Helpful Hints for Obtaining A Health History
Points To Consider:
- The Animal(s)
- Cage Card Information
- Environment
- Investigator Information
- QA Data
- Why was the animal reported and by whom
- Describe your observations of physical symptoms noted
- Verify the sex of the animal (cage cards and sick reports are often incorrect)
- Does it have cagemates - are they "normal", exhibiting similar signs or?
- Are other animals in the room ill? Are they having other problems or exhibiting the same
signs? If similar or same, do they belong to the same investigator, are they the same
strain, are they on the same experimental protocol,???
Cage cards should give the following information:
- Principal Investigator
- Associated Post Doc, Co-Investigator, Technician, etc
- Protocol Number
- Date received
- Vendor
- Strain
- Date of Birth
- Sex
- Weight
- Investigator ID numbers
- Some indication of any procedures performed
Often this information is not complete but note everything it says, this will also help
you in discussing the animal(s) with the investigator - any information that is not on the
cage card should be elicited from the investigator.
- Look and ask about the environment both at a cage and room level
- Cage - note H20 accidents, high humidity, lixit problems, moldy food,
overcrowding, etc
- Room - Have there been any problems with temperature, humidity, light cycles, noise,
etc.
Be a detective! Ask very specific questions depending on the circumstances.
- Transgenic or Knock-out Animals:
- Ask the investigator to give you the precise nomenclature - either verify what the cage
card says or get them to tell you. Is the animal heterozygous or homozygous?
- What is the expected phenotype
-
- Breeders:
Females
- How many litters has this animal produced
Any problems delivering or rearing pups
- Males
- Do males move from cage to cage for breeding or are they set up as pair or harem? (This
may be important to know for infectious disease epidemiology)
-
- Experimental Manipulations:
- Ask what has been done, when, by whom (was it someone who has done this before or a new
person)
- Is this a new procedure or have they done it before? If so were there any problems?
- Would they expect to see any problems?
- Get a precise explanation of what was done - Drugs used, types of injections given and
how often, surgery performed, anesthetics used, special diets, etc.
Has the investigator noticed any problems - either with this animal, experimental
group, other animals in this shipment or in the room?
Get the name of the person providing the history to you and include that in your
summary
Include the most recent QA data about the room or shipment of animals in your history
There are various sources to find this through the Diagnostic lab system:
- The latest report should be posted on the animal room door
- Look in master file that Valerie maintains in the office (by Bldg/Room or quarantine
group)
- Look up on BMS system by necropsy accessions - Bldg/Room
REMEMBER: You are providing as many clues to the puzzle as you can to help the
pathologist make his/her diagnosis. Anything and everything could be important.
 
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