Testimonials
Animal Care Systems products are currently saving energy in over 380 facilities around the globe. These include:
- Colleges, Universisites and Medical Schools
- Pharmaceutical Companies
- Private Research Facilities
- Private and Public Hospitals
- Breeding Facilities
- State and Federal Research Facitities including: NIH, CDC, EPA, VA and USDA
Here are a few testimonials from satisifed customers.
Department of Medicine (RMH/WH)
Sept 2007
To whom it may concern,
Since October 2006 The University of Melbourne
Department of Medicine (RMH/WH) has been operating
with 13 of our 20 OptiMICE racks in use.
These racks, in a facility not designed for individually
ventilated cages have allowed us to make maximal
use of the space while maintaining a specific organism
free environment, housing 15 mouse lines ranging
from the standard control and transgenic lines
through to experimental animals.
Our mice housed in the OptiMICE system are breeding
at the same rate or better than they previously
did in standard open top cages. The transparent
cages allow for easy non invasive observation of
mice, such as health checks, birthing and experimental
observations, reducing the amount of stress on
the animals. Animal behaviour remains normal even
while the racks are being gently turned to access
other animals. Some previously jumpy strains have
also begun to quieten down since the move to this
system.
OptiMICE cages have proven to be easy to use, with
no parts requiring maintenance at this stage. The
system was connected to our exhaust by AACS staff
and there have been no problems with airflow since
the installation. This direct installation to the
room exhaust which vents directly outside ensures
there are no animal odours in the facility expect
in the wash area, a set up that is providing comfort
to researchers with allergies The movement of air
through the cages via the low placed front filter
and high placed back filter, coupled with the use
of aspen bedding has reduced the frequency of cleaning
required, thus lowering the stress on animals,
and allowing staff to focus more on welfare and
techniques than just cleaning. The addition of
the tunnels has proven beneficial for our stock
mice by providing environmental enrichment which
they use by hiding in, climbing upon and moving
around the cage. To date there have been few instances
of chewing and the tunnels increase the floor space
of the cage allowing us to house up to 8 mice of
certain weights per cage. The tunnels are easy
to wash, sterilise and stack. Tunnels are not provided
to breeders. The option of two different sized
feeders for higher and lower cage capacities, a
powder feeder and a tox floor (perforated wire
bottom), have proven to be very helpful in our
particular experiments.
We have had very few occurrences of floods from
the bottles as they do not tend to block or flood
unless they are improperly capped or the bottle
itself is damaged. There have been some instances
of gnawing on a particular corner of the bottles,
however by re-positioning the hanger this is can
be evenly spread reducing the risk of floods.
Overall the system has proven to be beneficial
to our facility, allowing us to hold more animals
than our previous facility with the added ease
of handling and health monitoring, with little
maintenance to the units themselves. The customer
service from both the AACS and the ACS teams was
excellent from the first contact point where they
were willing to design additional items for the
cages, and this service has continued to this date
I have no hesitation in recommending this system
to other users and I encourage them to seek the
advice of AACS when laying out and installing into
the facility. Thanks to the extra care given by
the AACS team the delivery and installation of
the system into our facility was quick and much
easier than anticipated.
Kind Regards
Jennifer Davis
BRF Manager
The University of Melbourne
Department of Medicine (RMH/WH)
UPDATE: February 2008
We house mice in groups with a maximum of 8 per cage
using the tunnel troughs as enrichment. We also
use the recommended Aspen bedding which has increased
the time between our cleaning cycles, too much
sawdust however will increase the frequency of
changes as it won't dry out properly in the cage.
Cages with 8 mice are cleaned weekly; cages of
6-7 can go from 10 to 14 days but generally require
a top up of feed after 7 days as we have the smaller
sized feeder, water will last for 10 days in a
cage of 7 mice. (All of this is of course dependant
on size and sex of the animals).
Click
here to download a PDF copy of this letter
BioReliance Corporation - The Applicability of the OptiMICE® Cage System in a Toxicology Animal Facility
Presented at the 34th National Capital Area Branch of AALAS Seminar, Sept. 17-18, 2008, this poster by Gus Garcia and Cindy Horner, BS, CMAR, RLATG Sr. Operations Manager, Mammalian Toxicology demonstrates ease of use and that standard dosing time for oral gavage can be reached with the OptiMICE® rack system.
Click here to download a PDF copy of this poster
I am a basic researcher with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience who has been working with rodents and rodent caging for about 18 years. Animal Care System's OptiMICE caging system is by far the most convenient for the researcher, and the most comfortable for the animals, of any system that I have ever worked with. I am a keen observer of rodent behavior, and I am convinced that the OptiMICE set up affords the most naturalistic and least stressful laboratory environment possible for mice. The wedge shape of the OptiMICE cage, and the internal shape of the cages allows the animals to exercise a fuller range of natural nesting and climbing behavior than other rectangular configurations. I believe that the breeding efficiency of my mouse colony has been optimized by their being housed in OptiMICE cages.
For the user, the cages stack nicely, are durable, easily picked up with one hand, easy to secure in place on the rack as they dock to verify proper placement. The price of the caging system is competitive with others, but I think the real value lies in the breeding efficiency of the animals and the safety for both animals and users of a properly working system. Perhaps most important has been the instant responsiveness of the team at ACS to my suggestions for improvements to the system. I was one of the first users of the OptiMICE system, and in response to some initial issues with the water bottle, food hopper structures, and the cage card holders, the team at ACS quickly remedied the situation with design improvements that eliminated any previous problems. As far as I am concerned, the OptiMICE system as is currently in use is completely problem free.
I have nothing but positive things to say about ACS, and will always be happy to give them rave reviews on not only the products, but their absolutely stellar customer service.
Sharon Low-Zeddies, Ph.D.
MusWorks, Inc.
Falls Church, Virginia
