Drug/Substance Administration

Working with animals: Oral drug administration – how to minimize stress reactions for rabbits, rodents and pigs

With gentle firmness, patience and professional skills most warm-blooded animals - with the exception perhaps of mice - can be habituated to tolerate oral dosing. Rabbits, rats and pigs accept most drugs if these are mixed in specially flavored and...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Pig, Rabbit, Rodent

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Working with animals: Oral drug administration - how to minimize stress reactions for rabbits, rodents and pigs. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 124-126. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Investigation of a novel refined oral dosing method

Over six days, male Lister Hooded rats wre trained to drink from a syringe containing either a 5-10% surose solution or 1mg/ml donepezil suspended in 5-10% sucrose solution. After just a few days training, there were significant reductions in the...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Rourke, C., Pemberton, D. J. 2007. Investigation of a novel refined oral dosing method. Institute of Animal Technology [IAT] Congress, 46 (Abstract).

Chapter 7.3. Oral Drug Administration? How to minimize Stress Reactions

Our vervet monkeys voluntarily swallow drugs when we mix these with their regular diet, consisting on pre-cooked maize, fortified with vitamins, minerals and other ingredients. The dry ingredients are blended with water and form a stiff putty-like paste, which is...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Nonhuman Primate, Vervet (African Green Monkey)

Citation: LAREF [Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum] 2007. Chapter 7.3. Oral Drug Administration?How to minimize Stress Reactions. In: Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs: Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Baumans, V., Coke, C., Green, J., Moreau, E., Morton, D., Patterson-Kane, E., Reinhardt, A., Reinhardt, V., Van Loo, P. (eds), 126-127. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

Playful handling mitigates the stressfulness of injections in laboratory rats

Rats can be playfully handled (tickled) in a manner that mimics playful social contact with conspecifics. We hypothesized that the timing of tickling in relation to an intraperitoneal injection would affect the efficacy of tickling in reducing stress associated with...

Year Published: 2010Topics: Drug/Substance Administration, HandlingAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Cloutier, S., Wahl, K., Newberry, R. C. 2010. Playful handling mitigates the stressfulness of injections in laboratory rats. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 721 (Abstract #P126).

A technique for single-person oral gavage in rabbits

The physiologic and anatomic structure of rabbits can cause high mortality rates in rabbit oral gavage. Rabbits are capable of a wide variety of jaw movement due to 3 jaw-closing muscle groups (masseter, temporalis, pterygoid). This complex and intricate architecture...

Year Published: 2010Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Rabbit

Citation: Van Dyk, A., Rickers, M. 2010. A technique for single-person oral gavage in rabbits. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 749 (Abstract #P215).

Report of the 2010 RSPCA/UFAW rodent welfare group meeting – The effect of husbandry on welfare and promoting good practice

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group holds a one-day meeting every autumn so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on rodent welfare issues and share experiences of the implementation of the 3Rs of replacement, reduction and refinement...

Year Published: 2011Topics: Drug/Substance Administration, Handling, Husbandry & Management, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rabbit, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Hawkins, P., Burn, C., Hurst, J. et al. 2011. Report of the 2010 RSPCA/UFAW rodent welfare group meeting - The effect of husbandry on welfare and promoting good practice. Animal Technology and Welfare 10(2), 105-114.

Using olive oil to orally dose laboratory rats

Many compounds are orally administered to laboratory rats using the gavage technique. This technique is stressful for the animal and can cause injury or death if performed incorrectly. Often compounds are suspended in food oils such as corn oil for...

Year Published: 2011Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Fitchett, A., Judge, S., Morris, C. 2011. Using olive oil to orally dose laboratory rats. Animal Technology and Welfare 10(1), 39-41.

A method for reliable voluntary oral administration of a fixed dosage (mg/kg) of chronic daily medication to rats

Stress can influence a number of physiological processes including adult neurogenesis, metabolism, cardiovascular function, immune function, neurophysiological function, endocrine function and inflammatory processes following injury. In testing drugs which may be used to treat various diseases or injuries, reducing stress...

Year Published: 2012Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Corbett, A., McGowin, A., Sieber, S. et al. 2012. A method for reliable voluntary oral administration of a fixed dosage (mg/kg) of chronic daily medication to rats. Laboratory Animals 46(4), 318-324.

A safe, gentle and effective method of oral dosing guinea-pigs

Guinea pigs are difficult to oral gavage dose. Previous adverse effects from this dosing method, using rigid catheters, had caused an earlier endpoint to studies and loss of data. We therefore developed a prototype gag made from a 2.5 mL...

Year Published: 2012Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Guinea Pig, Rodent

Citation: Blyth, L. 2012. A safe, gentle and effective method of oral dosing guinea-pigs. Animal Technology and Welfare 11, 187-188.

Voluntary ingestion of nut paste for administration of buprenorphine in rats and mice

An adequate analgesic strategy is important to improve the postoperative recovery and welfare of laboratory rats and mice. It is desirable that the method for administering the drug is non-invasive and stress-free. We have previously validated a method for administering...

Year Published: 2012Topics: Drug/Substance AdministrationAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Abelson, K. S. P., Jacobsen, K. R., Sundbom, R. et al. 2012. Voluntary ingestion of nut paste for administration of buprenorphine in rats and mice. Laboratory Animals 46(4), 349-351.