain-induced anhedonia. PLOS ONE 15(11), e0242100.

Pain induces deficits in appreciation of rewards (i.e. anhedonia) and variation in response to pain may be partly explained by individual differences in general expectations (i.e. optimism). Dairy calves are routinely subjected to painful procedures...

Mott, R. O., Hawthorne, S. J., McBride, S. D. 2020. Blink rate as a measure of stress and attention in the domestic horse (Equus caballus). Scientific Reports 10(1), 21409.

Measuring animal stress is fundamentally important for assessing animal emotional state and welfare. Conventional methods of quantifying stress (cortisol levels, heart rate/heart rate variability) require specialist equipment and are not instantly available. Spontaneous blink rate...

Ocepek, M., Newberry, R. C., Andersen, I. L. 2020. Which types of rooting material give weaner pigs most pleasure? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 231, 105070.

Provision of rooting material as enrichment for pigs has been primarily oriented towards reducing negative affect (suffering). Information is also needed on the impact of different types of rooting materials in promoting positive affect (pleasure)...

Battini, M., Agostini, A., Mattiello, S. 2019. Understanding cows' emotions on farm: Are eye white and ear posture reliable indicators? Animals 9(8), 477.

Understanding the emotions of dairy cows is primarily important in enhancing the level of welfare and provide a better life on farm. This study explored whether eye white and ear posture can reliably contribute to...

Hötzel, M. J., Vieira, M. C., Leme, D. P. 2019. Exploring horse owners' and caretakers' perceptions of emotions and associated behaviors in horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 29, 18-24.

Attribution of emotions to horses, as well as understanding how environmental factors may influence such states, may influence owners' and caretakers' attitudes toward horse welfare. This, in turn, may influence how they manage and treat...

Waran, N., Randle, H., Preshaw, L. et al. 2019. Through their eyes: the challenge of assessing equine emotional state. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 29, 151. (13th International Society of Equitation Science (ISES) Conference Abstract)

Animal welfare assessment has traditionally relied on measures of physical health and changes in behavior and physiology related to negative emotional states such as pain and stress. However, it is now widely accepted that good...

Alves de Paula, R., Cruz Aleixo, A. S., Peternelli da Silva, L. et al. 2019. A test of the effects of the equine maternal pheromone on the clinical and ethological parameters of equines undergoing hoof trimming. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 31, 28-35.

“Pheromonal therapy” has been promoted as a promising alternative therapy to improve the human-animal relationship and to reduce behavioral reactions to stressful stimuli. This placebo-controlled double blind study evaluated the use of a synthetic equine...

Ijichi, C., Green, S., Squibb, K. et al. 2019. Zylkéne to load? The effects of alpha-casozepine on compliance and coping in horses during loading. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 30, 80-87.

Horses are routinely transported for access to safe off-road riding, veterinary care, breeding, sale, or moving to a new home environment. However, transport is a known stressor in horses. For this reason, problem behavior when...

Jacobsen, J. V., Steen, K., Nilssen, K. J. 2019. Anaesthetic efficacy of Aqui-S, Benzoak, and MS-222 on lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) fries. Impact from temperature, salinity, and fasting. PLOS ONE 14(1), e0211080.

Large numbers of lumpfish are produced for the Norwegian salmon industry and are used to combat sea lice infestations. Periodically high mortality of farmed lumpfish demonstrates the need to improve farming conditions and animal welfare...

Ross, M., Garland, A., Harlander-Matauschek, A. et al. 2019. Welfare-improving enrichments greatly reduce hens' startle responses, despite little change in judgment bias. Scientific Reports 9, 11881.

Responses to ambiguous and aversive stimuli (e.g. via tests of judgment bias and measures of startle amplitude) can indicate mammals’ affective states. We hypothesised that such findings generalize to birds, and that these two responses...

Bučková, K., Špinka, M., Hintze, S. 2019. Pair housing makes calves more optimistic. Scientific Reports 9, 20246.

Individual housing of dairy calves is common farm practice, but has negative effects on calf welfare. A compromise between practice and welfare may be housing calves in pairs. We compared learning performances and affective states...

Bell, C., Rogers, S., Taylor, J. et al. 2019. Improving the recognition of equine affective states. Animals 9(12), 1124.

A key welfare problem for horses is that people commonly fail to recognise, and consequently neglect to resolve, equine behavioural signs of distress, worsening the welfare of the horse and potentially putting the safety of...