Chapter Eleven Animal Procurement

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Signs & Prevention of Disease  Goal of a health program is to avoid all health- related problems, so that accurate data can be obtained with the least amount of discomfort and minimum number of subjects  achieved through preventive medicine & colony-based health care  Technicians responsibility for maintaining by;  purchase & receipt of healthy animals  isolation & quarantine procedures  diagnostic health monitoring  recognizing abnormal condition

Animal Procurement  Animals purchased from suppliers who specialize in breeding animals for research.  Centralized purchasing helps facility managers plan for adequate space, caging and supplies.  also for staff to maintain animals ordered by scientists  Institutions restrict sources to those with health screening programs & history of high-quality.  Breeding own animals provides strains not available & very young animals more available.  Purchasing animals from commercial suppliers, however, is usually much more economical.

Transportation  Ship by commercial air carriers or trucking firms.  Some use own specially equipped trucks  AWA strictly regulates transportation of many types of lab animals & some characteristics of shipping carton material.  Sets size standards for containers & specifies number of animals / box.  States how often food & water must be given during shipment & temp range they may be subjected to.  Specifies shipping containers must have adequate ventilation & allow enough room to turn & make normal postural adjustments.

Shipment  AWA also specifies standards for temperature, cleanliness & ventilation in cargo terminal areas.  Facilities can contract freight forwarding companies to pick up their shipments from these terminals and deliver them directly.  Rodents & rabbits must be shipped in cartons that have projecting spacers on the outside of container to prevent blocked ventilation holes.  Some suppliers use a moist mixture of feed & water for rodents.  Others use watering devices such as bags with small valves.

Large Animal Transport  May be transported in specially built vehicles that have compartments for individual animals.  May also be shipped in conventional plastic, fiberglass or aluminum transport cages that have feed and water bowls.  Nonhuman primates are usually shipped in wood crates that have large screened windows for ventilation and observation.

Microbiological Status  Types of organisms that animal is carrying  Conventional = an unknown, uncontrolled variety & number of microorganisms, reared in open or non-barrier rooms.  Normal requirements for maintenance are conventional caging, bedding, feed & husbandry practices.  Germfree, gnotobiotic or specific pathogen free:  These are kept in facilities set up & maintained to exclude microorganisms.  Presence or absence of microorganisms is determined by tests performed in a diagnostic laboratory.

Germfree Animals  Germfree or axenic animals harbor no detectable bacteria, viruses or other microorganisms.  Bred, reared & maintained in sterile environment.  No bacteria in intestinal tract to aid in digestion.  Animals commonly have digestive problems.  Defined flora or gnotobiotic animals are nearly devoid of microbial life forms.  Deliberately given several varieties of harmless bacteria to overcome some digestive problems.  DF animals must also be housed, handled and transported in a sterile manner.

Specific Pathogen Free  Carefully & routinely monitored to be sure they do not harbor certain pathogenic or disease- producing microorganisms.  Known to be free of specific pathogens, although not necessarily free from all organisms.  Usually maintained in barrier facilities.  Important to learn which specific pathogens an SPF animal is free of before placing it w/ animals having a different microbiological status.

Receipt and Physical Examination  Person receiving shipment observes and notes condition of transport cages.  Compares purchase orders & invoices to confirm animals which arrived were ones expected.  Confirms that complete delivery arrived.  Animals examined by a veterinarian, veterinary technician, or experienced lab animal technician under supervision of a veterinarian.  Examination may be either brief or elaborate.  depends on suppliers’ animal health programs, health status of the newly arrived & resident animals  Compares contents with label information.

(Images) Animal Receipt

Receipt and Physical Examination II  Closely examine for signs of hair loss, wounds, diarrhea, discharges or other gross abnormalities.  Note breed or strain, age, gender, supplier & total number of animals received on ID records.  Box may contain >1 strain or sex in sections.  Care must be taken not to mix different sexes or strains when placing the animals in cages.  Low weights could indicate dehydration or a shipping error.  Then take to quarantine & conditioning.  A facility may require shipping crates be wiped down w/ disinfectant before transfer into facility.

(Image) Mice in Shipping Box

Quarantine  Time to recover from stress of shipment & to acclimate to new surroundings.  Allows personnel to evaluate animals’ health status.  May be a few days to months, depending on species.  No experimental procedures are performed during this period.  Time to evaluate baseline physiological data, vaccinate & treat for overt disease.  Care for known healthy animals in facility before attending those in quarantine.  After quarantine, a conditioning period is started.  Many facilities conduct parts of their conditioning program simultaneously with animal quarantine.

(Image) Quarantine

Conditioning  Refers to being placed under lighting, temp, noise, handling & other physical conditions the same as during experimentation.  Helps minimize stress they might experience during actual testing.  Stressed animals secrete higher than normal levels of certain hormones.  Stress can have profound effects on normal physiological data, such as hematologic & serum biochemical values.  These differences could cause errors in research results.

Health Maintenance  Maintenance of health status is confirmed through quality assurance & health monitoring program.  Involves monitoring health of animals as they arrive from the supplier, as well as periodically testing animals in facility.  For dogs, this means making sure vaccinations are up to date & checking for parasites.  For primates, this will involve a series of tuberculosis tests.  For rodents, health monitoring usually involves a sentinel program.

Additional Reading Poole, Trevor (ed.). The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals, 6th. Ed. Longman Scientific and Technical, Essex, England