Animal Care & Husbandry Documentation

Summary

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) requires documentation of animal care procedures and verification of environmental conditions for animals maintained in confined housing conditions. Last update: 06/13/2025

Full Description

General

According to the Guide, 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. Emergency veterinary care must be available after work hours, on weekends, and on holidays. The following animal husbandry activities must be performed at a regular and appropriate frequency, as applicable:

Animal Health Check (daily)
Food and Water Check (daily)
Room Temperature Check (including current, and minimum/maximum for previous 24-hour period)
Room Ventilation Check (including air movement, odor level, and, if applicable, pressure differential)
Cage Space/Overcrowding Check
Bedding Change
Caging Change
Room Cleaning/Sanitation (including floors, walls, ceilings, fixtures, etc.)

Additional animal care activities may be required, per environmental and housing conditions, species, health status, etc. In general, the same principles and standards are used for aquatic animal husbandry. Animal care and husbandry tasks will include regular water quality and life support system assessments, disinfection and sanitation specific to aquatic environments, food quality maintenance, etc.

Required Documentation

Current, accurate and accessible documentation (e.g. care use logs) of animal care activities (to include self-identification of person completing tasks) is valuable to many people involved with the animal care and use program, including coworkers, veterinary staff, investigators, and program oversight representatives. Some may need critical information from that day, and others may want to look at trends over time.

IACUC Inspections and Compliance

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) completes inspection at least once every six months as per federal regulations. These inspections may or may not be announced. IACUC staff will conduct post-approval monitoring as necessary.

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) requires care and husbandry activities to be maintained on an animal housing room activity log at the animal room level, or as otherwise appropriate for the species and conditions. A sample monthly log sheet can be found below and may be adapted as necessary to suit the special needs of each facility. Completed log sheets must be retained and accessible upon request for at least one year for most animals.

EXAMPLE aquatic DAILY CARE LOG

EXAMPLE rodent DAILY CARE LOG

Animal husbandry supervisors should review animal housing room activity logs on an appropriate schedule to ensure accuracy and compliance with all husbandry and care requirements particular to the species and conditions. Facility inspections and site visits should also request husbandry logs.

Incomplete, inaccurate, or unavailable logs are noncompliant with our standards and requirements, and can result in additional or required actions by the responsible party, IACUC, and/or other oversight entities to address immediate or trending issues