Rat

Wongsaengchan, C., McCafferty, D. J., Lennox, K. et al. 2023. Non-invasive assessment of positive affective state using infra-red thermography in rats. Animal Welfare 32, e66.

With recent increased focus on positive welfare in animal welfare science, there is demand for objective positive welfare indicators. It is unclear whether changes in body surface temperature can be used to non-invasively identify and...

Krueger, J. C., Habigt, M. A., Helmedag, M. J. et al. 2023. Evaluation of score parameters for severity assessment of surgery and liver cirrhosis in rats. Animal Welfare 32, e29.

Severity assessment in animals is an ongoing field of research. In particular, the question of objectifiable and meaningful parameters of score-sheets, as well as their best combination, arise. This retrospective analysis investigates the suitability of...

Hickman, M., Miller, L., MacDonald, R. 2023. An assessment of rat hammocks as enrichment. Animal Technology and Welfare 22(3), 221–223.

Research has shown there are numerous welfare and scientific benefits to housing rats in more enriched and environmentally complex housing opposed to conventional housing. With the aim of increasing environmental complexity, providing opportunities for climbing...

Beechener, S., Brown, S., Bombail, V. et al. 2023. An exploratory interview study of researchers’ and technicians’ perceptions of rat tickling. Animal Technology and Welfare 22(3), 201–209.

This paper highlights the main themes which emerged from a study carried out with Animal Technicians and researchers to better understand: - perceptions of rat tickling - potential drivers and barriers to the uptake of...

Evers, J., Sridhar, K., Lowery, M. 2023. Feasibility of pair-housing of rats after cranial implant surgery. Laboratory Animals 57(1), 69–74.

Rat models employing cranial implants are increasingly employed to facilitate neural stimulation and recording in freely moving animals. Due to possible damage to wound, implant or attached devices, rats with cranial implants are traditionally housed...

Bigelow, L. J., Pope, E. K., MacDonald, D. S. et al. 2023. Getting a handle on rat familiarization: The impact of handling protocols on classic tests of stress in Rattus norvegicus. Laboratory Animals 57(3), 259–269.

Experimenter familiarization with laboratory rodents through handling prior to experimentation is an important practice in neurobehavioral research and is implicated in stress, study variability, and replicability. Unfortunately, different handling protocols have not been thoroughly examined...

Amendola, L., Xu, N., Weary, D. M. 2023. Rats move nesting materials to create different functional areas: Short report. Laboratory Animals 57(1), 75–78.

Here we document how rats separate their living space into different functional regions. Five groups of four female Sprague Dawley rats were housed in caging systems that consisted of two standard cages connected by a...

Abou-Ismail, U. A., Mendl, M. T. 2016. The effects of enrichment novelty versus complexity in cages of group-housed rats (Rattus norvegicus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 180, 130-139.

Although experimental work on environmental enrichment has answered many important questions, it is not yet known whether beneficial effects of enrichment are more strongly influenced by regular provision of novel objects, or by the diversity...

Whitbread, S. 2022. Some observations on the use of transparent barriers. RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 49(3), 9-13.

What follows are some case studies in which solid but transparent barriers have been used successfully to provide a sense of security to three different mammal taxa (three-banded armadillo; Kirk’s dikdik; black rat) to reduce...

Potrebić, M. S., Pavković, Ž. Z., Srbovan, M. M. et al. 2022. Changes in the behavior and body weight of mature, adult male Wistar Han rats after reduced social grouping and social isolation. JAALAS 61(6), 615–623.

Changes in housing density, including individual housing, are commonly necessary in animal research. Obtaining reproducibility and translational validity in biomedical research requires an understanding of how animals adapt to changes in housing density. Existing literature...

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