Pig

Welfare implications of low-dose atipamezole reversal of tiletamine/zolazepam/xylazine anaesthesia in pigs (2025)

Anaesthesia is sometimes required for the effective restraint of laboratory pigs for sample collection. Yet, anaesthesia can initiate a range of physiological disruptions that can increase variability in study data and lead to poorer animal welfare. Judicious use of anaesthesia...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Anesthesia & SedationAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Layton, R., Beggs, D. S., Fisher, A. et al. 2025. Welfare implications of low-dose atipamezole reversal of tiletamine/zolazepam/xylazine anaesthesia in pigs. Animals 15(2), 258.

A positive-reinforcement training regimen for refined sample collection in laboratory pigs (2025)

Positive-reinforcement training of laboratory pigs can reduce the reliance on forced manual restraint and anaesthesia for sample collection, reducing stress and physiological disruption. Training regimens for laboratory pigs typically rely on specialised equipment for restraint, such as Panepinto slings, with...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Animal Training, Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, RestraintAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Layton, R., Beggs, D., Fisher, A. et al. 2025. A positive-reinforcement training regimen for refined sample collection in laboratory pigs. Animals 15(4), 471.

By your side: How social support affects training duration, task performance and behaviour of pigs in a judgement bias task (2025)

Pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) and most other farmed species are social animals for whom social isolation is known to cause stress. However, their social nature is commonly ignored in behavioural and cognitive tasks, on which they are trained and tested...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Kroell, M., Winckler, C., Hintze, S. 2025. By your side: How social support affects training duration, task performance and behaviour of pigs in a Judgement Bias Task. Animal Welfare 34, e25.

A new therapy to alleviate the inflammatory injury of piglet intestine caused by short-distance transportation—music (2025)

The purpose of this study was to explore whether music can reduce stress in animals by regulating the activity of the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal cortex (HPA) axis and reducing the concentration of cortisol. The control group was not played with...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Relocation & TransportAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Fu, Q., Bai, B., Zhou, S. et al. 2025. A new therapy to alleviate the inflammatory injury of piglet intestine caused by short-distance transportation—Music. PLOS ONE 20(2), e0313354.

Gilts are motivated to exit a stall (2025)

Stalls (or crates) are still a common type of housing in the swine industry, despite public concern and regional legislation restricting their use. In this study, we examined the motivation of gilts to exit a stall. Sixteen stall-naïve gilts (Large...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Housing, ReproductionAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Ede, T., Parsons, T. D. 2025. Gilts are motivated to exit a stall. Scientific Reports 15(1), 6929.

Long term ear and saphenous cannulation to perform blood sampling over longer periods using the Seldinger technique (2024)

The standard practice to collect a blood sample from a Minipig is to invert the animal onto its back and into a cradle. The blood sample is then collected via jugular venepuncture. This technique can cause large amounts of stress...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Cannulation, Catheterization, & IntubationAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Bailey, G., Simpson, T., Sharpe, J. 2024. Long term ear and saphenous cannulation—To perform blood sampling over longer periods using the Seldinger technique. Animal Technology and Welfare 23(3), 217–218.

Exploring the effect of play on heart rate variability as a measure of positive emotional states in pigs

Play behaviour has been suggested to be inherently rewarding for animals, inducing positive emotional states. The psychophysiological effect of emotions can be assessed through heart rate variability (HRV), serving as a proxy measure of sympathovagal balance. This study investigated how...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Steinerová, K., Krause, A., Parker, S. et al. 2025. Exploring the effect of play on heart rate variability as a measure of positive emotional states in pigs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 12.

On your terms or mine: Pigs’ response to imposed gentle tactile contact vs

Positive human-animal interactions (HAIs) can be intrinsically rewarding and facilitate positive human-animal relationships. However, HAI paradigms vary across studies, and the influence of different interaction paradigms on the animal's response has been overlooked. We compared the behavioural responses of pigs...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Truong, S., Schmitt, O., Rault, J.-L. 2024. On your terms or mine: Pigs' response to imposed gentle tactile contact vs. free form interaction with a familiar human. Scientific Reports 14(1), 25249.

A new approach (CSA-Score) to assessing the cumulative overall stress load in the case of animal experiments and even beyond

In laboratory animal science, severity assessment has been mandatory by European law since 2013. Various severity assessments have been created for many single manipulations. However, when multiple harmful interventions or stressors occur simultaneously or repeatedly, the cumulative overall severity is...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General, Mouse, Pig, Rodent

Citation: Helmig, S., Wenzel, S. 2024. A new approach (CSA-Score) to assessing the cumulative overall stress load in the case of animal experiments and even beyond. Discover Animals 1(1), 38.

Environmental enrichment affects immunity and reduces disease severity in pigs after co-infection, with stronger effects when applied from birth than from weaning

We investigated whether environmental enrichment applied at different life stages of pigs affects the susceptibility to and severity of disease by studying immune cell functions around weaning and during nursery, the effects of infection in ex vivo models and in...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: de Bruijn, B. G. C., van Dixhoorn, I. D. E., Bolhuis, J. E. et al. 2024. Environmental enrichment affects immunity and reduces disease severity in pigs after co-infection, with stronger effects when applied from birth than from weaning. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 11.