Table 4.
Results of subjective cage scoring (mean; see Figure 1) to evaluate living conditions of mice
| Mice per cage |
||||||||
| Evaluation | 1 Male | 1 Female | 3 Male | 3 Female | 5 Male | 5 Female | Breeder pair | |
| Total score | 1 2 3 4 | 6.4 6.8 7.7 7.9 | 5.6 6.3 7.5a 8.3a | 7.4 9.4 11.0a 12.5a | 7.8 8.9 12.4a 14.0a | 9.4 12.0 15.0a 16.0a | 7.8 11.4a 13.2a 13.4a | 8.3 12.0a 13.3a 14.3a |
| Welfareb | 1 2 3 4 | 1.3 1.4 1.7 1.8 | 1.2 1.4 1.8 1.9 | 1.5 2.1 3.0 3.4 | 1.7 2.0 3.6 4.0 | 2.0 2.9 3.9 4.2 | 1.7 2.8 3.5 3.6 | 1.9 3.0 3.8 3.9 |
| Dirtinessb | 1 2 3 4 | 1.7 2.0 2.5 2.6 | 1.4 1.9 2.3 2.6 | 2.4 3.2 3.6 4.0 | 2.5 3.1 3.9 4.2 | 3.1 4.0 4.2 4.5 | 2.6 3.7 3.9 4.1 | 2.9 4.0 4.2 4.3 |
| Healthb | 1 2 3 4 | 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 | 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 | 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.5 | 1.0 1.0 1.4 1.7 | 1.0 1.1 1.9 2.1 | 1.0 1.2 1.6 1.7 | 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.7 |
| Distressb | 1 2 3 4 | 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.0 | 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 | 1.0 1.1 1.5 1.6 | 1.2 1.3 1.6 2.0 | 1.3 1.7 2.2 2.5 | 1.1 1.5 1.7 2.0 | 1.1 1.5 1.6 2.1 |
| Odorb | 1 2 3 4 | 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.4 | 1.0 1.0 1.4 1.3 | 1.5 1.9 1.9 2.0 | 1.4 1.4 1.9 1.8 | 2.0 2.4 2.7 2.7 | 1.4 2.1 2.6 2.1 | 1.4 2.2 2.3 2.3 |
a
Evaluation periods for which the mean total score was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) greater than that at evaluation 1 for that cage group.
b
These subcomponents were summed to determine the mean total cage score.