IACUC Policy #4: Rodent Cage Card Requirements

1. The laboratory Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for ensuring that all cages under their name have appropriate identification.

1. Rodents are identified by cage card, located on the front of the cage, on a cage- by-cage basis. Individual animals can be identified by other means (ear tags, tattoos) but only the cage card is required.

1. The following items are required on all rodent cages:
   1. Principal Investigator Name
   2. Active IACUC Protocol Number in L0XXX format
   3. Vendor (either commercial vendor, previous institution, or “ACF Bred”)
   4. Species
   5. Strain or Commercial Vendor Stock Number
   6. Cage # (specific to lab or coordinate system used on the cage rack – i.e. A1)
   7. Sex
   8. Date of Birth OR Date of Arrival
      1. ACF Bred animals need Date Of Birth, Vendor supplied animals need Date of Arrival (DOB is optional if provided by vendor)
   9. Cage Census
      1. Must be kept updated

Special information that must be included in certain circumstances

1. Special Diet or Water Requirements

   1. i.e. High fat diet or high salt diet
      1. Date started, length of time special requirements will be in place
2. Any hazards associated with the cage
   1. i.e. Biohazards, carcinogens, chemical hazards
      1. Specific hazards must be included (i.e. streptozotocin)
      2. Application date and end date must be included
3. Starting weight must be included for any animal on specialty diet or food restriction
4. Please see Michigan Tech IACUC Policy #2: Rodent Survival Surgery, for surgical procedure documentation requirement for cages.

1. The attending veterinarian or designee may grant exceptions to this policy when it is deemed in the best interest of the animals.
2. Concerns or issues regarding rodent cage identification must be reported to and will be reviewed by the IACUC.