PIL A- Species Specific Module- Recognition of Wellbeing and Distress

Question 1

Why is recognising wellbeing, pain and distress important?

regarding ASPA

Answer 1

ASPA requires that pain, suffering, distress & lasting harm resulting from.
Procedures are controlled & severe pain that can’t controlled must not occur.
Legal & moral requirements to minimise pain and distress therefore must be recognisable.
Have to ensure severity limits are adhered to & humanely kill animals in severe pain or distress.

Question 2

Why is recognising wellbeing, pain and distress important?

regarding results

Answer 2

Healthy animals needed for good science.
Infections could skew validity of information obtained from scientific procedures & make interpretation of results impossible, as can cause immunological, physiological, biochemical & pathological changes.
Infection can also cause morbidity and mortality.

Question 3

Recognition of wellbeing

Answer 3

Assess animal’s well-being by becoming familiar with normal behaviour, appearance, physiological & anatomical characteristics; observe sufficient numbers undisturbed over time in familiar room & cage to make it reliable & representative.
Ability to empathise with animals.

Question 4

Signs of wellbeing

Answer 4

Exhibit social, group behaviour.
Move freely.
Be inquisitive and alert when disturbed.
Relatively friendly & easy to approach.
Warm to touch with evidence of muscle tone.
Clean & well-groomed coat
Respond well to stroking.

Question 5

GM animals

Answer 5

Because of large numbers involved and the potential for unexpected adverse phenotypes.
Mice with a particular transgene can have skeletal or other deformities.
Difficult to assess level of pain.

Question 6

Causes of pain and distress

Answer 6

1. Ill health/disease
2. Environmental conditions
3. Experimental procedures

Question 7

Recognition of ill health and disease

Answer 7

Difficult due to small size & can often be small alterations from normal state.
Familiarity with healthy animals enables recognition of disease.
Important to recognise prior to starting experimental procedures.
Careful observations are required to detect changes in appearance & behaviour.

Question 8

Environmental conditions

Answer 8

Housing, bedding, enrichment and diet.
Social isolation.
Treatment by staff.
Extremes of temperature, humidity, light cycles & noise. 
Damp or wet conditions.

Question 9

What’s the issue with being unable to assess animal pain?

Answer 9

Difficulties in determining procedure severity.

Question 10

Recognition of distress, illness and pain

Answer 10

(1) Establish normal baseline values of variables ie. food & water consumption.
(2) Detect subtle changes.
Animals try to appear ‘normal’ and will fail to show some symptoms.
Symptoms can be transient & vocalisation rarely occurs.
Importance of experience: from self or animal technicians, veterinary surgeons, research workers, home office.
Need to make distinction between what the animal is feeling & what human assumes it is feeling.

Question 11

General symptoms of distress, illness and pain

Answer 11

Excessive weight loss.
Body condition – ie. coat discolouration, reduced grooming, excessive scratching, piloerection.
Facial cues: tightening of eyes, grimacing, ears & whiskers pulled back.
Pale extremities (nose & paws).
Necrotic ring tails (due to chronic low humidity).
Visible injuries & abnormal swelling.
Discharge from the eyes, nose, mouth or anal-genital area.
Diarrhoea or absence of faeces.
Blood in urine or faeces.

Question 12

Indications of distress, illness and pain

Answer 12

Hunched appearance, inactive & separate from cage-mates.
Indifference to surroundings & reluctance to move.
Unexpected aggression or vocalisation when handled.
Food and water intake – dehydration causes loss of skin elasticity & tend to not eat and drink.
Repeated licking, scratching or biting of one area.
Body temperature.
Interrupted or extended sleep patterns.
Respiration rate.

Question 13

Key signs in mice

Answer 13

Procedures which cause pain = mice increase their sleeping times.
Loss of body weight but often transient following procedure.
Piloerection & hunched appearance.
Isolated from cagemates.
Reflex withdrawal, sunken eyes & abdo, biting response, dehydration.

Question 14

Use of lab analysis

Answer 14

Lab analysis can identify sub-clinical evidence of stress and disease.
Blood samples: Cell counts and Serology.
Biochemical Parameters.
Post mortems .
Macro appearance of the lungs, liver, kidneys, intestine etc.
Histology, parasitology and bacteriology.