The Laboratory Rat

Rating:
Summary: limited use
Review: I found the information on behaviour and animal welfare to be limited and, in places, questionable. For example the use of single animal hanging cages is treated as standard husbandry -- despite the strong recommendation in most national laws and guidleines that social contact and environmental enrichment be provided to rats in the laboratory.

Rating:
Summary: limited use
Review: I found the information on behaviour and animal welfare to be limited and, in places, questionable. For example the use of single animal hanging cages is treated as standard husbandry -- despite the strong recommendation in most national laws and guidleines that social contact and environmental enrichment be provided to rats in the laboratory.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Ref Book
Review: This book has a lot to say....excellent reference book. If you do anything with the rat, then you need this book inspite of the price. The authors did a thorough job.

Rating:
Summary: Important but overpriced.
Review: This book is a welcome addition for the in vivo investigator; we know so much about the theoretical bases of our experiments, but how many of us really have any formal knowledge of our most important research tools, the animals themselves? For this reason, and in the interest of the general welfare of my experimental rats, I bought the book. There is much interesting and useful information presented by veterinarians who specialize in lab animal medicine.

But considering the plain xerox paper stock upon which this small pocket reference is printed, the price is outrageous. In addition to the paper stock, the copy-machine quality of printing helps make a muddled mockery of the alleged cytological preparations and micrographs that are attemptedly presented as figures. The condensed nature of the book was probably unnecessary considering the lack of this genre in the current literature. Furthermore, glaringly absent (in the midst of anatomical description) are any anatomical figures whatsoever, depicting any functional anatomy useful to the investigator.

I suggest this book if your institution pays for it.