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. 
Burlingame, L. A., Gaskill, B. N., Lofgren, J. L. S. 2021. Identification of sick or dead mice (Mus musculus) housed with 6 grams of crinkle paper nesting material. JAALAS 60(1), 18-27.

Although nesting material is beneficial to the welfare of laboratory mice, provision of appropriate amounts may impair visualization of the mice. In anticipation of our academic research institution transitioning to providing 6 grams of nesting...

Allen, P. S., Lawrence, J., Stasula, U. et al. 2021. Effects of compressed paper bedding on mouse breeding performance and recognition of animal health concerns. JAALAS 60(1), 28-36.

The combination of bedding substrate and nesting material within the microenvironment of mice is an important consideration for animal care programs in regard to optimizing animal wellbeing. We used 3 general or breeding mouse colonies...

Stygar, A. H., Gómez, Y., Berteselli, G. V. et al. 2021. A systematic review on commercially available and validated sensor technologies for welfare assessment of dairy cattle. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 634338.

In order to base welfare assessment of dairy cattle on real-time measurement, integration of valid and reliable precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies is needed. The aim of this study was to provide a systematic overview...

Neave, H. W., Webster, J. R., Zobel, G. 2021. Anticipatory behaviour as an indicator of the welfare of dairy calves in different housing environments. PLOS ONE 16(1), e0245742.

Anticipatory behaviour occurs in the period before a reward or other positive event is presented and has been interpreted as an indicator of the welfare and emotional state of animals. The use of this indicator...

Evangelista, M. C., Steagall, P. V. 2021. Agreement and reliability of the Feline Grimace Scale among cat owners, veterinarians, veterinary students and nurses. Scientific Reports 11(1), 5262.

This study aimed to evaluate the agreement and reliability of the Feline Grimace Scale (FGS) among cat owners, veterinarians, veterinary students and nurses/technicians. Raters (n = 5/group) scored 100 images using the FGS (ear position, orbital tightening...

Marx, A., Lenkei, R., Pérez Fraga, P. et al. 2021. Occurrences of non-linear phenomena and vocal harshness in dog whines as indicators of stress and ageing. Scientific Reports 11(1), 4468.

During social interactions, acoustic parameters of tetrapods’ vocalisations reflect the emotional state of the caller. Higher levels of spectral noise and the occurrence of irregularities (non-linear phenomena NLP) might be negative arousal indicators in alarm...

Wells, D. L. 2021. Paw preference as a tool for assessing emotional functioning and welfare in dogs and cats: A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105148.

Dogs and cats have been extensively studied of late in relation to their paw preferences, with both species showing preferential motor bias at the level of the individual. Over the years, a wide range of...

Tahamtani, F. M., Herskin, M. S., Foldager, L. et al. 2021. Assessment of mobility and pain in broiler chickens with identifiable gait defects. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 234, 105183.

Gait defects, assessed as gait score (GS), is a common welfare problem in broiler chicken production. The aim of this study was to examine whether birds with GS2 experience pain and poor locomotor ability compared...

Howarth, E. R. I., Kemp, C., Thatcher, H. R. et al. 2021. Developing and validating attention bias tools for assessing trait and state affect in animals: A worked example with Macaca mulatta. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 234, 105198.

Attention bias is a new approach to assessing animal affect that has shown promising results in several animal species. It describes a tendency to preferentially attend to emotional compared to neutral cues and is influenced...

Lowe, G. L., Sutherland, M. A., Waas, J. R. et al. 2021. Effect of milk allowance on the suitability of automated behavioural and physiological measures as early disease indicators in calves. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 234, 105202.

This study investigated the effect of milk allowance on the suitability of behavioural and physiological responses, individually and in combination, as early disease indicators. A total of 120 heifer calves were assigned into a 5...

Olson, M. J., Creamer, M., Horback, K. M. 2021. Identification of specific call types produced by pre-weaning gilts in response to isolation. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 234, 105203.

Monitoring the vocalizations produced by livestock in commercial facilities can be used to remotely assess the arousal, and perhaps welfare, of the animals. Domestic swine is an ideal candidate for this type of assessment as...

Hirsch, E. N., Andersson, M., Loberg, J. et al. 2021. Development of existing scoring systems to assess behavioural coping in shelter cats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 234, 105208.

Assessing how cats cope with the housing and husbandry at shelters is an important part of maintaining good animal welfare. There are non-invasive methods to assess how cats cope with their environment. The aim of...

Egan, S., Kearney, C. M., Brama, P. A. J. et al. 2021. Exploring stable-based behaviour and behaviour switching for the detection of bilateral pain in equines. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 235, 105214.

Efficient and sensitive animal pain detection approaches are increasingly studied with the goal of improving animal welfare and monitoring the efficacy of treatment and rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to determine the potential...

Epstein, J., Dowling-Guyer, S., McCobb, E. et al. 2021. Addressing stress in dogs in shelters through a novel visual and auditory enrichment device. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105215.

Dogs experience both acute and chronic stress when living in animal shelters. Current best practices recommend a variety of techniques for reducing stress such as enhanced human interactions including play or training, novel feeding strategies...

Uenishi, S., Oishi, K., Kojima, T. et al. 2021. A novel accelerometry approach combining information on classified behaviors and quantified physical activity for assessing health status of cattle: A preliminary study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 235, 105220.

Evaluation of animal behavior provides information on health and well-being in animals. In this preliminary study, we investigated the effectiveness of an accelerometry approach to evaluate changes in health status of cattle by combining physical...

Berlinghieri, F., Panizzon, P., Penry-Williams, I. L. et al. 2021. Laterality and fish welfare - A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105239.

Humans interact with fishes in many contexts including aquaculture, scientific study and companion animals. In all of these contexts, fish welfare can be compromised through anthropogenic means. Concern for fish welfare has grown considerably in...

Yamada, P. H., Codognoto, V. M., Rydygier de Ruediger, F. et al. 2021. Pain assessment based on facial expression of bulls during castration. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105258.

Bovine castration can be performed surgically, chemically, or immunologically and the method used can influence animal welfare. The use of facial expressions is an efficient tool to quantify pain, but there has been limited study...

Salzer, Y., Honig, H. H., Shaked, R. et al. 2021. Towards on-site automatic detection of noxious events in dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105260.

Successful detection of pain in cows could circumscribe the therapeutic window for treatment before the cow's condition deteriorates further. While severe clinical cases that are characterized as painful have clear behavioral and physiological manifestations, mild...

Laurijs, K. A., Briefer, E. F., Reimert, I. et al. 2021. Vocalisations in farm animals: A step towards positive welfare assessment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105264.

Public concern for farm animal welfare is increasing. Animal welfare is defined as the balance of positive and negative emotions, where positive emotions are key to a good animal life. Emotion is defined as an...

Stomp, M., d’Ingeo, S., Henry, S. et al. 2021. Brain activity reflects (chronic) welfare state: Evidence from individual electroencephalography profiles in an animal model. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105271.

Assessing the animal welfare state is a challenge given the subjective individual cognitive and emotional processing involved. Electroencephalography (EEG) spectrum analysis has proved an ecologically valid recording situation to assess the link between brain processes...

Coleman, K., Shapiro, S. J. (Eds.). 2021. Behavioral Biology of Laboratory Animals (1st ed). CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

This 30-chapter volume informs students and professionals about the behavioral biology of animals commonly housed in laboratory and other captive settings. Each species evolved under specific environmental conditions, resulting in unique behavioral patterns, many of...

Stamp Dawkins, M. 2021. The Science of Animal Welfare: Understanding what Animals Want (1st ed). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

What is animal welfare? Why has it proved so difficult to find a definition that everyone can agree on? This concise and accessible guide is for anyone who is interested in animals and who has...

Zannella, A., Stanyon, R., Maglieri, V. et al. 2021. Not all yawns tell the same story: The case of Tonkean macaques. American Journal of Primatology 83(7), e23263.

Here we show for the first time that the plasticity in morphology and duration of yawning in Macaca tonkeana can be associated with different functional contexts. Macaca tonkeana is classified as a tolerant macaque species...

Stevens, C., Hawkins, P., Smulders, T. V. et al. 2021. Report of the 2020 RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(1), 21-33.

The RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 27 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues and share...

van Eerdenburg, F. J. C. M., Di Giacinto, A. M., Hulsen, J. et al. 2021. A new, practical animal welfare assessment for dairy farmers. Animals 11(3), 881.

The Welfare Quality® assessment protocol (WQ) is the most extensive way to measure animal welfare. This study was set up to determine if resource-based welfare indicators, that are easier and faster to measure, could replace...