Rodent

Adaptation of the Animal Welfare assessment grid (AWAG) model to monitor laboratory rats and mice

The Animal Welfare assessment grid (AWAG) is a cloud based online tool designed to assess and monitor the welfare and cumulative lifetime experience of animals. It has been successfully used to monitor the wellbeing of animals from an experimental, zoological,...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Cunningham, A., Wolfensohn, S., Dennis, M. et al. 2025, December. Adaptation of the Animal Welfare assessment grid (AWAG) model to monitor laboratory rats and mice. Animal Technology and Welfare 4(3), 199–211.

Influence of visual cover on ramp climbing behavior in guinea pigs

To ensure the optimal welfare of a species in captivity, housing and enclosure design must align with the ecology, physiology, and behavioral biology of the animal. For the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), a popular pet and laboratory animal, it is...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Guinea Pig, Rodent

Citation: Cameron, K. E., Jeon, G. M., Burden, E. et al. 2025. Influence of visual cover on ramp climbing behavior in guinea pigs. Academia Biology 3(4).

Rat boredom-like behaviour in a monotonous versus a varied foraging task: Effects of sensory variation

Evidence increasingly reveals that non-human animals in monotonous situations can show boredom-like states, distinctively manifesting as increases in both arousal-seeking, restless behaviour and low arousal, drowsy behaviour. However, task related boredom has been little investigated in animals, but could have...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Burn, C. C., Ng, K. H. T., Parker, M. O. 2025. Rat boredom-like behaviour in a monotonous versus a varied foraging task: Effects of sensory variation. Animal Cognition 28(1), 57.

An assessment of paper pulp dishes for safe and enriching diet delivery

It is common practice for laboratory animals to be provided with diet in the form of wet mash or gel for various situations such as post-weaning and postoperative recovery. This study tested the use of paper pulp dishes as a...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Bull, C., Langford-Jackson, L., Rawlings, L. et al. 2025. An assessment of paper pulp dishes for safe and enriching diet delivery. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(3), 282–286.

Refining the adjuvant-induced rat model of monoarthritis by optimizing the induction volume and injection site

Arthritis is a highly prevalent and disabling condition characterized by pathological joint-damage, clinical symptoms of pain and loss of normal joint function. Monoarthritis can be modelled in rodents via intraarticular injection of Complete Freund’s Adjuvant (CFA), inducing both joint inflammation...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Disease/Experimental ModelAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Berke, M. S., Hansen, C. P., Kromann, S. et al. 2025. Refining the adjuvant-induced rat model of monoarthritis by optimizing the induction volume and injection site. Scientific Reports 15(1), 40281.

Influence of visual cover on ramp climbing behavior in guinea pigs

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: Guinea Pig, Rodent

Citation: Cameron, K. E., Jeon, G. M., Burden, E. et al. 2025. Influence of visual cover on ramp climbing behavior in guinea pigs. Academia Biology 3(4).

A rational approach of early humane endpoint determination in a murine model for cholestasis

Reduction of animal suffering during in vivo experiments is usually ensured by continuously monitoring the health status using a score sheet and by applying humane endpoints. However, most studies do not evaluate the plausibility of score sheets and do not...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Disease/Experimental Model, Humane EndpointAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Zhang, X., Kumstel, S., Tang, G. et al. 2020. A rational approach of early humane endpoint determination in a murine model for cholestasis. ALTEX 37(2), 197-207.

A review of pain assessment methods in laboratory rodents

Ensuring that laboratory rodent pain is well managed underpins the ethical acceptability of working with these animals in research. Appropriate treatment of pain in laboratory rodents requires accurate assessments of the presence or absence of pain to the extent possible....

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, Hamster, Mouse, Other Rodent, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Turner, P. V., Pang, D. S., Lofgren, J. L. 2019. A review of pain assessment methods in laboratory rodents. Comparative Medicine 69(6), 451–467.

A review of strain and sex differences in response to pain and analgesia in mice

Pain and its alleviation are currently a highly studied issue in human health. Research on pain and response to analgesia has evolved to include the effects of genetics, heritability, and sex as important components in both humans and animals. The...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Analgesia, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Smith J. C. 2019. A review of strain and sex differences in response to pain and analgesia in mice. Comparative Medicine 69(6), 490–500.

Social housing ameliorates the enduring effects of intermittent physical stress during mid-adolescence

Our prior work showed that exposing single housed rats to intermittent physical stress (IPS) in mid-adolescence (PD35-46) led to increased risk-taking/decreased anxiety behaviour in adulthood, as indexed by their greater willingness to explore the open-arms of an elevated plus maze....

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Wilkin, M. M., Menard, J. L. 2020. Social housing ameliorates the enduring effects of intermittent physical stress during mid-adolescence. Physiology & Behavior 214, 112750.