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Guidelines for Toe Clipping of Rodents [1,
2]
The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals [3] recommends
the following means of animal identification: "...room, rack,
pen, stall, and cage cards with written or bar-coded information;
collars, bands, plates, and tabs; colored stains; ear notches
and tags; tattoos; subcutaneous transponders; and freeze brands".
Toe-clipping (removal of the first bone of certain toes, corresponding
to a predetermined numbering code [4]),
as a method of identification of small rodents, should be used
only when no other individual identification method is feasible
and should be performed only on altricial neonates [3]
(i.e., up to 7 days post natal).
Under certain circumstances the techniques of "toe clipping" for
the purpose of animal identification may be necessary. The principal
investigator must provide a strong justification for use of this
particular method. The investigator must assure that the procedure
will be performed according to accepted veterinary practice, including
post-procedural care.
References:
-
Approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee: 1/20/2005
-
Adapted
from the National Institutes of Health Office of Animal
Care and Use Guidelines
-
Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory
Animals, National Research Council, National Academy
Press, 1996, page 46.
-
Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician
Manual, P. Timothy Lawson (ed.), American Association
for Laboratory Animal Science, 2001, p45.
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