Enriching the metabolic cage- effects on rat physiology and behaviour
Metabolic cages are used for housing rats and mice for up to five days for collection of urine and/or faeces. The small, barren area of the metabolic cage compromises animal welfare as the animals lack a solid floor, shelter, nest material and social contact. We constructed and tested a practically-applicable enrichment device designed to meet […]
The effects of metabolic cage housing and sex on cognitive bias expression in rats
The use of metabolic cages is established housing protocol in small-animal, gastrointestinal research. Physiological data, as primarily observed through secretions of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis has shown that rodents housed in this manner experience an increased stress response. Few studies have observed behavioural measures of stress, or the emotional impact, in response to metabolic cage housing […]
Effects of Metabolic Cage Housing on Rat Behavior and Performance in the Social Interaction Test
Although the metabolic cage is commonly used for housing nonhuman animals in the laboratory, it has been recognized as constituting a unique stressor. Such an environment would be expected to affect behavioral change in animals housed therein. However, few studies have specifically addressed the nature or magnitude of this change. The current study sought to […]