There is some evidence that rats benefit from social housing and from some forms of environmental enrichment, such as platforms and shelters. It is less clear whether they benefit from more spacious cages. There is a lack of information about the relative benefits of social contact, enrichment and increased space, because existing studies tend to concentrate on only one of these variables at a time. The current experiment used economic demand procedures as a method to compare, on a single scale, qualitatively different environments with a standard home cage. The data indicate that rats show a high demand for social contact, and a low demand for a larger cage or one containing pillars or novel objects. This finding suggests that social housing of laboratory rats should be strongly advocated.

Current advances in technologies and treatments provide pet owners and veterinarians with more options for prolonging the life of beloved pets, but can simultaneously lead to ethical dilemmas relating to what is best for both animal and owner. Key tools for improving end-of-life outcomes include: 1) sufficient training to understand the valid ethical approaches to determining when euthanasia is appropriate, 2) regular training in client communication skills and 3) a standard end-of-life protocol that includes the use of quality of life assessment tools, euthanasia consent forms, and pet owner resources for coping with the loss of a pet. Using these tools will improve outcomes for animals and their owners, and reduce the heavy burden of stress and burnout currently being experienced by the veterinary profession.

Preference tests were used to assess a range of enrichment options for rats kept under standard New Zealand (and similar) caging conditions. The rats did not show significant preferences for most of the options, over an empty cage. The exceptions were shredded paper, a nesting box and a semi-enriched condition incorporating a range of modifications. These cage modifications are recommended for the enrichment of laboratory rats.

The effects of noise, in general, and music, in particular, on the behavior and welfare of animals in the laboratory deserve a great deal of empirical study. However, many laboratories must develop their current practices on the basis of sparse and conflicting data. With this commentary we seek to establish some of the factors that should be taken into account in deciding how to deal with sources of uncontrolled or deliberate sound and, specifically, in determining whether to play music in the laboratory. Views differ, however, the balance of evidence supports the use of quiet music during nonhuman animals' active periods, if this practice is introduced with an awareness of the risks to welfare and research.