Date: October 1998
 Reference:   Administrative Panel on Laboratory Animal Care

DIRECTIONS: Review the following material. Keep copies of guidelines with applicable protocols. You may find it helpful to post a copy of these guidelines in your laboratory. Questions should be forwarded to the A-PLAC office, 723-4550.

TRAINING: Training in these techniques and the humane treatment of laboratory animals during the procedures is taught by the Veterinary Service Center (VSC) staff. All new personnel who will be performing these techniques should contact VSC staff for training (723-6735).

The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals specifies that, "Animals should be cared for by qualified personnel every day, including weekends and holidays, both to safeguard their well-being and to satisfy research requirements." The following are guidelines for providing this care:

1. All animals that are in experiments that are not expected to cause any disability must be monitored daily and any animals evidencing clinically abnormal behavior must be removed from group housing situations and housed individually or euthanized. Moribund animals should be euthanized. (See Guidelines for Death as an Endpoint for determining if an animal is moribund.)
   
   
2. All animals that are in experiments that may result in death must be monitored twice daily following the Stanford University Guidelines on Death as an Endpoint.
   
   
3. Stock rodents and rodents that are used for breeding only must be individually examined before weekends and holidays and all abnormal animals separated or euthanized. Then on weekends and holidays, the rooms containing these rodents must be monitored once each day to determine that the temperature is normal, all cages have food and water, and that the facility is operating normally.
   
   
4. Records of these examinations must be kept indicating the time of the observations, the person conducting the observations, and any findings of the observations. These records should be filed and made available to VSC or A-PLAC staff on request.
   
   

VSC personnel are on duty 24 hours every day to respond to animal emergencies; personnel may be reached by calling 723-3876. VSC personnel make observations of animals that come under items 1 and 3 above and housed in VSC managed facilities. VSC personnel can conduct observations of animals that come under item 2 above and can make weekend and holiday observations for non-VSC colonies if prior arrangements are made with the VSC Animal Husbandry Manager at 723-3876. There is a charge for this service.