1.  Disease Detection and Surveillance.

a)  Daily observation of all animals on campus is performed on a departmental basis by personnel who are      qualified to verify the animals’ well being. This person does not have to be a veterinarian, but they should be properly trained by the department (or Attending Veterinarian staff) to recognize signs of distress and illness in a variety of laboratory animals, and be able to contact the veterinary staff. Any adverse behaviors or signs of distress are reported to the clinical veterinarian at the Campus Veterinary Services (CVS) in a timely and accurate fashion either by fax (530-752-4205), email (lahc@ucdavis.edu), or phone (530-752-0514). Under the direction of the Attending Veterinarian, CVS is responsible for the veterinary care of all the rodents used by UC Davis personnel.

b)  Each facility notifies CVS by faxing a ‘Sick Animal Report’ when animals exhibit adverse behaviors, signs of distress, injury, illness or moribund. The SAR is faxed the same day the observation is made and the reporting party initiates a Laboratory Animal Medical Record. The veterinarians (or their designee) will evaluate the animal and develop an action plan. The vivarium managers will keep completed forms. Attached are Veterinary Guidelines for Rodents and the appropriate action to take.

c)  Regularly scheduled veterinary visits are a requirement for adequate veterinary care and a component of the preventative health care program. The frequency of such visits is at the discretion of the veterinary staff but will occur no less frequently than every other month for rodents. Instances which may require more frequent visits include unexplained animal deaths, disease outbreaks, surgical and postoperative care, and project consultations.

Following each scheduled visit the veterinarian will provide the vivarium manager with a written report of their findings with recommendations on a Consulting Form. The vivarium manager retains one copy of this report in their files, the other copy is retained by the Office of the Attending Veterinarian.

d)  Disease surveillance is a major part of adequate veterinary care for rodent colonies to enhance the value of research animals and minimize non-protocol related variable. Proper rodent health monitoring programs provide essential information to vivarium managers, the veterinary staff, and the investigator. See the Attending Veterinarians Executive summary on the benefits and necessity of an adequate health monitoring program. Since this is a campus wide concern, the Attending Veterinarian is responsible for overseeing the health monitoring program at each vivarium in accordance with the guidelines outlined below. The CVS Rodent Health Monitoring Coordinator will assist in facilitating this program. Disease surveillance is performed at the Comparative Pathology Laboratory (CPL) for rodents. Results of the disease surveillance are discussed with veterinary staff.

The health surveillance for rodents on projects greater than 4 weeks, or when there is a continuous population of animals, is performed on a quarterly basis. At least two adult rodents are submitted for serologic testing, microbiological monitoring and parasitology examination to the Comparative Pathology Laboratory based on the following schedule.

For projects less than 4 weeks leading to depopulation of the animal room, sentinel animals are recommended on the quarterly testing schedule plus Helicobacter fecal PCR. Sentinels for short term studies provide the vivarium manager with information regarding the health status of the animals and what infectious disease may or may not be in the facility. It also provides investigators with reassurances that their animals remained disease free for the course of the investigative period. Regardless of sentinel monitoring, rooms must be adequately sanitized before bringing naïve animals into the room.

e)  Each department should have established provisions to quarantine diseased animals to prevent the spread of pathogens to other animals on research projects. The veterinary staff is available for consultation on these matters.

f)  Each department must track the number of animals that die unexpectedly by completing a Mortality Log for each room, or alternatively this information can be provided to the CVS. This information can be useful to identify trends in animal deaths in the case of an outbreak. Completed forms are kept on file with the vivarium manager.

g)  In consultation with the investigators, the CVS clinical veterinarian can prescribe the appropriate treatment or control measures following the diagnosis of an animal injury or disease. When treatment is instituted the vivarium manager should maintain a Laboratory Animal Medical Record that documents the diagnosis, treatment, and case resolution.

h)  The CVS veterinarians are available for emergencies, weekend and holiday veterinary care of research animals. Each department is responsible for developing a plan to contact the CVS veterinarian regarding emergency, weekend, or holiday care. CVS provides each animal facility with the appropriate contact information to be displayed. The veterinarian can be reached by pagers at 530-757-0263. If you are not called back within 10 minutes, page them again. During the weekday the emergency veterinarian can also be reached at 752-0514.

2.  Analgesia, Anesthesia and Euthanasia

a)  Procedures expected to cause more than slight or momentary pain (e.g., pain in excess of a needle prick or injection) require the appropriate use of pain-relieving measures unless scientifically justified in an approved animal care and use protocol. Similarly, experimental, husbandry or other procedures or situations that produce distress (stress that will alter or have the potential to alter an animal's homeostasis) should be provided either a chemical (anesthetic, tranquilizer, analgesic) means of relief or an alternative method, such as training or acclimatization to reduce the associated distress. Requests for exceptions to the use of analgesics, tranquilizers, anesthetics or non-chemical means of providing relief from pain and/or distress must be scientifically justified by the Principal Investigator and approved by the IACUC. While the IACUC ensures that these procedures are followed, the Attending Veterinarian and the veterinary staff are available for consultation. See the IACUC Guidelines on the Recognition and Alleviation of Pain and Distress.

b)  The Attending Veterinarian and veterinary staff is available for consultation on the appropriate use of anesthetics and anesthetic monitoring for research animals. This typically occurs during the protocol review process.

c)  Acceptable means of euthanasia of research animals are outlined in the AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia (June 2007). The Attending Veterinarian and veterinary staff are also available for consultation on the appropriate means of euthanasia.

3.  Surgical Support

a)  Attending Veterinarian and veterinary staff are available for consultations or collaboration on the preoperative, surgical and postoperative procedures performed on research animals. This includes provisions for training personnel in surgical techniques and post operative care of research animals, including pain management. Appropriate anesthetic and post operative records must be maintained for all animals undergoing a surgical procedures. Guidelines for the appropriate methods of anesthetic and post operative monitoring and Survival Surgery in Rodents are attached.

4.  Animal Well-Being

a)  Promoting an animal’s well being before, during and after an experimental procedure is the responsibility of every animal user and is supervised by each department through their assigned vivarium supervisor. Departments are responsible for developing their own husbandry programs to provide for the animals’ well being in accordance with IACUC policies. The Attending Veterinarian and veterinary staff is available for consultation on appropriate husbandry programs for a wide variety of species.

5.  Appropriate Use of Animals in Research and Teaching

a)  The Attending Veterinarian and veterinary staff provides training to investigators in the proper restraint, dosing techniques, sample collection and appropriate animal use.