- Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician Animal Health and Welfare Flashcards
6 cards from real ALAT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 - Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician Animal Health and Welfare flashcards as text
What is the concept of 'positive welfare' in laboratory animal science?
Answer: Going beyond preventing suffering to actively promoting positive experiences such as social interaction, enrichment, and environmental choice
Positive welfare extends beyond preventing negative states to actively promoting positive experiences including social interaction, environmental complexity, agency (choice), and opportunities for species-typical rewarding behaviors.
How should an ALAT assess the welfare of animals that show no obvious clinical signs?
Answer: By evaluating behavioral indicators including activity level, social behavior, nest quality, food/water consumption, and response to handling
Subclinical welfare assessment uses behavioral indicators: normal activity patterns, appropriate social interactions, nest building quality (in mice), food/water consumption patterns, and appropriate response to handling (not excessive fear or aggression).
What is compassion fatigue and how can it affect ALAT technicians?
Answer: Emotional exhaustion from the demands of caring for animals that may suffer or be euthanized, leading to burnout and decreased job performance
Compassion fatigue is the emotional cost of caring for animals in research settings, including witnessing suffering, performing euthanasia, and the moral stress of participating in procedures. It can lead to burnout, decreased empathy, and poor job performance.
Why is it important to document and report all adverse events in animal protocols?
Answer: Documentation enables pattern recognition, improves future protocols through refinement, fulfills regulatory requirements, and supports the ongoing harm-benefit assessment of research
Adverse event documentation serves multiple purposes: enables identification of patterns requiring protocol modification, contributes to refinement of future studies, fulfills regulatory reporting requirements, and provides data for IACUC continuing review of the harm-benefit balance.
What is the significance of 'environmental complexity' for laboratory animal welfare?
Answer: Providing multiple types of environmental features gives animals opportunities for diverse behaviors, cognitive stimulation, and a sense of control over their environment
Environmental complexity (multiple enrichment types, varied features, opportunities for choice) promotes diverse behavioral repertoires, reduces boredom and stereotypies, provides cognitive stimulation, and gives animals agency over their immediate environment.
What welfare considerations are specific to animals in long-term studies?
Answer: Animals in chronic studies require enhanced monitoring for progressive conditions, age-related issues, social stability, enrichment rotation, and adjustment of humane endpoints for long-term timelines
Long-term studies present unique welfare challenges including: monitoring for progressive disease burden, managing age-related conditions, maintaining social stability in group-housed animals, preventing enrichment habituation through rotation, and establishing appropriate humane endpoints for chronic timelines.