Office of Research Integrity
Animal Records
There are basically two (2) types of animal records which Principal Investigators (PI's) are expected to maintain:
- animal health/treatment records
- surgical records
1) Animal health/treatment records consist of group clinical records for rodents, and individual clinical records for USDA regulated species. These clinical records should include:
- The date
- Principal Investigator IACUC approved protocol number
- The species
- The identifier of each animal (or group in the case of rodents)
- Any observations
- Procedures or treatments performed on the animals related to their
- Overall health abnormal observations followed to resolution
2) Survival surgical records must be maintained for all USDA regulated species. Group surgical records must be maintained for non-USDA regulated species(i.e., frogs, rodents, etc). Records should include survival and non-survival surgery denoted by a *:
- *The date
- *Principal Investigator
- *IACUC approved protocol number
- *The species
- *Proper identifier of each animal or group of non-USDA regulated animals
- *The surgical procedure
- *Anesthetic (including dose and route of administration
- *Number of USDA regulated animals operated
- *The surgeon(s)
- The results of the surgery, including complications
- The postsurgical care including analgesia (frequency of administration, dose,and route of administration)
- Daily post operative observation until sutures are removed and the animal(s) is (are)fully recovered
Forms for clinical observation records and surgical records are available for your use. However, PI's may maintain their own records as long as all information included on the standardized forms is included. Samples of these records are available for your assistance.