ANIMAL MONITORING SHEET
PROJECT NAME:_______________________________________________________________________
Version Number: XXXXX
Date: DD/MM/YYYY
AEC Project No
Investigator
Cage/Animal ID Number
Species, Strain, Sex, Age etc
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Amend this sheet to reflect the specific animal model in your experiment i.e. if over 15% weight
loss is expected in the first 2 days of the experiment (followed by recovery), justify in your
application and request approval for an increased percentage.
Any additional observations tailored to the monitoring requirements for each experiment are added
i.e anaemia, prolapsed anus, pregnancy, tumour size and necrosis.
Remove irrelevant clinical signs, justify and inform committee under Section 3 Monitoring.
Each animal must be examined and observed for abnormalities at each time point (weekly or daily,
twice daily, out of hours etc as appropriate) record time intervals between same day observations.
Observations must be recorded in the table (refer to scoring table)
Normal clinical signs are recorded as “0”
Severity of each abnormality must be scored, e.g., Breathing 3, Coat 2 , Eyes 0
Comments concerning abnormalities are recorded in the comments section of the table
Surgical site appearance must be checked daily until completely healed.
DATES and TIMES
CLINICAL OBSERVATION
(0 and above)
UNDISTURBED
Activity
Alert/Sleeping
Breathing
Coat
Drinking
Eating
Movement/gait
ON HANDLING
Alert
Body condition
Body weight (g)
Percentage weight loss%
Breathing
Dehydration
Eyes
Faeces
Nose
Vocalisation
Surgical site appearance
TOTAL SCORE
COMMENTS
Signature of investigator/manager
V2 Feb 2015
Date
1
CLINICAL SIGNS SEVERITY SCORE – Category I (1-3)
SIGNS
0
1
2
isolated,
abnormal
posture
dull or
depressed
coat rough
3
Activity
normal
huddled/inactive,
isloated
OR overactive
little response to
handling
unkempt; superficial
wounds, hair thinning,
slight pilo-erection
loose, soiled perineum
Alertness/Sleeping
normal
Coat
normal
Faeces
normal
faeces
moist
Movement/ gait
normal
walking on tiptoe OR
reluctance to move
Nose
normal
slight OR
abnormal
gait
wetness
Vocalisation
normal
squeaks
when
palpated
Surgical site
appearance
normal
(no
swelling
or
redness)
mild
redness,
mild
swelling of
wound
struggles and squeaks
loudly in response to
handling of a body part
& signs of aggression
presence of discharge
and presence of
moderate swelling,
slight wound
dehiscence.
discharge
moribund
OR fitting
unconscious
bleeding or infected wounds, or
severe hairloss, severe piloerection or self mutilation
Presence of diarrhoea for 48
hours OR no faeces for 48 hrs
OR presence of blood on faeces
staggering OR limb dragging OR
paralysis
Obstruction of nasal passages
or constant purulent discharge
persistent and repetitive
vocalisation without handling
redness and swelling of the
wound and/or separation of
wound edges. *Euthanasia if resuturing and/or surgical
intervention fails
Other
CLINICAL SIGNS SEVERITY SCORE – Category II (4-6)
SIGNS
0
4
Body condition
normal
thin
Body weight
normal
weight and
growth rate
reduced
growth rate
Breathing
normal
rapid, shallow
Dehydration
none
Drinking
normal
Eating
normal
Eyes
normal
skin less
elastic
increased OR
decreased
intake over 24
hrs
increased OR
decreased
intake over 24
hours
wetness or
dullness
5
6
loss of body fat,
failure to grow
Chronic weight loss
>10%** OR failure
to grow
loss of muscle mass that
enables palpation of the spine
acute weight loss>10% *
chronic weight loss 15% ** OR
failure to grow for juveniles or
failure to stabilise body weight
laboured, irregular, or gaping
mouth breaking, and/or blue skin
skin tenting & eyes and
abdomen sunken
constantly drinking OR not
drinking over 24 hours
rapid, abdominal
breathing
skin tenting/ sunken
abdomen
increased OR
decreased intake
over 48 hours
increased OR
decreased intake
over 48 hours
obese OR not eating over 48
hours (amend for obese strains)
discharge
Severe eye infection with vision
obstructed and signs of pain.
Other
*, Acute refers to the weight loss occurring within 2 days.
**, Chronic refers to the weight loss occurring within 7 days;
V2 Feb 2015
2
SPECIAL HUSBANDRY REQUIREMENTS
Record specific diets and supplements, therapies, bedding enrichment or particular food
supplements or enrichment that is not appropriate i.e sunflower seeds, paper etc
EUTHANASIA/HUMANE EXPERIMENTAL ENDPOINT CRITERIA
1) Category I clinical signs:
 Mandatory euthanasia should be performed if an animal scored 3 for any clinical
signs from column 3.
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Separate from the condition above, the animals will be closely monitored or
euthanised based on the total scoring system as given below.
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Total Score
0-2
3-8
9-12
13 and
above
Classification/Action
Good Health
Health to be monitored daily
Poor Health – Observe animals twice daily, if no improvement within 48
hours mandatory euthanasia. Seek further advice from the BRF Manager
or AWO
Mandatory euthanasia
2) Category II clinical signs:
 Mandatory euthanasia should be performed if an animal scored 6 for any clinical
sign from column 3. This includes acute ( >10%) or chronic ( >15%) weight loss
unless justified and approved by the Austin AEC.
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Animals with clinical signs with a single score of 4 from Category II will be closely
monitored and symptoms recorded once daily. Animals with a single score of 5
require from Category II require twice daily monitoring and symptoms recorded in
the morning and afternoon. Seek advice from the BRF Manager or AWO.
If there no improvement twice daily monitoring must continue until animal
improves/recovers (or euthanized), then once daily monitoring is required for a
minimum of 5 days unless the animal deteriorates.
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V2 Feb 2015
Separate from the two conditions above, the animals will be closely monitored or
euthanised based on the total scoring system as given above.
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