Policies

Veterinary Care

Animal Care Resource Guide

Issue Date: XXXXX, 2013

AC 3.1

Subject: Veterinary Care:

Expired Medical Materials

Pharmaceutical-Grade Substances in Research 

Surgery

Pre- and Post- Procedural Care 

Program of Veterinary Care

Declawing and Defanging Practices in Wild or Exotic 

Carnivores or Nonhuman Primates

Health Records 

Euthanasia

Policy #3

References: AWA Section 2143

9 CFR, Part 2, Sections 2.31, 2.32, 2.33, 2.40

9 CFR, Part 3, Section 3.110

History: Replaces memoranda dated May 31, 1990; November 29, 1991; April 6,

1992; and September 25, 1992. Replaces policies dated April 14, 1997;

January 14, 2000; August 18, 2006; July 17, 2007; and March 25, 2011.

Justification: Provides requested guidance. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) requires that 

all regulated animals be provided adequate veterinary care.

Policy: Expired Medical Materials

The use of expired medical materials (e.g., drugs, fluids, sutures, anesthetics, or 

analgesics) during any surgical procedure is not considered acceptable 

veterinary practice and therefore not consistent with adequate veterinary care as 

required by the regulations promulgated under the Animal Welfare Act. 

However, expired medical materials except analgesics, anesthetics, and 

euthanasia solutions may be used in acute terminal procedures where an animal 

is anesthetized during the study and euthanized without recovery if such use 

does not adversely affect the animal’s well-being or compromise the validity of 

the scientific study.

Facilities permitting the use of expired medical materials in acute terminal 

procedures should have a policy on the use of such materials and/or require 

investigators to describe the intended use in the animal study proposal.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/ Animal Care (APHIS/AC) has 

determined that the attending veterinarian along with the IACUC should control 

the use of expired medical materials in order to comply with the regulatory 

requirement to ensure pain and distress is minimized during proposed activities. 

Expired materials should be segregated from non-expired medical materials in 
Animal Care Resource Guide Policies

Veterinary Care 

3.2 AC

an appropriately labeled, physically separate location or discarded. APHIS 

however has no jurisdiction over the possession and use of expired medical 

materials for non-regulated animals and activities.

Pharmaceutical-Grade Substances in Research

Investigators are expected to use pharmaceutical-grade substances whenever 

they are available, even in acute procedures. This includes but is not limited to: 

compounds, medications, drugs, vehicles, and diluents. Non-pharmaceuticalgrade substances should only be used in regulated animals after specific review 

and approval by the IACUC. The IACUC should develop a consistent 

evaluation process which includes but not limited to the scientific justification 

for use and availability of an acceptable veterinary or human pharmaceuticalgrade product. Cost savings alone is not sufficient justification for using a nonpharmaceutical-grade substance in regulated animals. APHIS recognizes that 

most test articles and novel compounds are by definition not available in 

pharmaceutical grade.

Consultation with the attending veterinarian and consideration of alternatives 

are required when procedures that use non-pharmaceutical grade substances 

may potentially cause more than slight or momentary pain or distress. 

Surgery 

Professional Standards and Established Procedures: Current professional 

standards preclude eating, drinking, or smoking in surgery areas. Locations used 

for food handling purposes do not qualify as acceptable areas for performing 

surgeries.

Survival Surgeries: AWA regulations require that survival surgeries be 

performed using aseptic techniques and that major operative procedures on 

nonrodents be performed only in dedicated surgical facilities. For the purposes 

of this policy, designated surgical facilities are those that are set up to be 

cleaned and maintained in an aseptic condition, and are not used for other 

purposes when they are not being used for surgery. They must be maintained in 

good repair to meet aseptic requirements. 

APHIS has determined that hotel meeting rooms and auditoriums do not qualify 

as dedicated surgical facilities. 

Nonsurvival Surgeries: Nonsurvival surgeries do not require aseptic techniques 

or dedicated facilities but should be performed in a clean area, free of clutter, 

and using acceptable veterinary sanitation practices equivalent to those used in a 

standard examination/treatment room. Personnel present in the area should 

observe reasonable cleanliness practices for both themselves and the animals.

The performance of nonsurvival surgeries in hotel meeting rooms and 

auditoriums as practiced in instances such as teaching situations and 
Policies

Veterinary Care

Animal Care Resource Guide

Issue Date: XXXXX, 2013

AC 3.3

demonstration can only occur provided the requirements for nonsurvival 

surgery and minimizing pain and distress are met. 

Pre- and Post-Procedural Care

All animal activity proposals involving surgery must provide specific details of 

pre- through post-procedural care and relief of pain and distress. The principal 

investigator must involve the attending veterinarian or his/her designee in 

planning the type of care that may be provided. The appropriate use of drugs to 

relieve pain and/or distress should be specified in the animal activity proposal to 

avoid possible delays due to investigator concerns that a treatment regimen may 

interfere with the study. Furthermore, the specified drugs for relief of pain 

and/or distress must be readily available for use as described in the proposal. 

However, the attending veterinarian retains the authority to alter post-operative 

care if unexpected pain and/or distress occur in an animal. The IACUC must 

approve a significant change to the protocol if the attending veterinarian 

requests to alter post-operative care for the remaining animals. The withholding 

of pain and/or distress relieving care must be scientifically justified in writing 

and approved by the IACUC. 

In the event the animal is taken to an off-site location, such as a farm, for postoperative care, that location should be identified as a site of the research facility 

or a site of another registered research facility in order for AC to conduct an 

inspection. To comply with adequate veterinary care requirements and in 

accordance with currently accepted standards of practice, an animal is not to be 

taken to an off-site location before it fully recovers from anesthesia unless 

justified in the animal activity proposal. Appropriate post-operative records 

should be maintained in accordance with professionally accepted veterinary 

procedures regardless of the location of the animal. 
Animal Care Resource Guide Policies

Veterinary Care 

3.4 AC

Program of Veterinary Care

Facilities which do not have a full-time attending veterinarian must have a 

written Program of Veterinary Care (PVC). This Program must consist of a 

properly completed APHIS Form 7002 or an equivalent format. The attending 

veterinarian must visit the facility on a regular basis, i.e., often enough to 

provide adequate oversight of the facility’s care and use of animals. APHIS 

recommends this visit occur at least annually. Records of visits by the attending 

veterinarian should be kept to include dates of the visits and comments or 

recommendations of the attending veterinarian or other veterinarians. 

The PVC should be reviewed and updated whenever necessary (e.g., as a new 

species of animal or a new attending veterinarian is obtained, or the preventive 

medical program changes). APHIS recommends that the PVC be initialed and 

dated by both the attending veterinarian and the facility representative whenever 

it is changed or reviewed without change. The preventive medical program 

described in the PVC is expected to be in accordance with professionally 

accepted veterinary practice (e.g., appropriate vaccinations, diagnostic testing). 

It should include zoonotic disease prevention measures.

Declawing and Defanging Practices in Wild or Exotic Carnivores or 

Nonhuman Primates

Declawing of wild and exotic carnivores and the removal or reduction of canine 

teeth in nonhuman primates and wild and exotic carnivores have been used in 

the past in an attempt to minimize dangers presented during human interaction 

with these species. These procedures are not innocuous and can cause ongoing 

pain, discomfort, or other pathological conditions in the animals. In addition, 

they do not prevent predatory behaviors, safeguard the general public, or 

prevent biting in nonhuman primates and carnivores.

The declawing of any wild or exotic carnivore does not constitute appropriate 

veterinary care unless prescribed by the attending veterinarian for treatment of 

individual medical problems of the paws. Any medical treatment of a paw 

should be limited to the affected digit(s) or area.

 

The removal of the canine teeth of a nonhuman primate, or wild or exotic 

carnivore, does not constitute appropriate veterinary care unless as prescribed by 

the attending veterinarian for the immediate medical needs of the animal. Tooth 

reduction that exposes the pulp cavity does not constitute appropriate veterinary 

care as it may result in oral pathologic conditions and pain. Reduction that does 

not expose the pulp cavity may be acceptable in some instances such as a 

behavioral study or breeding situation. 

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has developed a policy 

statement on these issues that supports APHIS’ recommendation. It also suggests 

alternatives to dental surgery such as behavioral modification, environmental 

enrichment, and changes in group composition. A full text of AVMA policies can 

be found on www.avma.org.
Policies

Veterinary Care

Animal Care Resource Guide

Issue Date: XXXXX, 2013

AC 3.5

Health Records

Health records are needed to convey necessary information to all people involved 

in an animal’s care. Every facility should have a system of health records 

sufficiently comprehensive to demonstrate the delivery of adequate health care. 

For traveling exhibitors, information on any chronic or ongoing health problems 

and information on the most current preventive medical procedures should 

accompany any traveling animals, but the individual medical history records may 

be maintained at the home site.

 Euthanasia

The method of euthanasia should be consistent with the current AVMA 

Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals

https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Euthanasia-Guidelines.aspx . 

Gunshot as a routine method of euthanasia endangers surrounding animals, 

buildings, and personnel, and is likely to cause distress to other animals. This 

method is conditionally acceptable under a specific set of circumstances in order 

to ensure the welfare of the animal undergoing euthanasia. Such circumstances 

include instances where other forms of acceptable euthanasia cannot be used (e.g.

emergency or field conditions where the animal cannot be appropriately 

restrained) or includes situations where gunshot reduces the danger to other 

animals or humans. Only personnel skilled in the use of firearms, using

appropriate firearms, and familiar with the "kill point" of the animal should 

perform the euthanasia. If the firearm is not aimed so that the projectile enters the 

brain and causes rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death without evidence of 

pain or distress, the definition of euthanasia is not met. However, it may not be 

appropriate to target the head when samples of brain tissue are needed, hence 

gunshot through the heart may be necessary in such situations. Note: All State and 

local laws relevant to gunshot must also be met.

Also note that in accordance with the "Expired Medical Materials" section of this 

policy, the use of expired euthanasia drugs is considered inadequate veterinary

care.