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Tickling, a Technique for Inducing Positive Affect When Handling Rats
1Center for the Study of Animal Well-being, Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience,Washington State University, 2Canadian Council on Animal Care, 3Department of Animal Sciences, Center for Animal Welfare Science, College of Agriculture,Purdue University, 4Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences,Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Chapters
- 00:04Title
- 00:57Preparation of Equipment and Setup
- 01:42Tickling Procedure
- 04:00Results: Rats Tickled Before and After IP Saline Injection Produce More 50-kHz Ultrasonic Vocalizations Before Injection
- 04:57Conclusion
This article demonstrates the standardized application of playful handling, a tickling technique designed to mimic rat rough-and-tumble play. This technique is effective at reducing fearful reactions to humans and generating positive affect when rats are handled for common husbandry activities and medical and research procedures such as injection.
