Be Nice

A 3Rs-friendly family of products and techniques

Sure we're a team of experienced scientists, technicians, engineers, and lab animal pros. But we're also a team of animal lovers who care deeply about animal welfare. That's why we've designed a family of products that go hand in hand with recommended techniques that are in full support of the 3Rs.

Good technique. Great products. Nice.

No Touching Allowed

Every time you pick up an animal, stress levels rise. Every time you poke an animal, it gets worse. There is a better way! Hands off rodent blood sampling allows you to take precise, low stress blood samples all without using a needle. Take your samples from outside the cage using a swivel and tether. For even faster collection, use a capillary tube with injector. Hands free sampling - better for the animal, and better for you.

Video Demonstrations:
Rat Blood Sampling Outside the Cage
Combining Instech VABs™ with Sarstedt Capillary Tubes

Learn more about Hands Off Blood Sampling
Hands Off Blood Sampling

Home Sweet Home

Mice and rats like to be together. Data clearly shows the benefits of group housing, and there's a reason why group housing is a recommended animal welfare refinement. If you're still using Vascular Access Harnesses™, it's time to make the switch to the Vascular Access Button™ (VAB™). Easier access, less poking, better patency. 

Video Demonstrations:
Use of the Vascular Access Button™ in Mice
Use of the Vascular Acccess Button™ in Rats

Learn more about Buttons
Group Housing with the Vascular Access Button™

Flexible, Friendly Oral Gavage

Oral dosing of mice and rats can be tricky business. You need to be fast and efficient, but moving quickly doesn't need to come with risk. Our plastic gavage tubes are flexible to reduce trauma and translucent to visualize delivery. They also have a soft elastomer tip to prevent inadvertent placement in the trachea and reduce the risk of perforation. Flexible gavage needles are a recommended animal welfare refinement over rigid metal tubes. 

Video Demonstrations:
Technique matters too! There are some things you can do while dosing with a flexible versus rigid feeding tube to make things easier on both you and the animal. That's why we've put together these two video demonstrations on how to oral gavage both mice and rats:
Mouse Oral Gavage Training
Rat Oral Gavage Training

Learn more about Oral Gavage

oral gavage

Sterile Solutions

Don't put your laboratory animals and research at risk by filling implanted catheters with solutions that are not pharmaceutical-grade or, worse, not even sterile. Sterile lock and flush solutions should be a non-negotiable when it comes to implanted catheters.

Our line of sterile solutions are made with USP heparin sodium and other pharmaceutical-grade ingredients following the USP <797> standard for compounding sterile preparations

Additional Resources:
Guide to Catheter Lock and Flush Solutions
Lock and Flush Solution Formulations

Learn more about Sterile Solutions
pharmaceutical-grade lock and flush solutions

See for Yourself

It's All in the Science