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Discover how loving animals and supporting ethical research go hand in hand. Learn how responsible, humane science helps improve the lives of both people and the animals we care about.
Photo credit: ©Rosalie Winard | Animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin (pictured above) has endorsed FBR's Love Animals? Support Animal Research campaign. Dr. Grandin is a professor of animal studies at Colorado State University.
For the Health of People and Pets
Many diseases that affect people—like cancer, cataracts, and thyroid conditions—also impact our pets. Thanks to animal research, treatments originally developed for humans are now helping dogs, cats, and other animals live longer, healthier lives. From ensuring the safety of medications to advancing lifesaving procedures, responsible animal research supports breakthroughs that benefit both humans and their beloved companions.
Understanding the Big Picture
Animal research is complex, and FBR’s Love Animals? Support Animal Research campaign was created to help all Americans understand its goals, benefits, and regulation. Backed by over 180 partner organizations, this initiative shows how responsible animal studies lead to lifesaving discoveries—for both people and pets.
The campaign is funded entirely by individuals, academic institutions, and organizations who believe in the value of this work. No government funding. Just committed supporters sharing the facts.
You can download our free 28-page campaign brochure, or if you'd like hard copies mailed to you, please email info@fbresearch.org with your mailing address and how many you’d like.
Shifting Perceptions Through Education
Public understanding of animal research is evolving — but there’s still work ahead. FBR's recent professional polling reveals that when people learn how animal studies benefit pets, support for research jumps from 36% to 57%. This shows that informed, compassionate messaging can shift attitudes meaningfully.
Improving Lives Through Research
Discover how animal research has led to lifesaving treatments for both humans and their companion animals. Explore the links below to learn how these breakthroughs help dogs and cats live longer, healthier lives.
The diagnosis and management of heart disease in cats and dogs have been dramatically advanced by the development of noninvasive laboratory tests and specialized instruments that assess the extent of cardiovascular disease and pinpoint congenital heart abnormalities.Veterinarians are adopting minimally invasive procedures such as laparoscopic and arthroscopic surgery to view, diagnose and treat health problems in animals. This method, which results in substantially less recovery time, involves making only small incisions in the animal’s skin and muscle into which tiny instruments, a lens, and a light source are passed.
X-Rays, CAT (Computer Axial Tomography) Scans, MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and Ultrasound imaging technologies that are used to diagnose humans are being adapted by veterinarians to help animals. Brain tumors, often found in dogs over five years of age, are diagnosed by MRI.
Abnormal cardiac rhythms in cats and dogs can result in weakness, poor stamina or even loss of consciousness. One of the most effective remedies for heart rhythm disruption is the pacemaker, which controls heart rate with electrical stimulation to the heart muscle. They have a working life of seven to 15 years, which usually accommodates the life expectancy of most middle-aged pets. Advanced dentistry is available to relieve pain and restore function in an estimated 85 percent of dogs and 75 percent of cats with dental problems. New preventive dental therapies reduce the plaque and tartar build-up that leads to gum disease and eventually to heart, liver and kidney damage.
Animal contact lenses are now available for companion and service animals that have suffered eye injuries – giving aging pets a new lease (or leash!) on life.
In addition to the use of analgesic medications, many new approaches to pain management, including hydrotherapy, massage, and acupuncture are being evaluated for veterinary patients. Animal rehabilitation is becoming established in veterinary medicine to help cats and dogs recover after surgery. In addition to simple physical therapy, high-tech equipment is in use to treat animals with orthopedic disease, joint disease, and osteoarthritis.
Simple dietary modifications have been discovered to extend and improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of house cats with urinary tract diseases and chronic kidney disease.
Understanding the Science
Explore common questions about how animal research helps our pets live longer, healthier lives. Get clarity on the role of science in advancing veterinary care and protecting companion animals.
Research is the foundation of all medical science, and animals are the foundation of this research. Medical progress, for human and animal health, requires research with animals because there is no complete replacement for a living system on which to conduct basic research. Animal studies provide invaluable and irreplaceable insights into human systems and for the study of animal health – there is no better model than the animal. When Americans learn that biomedical research involving animals improves animal health as well as human health, public understanding, and support for this vital research increases.
Practically every present-day protocol for the prevention, control, and cure of disease, and relief of pain is based on knowledge attained through research that involved lab animals. The best hope for developing new preventions, therapies, and cures for diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s is found in the promise of medical research that includes animal studies. Research with animals is also a legal obligation. Both the Nuremberg Code and the Helsinki Declaration of Helsinki outline provisions for research protocols to be conducted with animals, before humans.
The two concepts are not mutually exclusive – but it is essential to distinguish between “animal rights” and animal welfare. The research community supports animal welfare and works to guarantee the health and well-being of all animals. Animal rights activists seek to end all research involving animals – either because they choose to reject its well-established validity and usefulness, or because they believe that the life of a rat is equal in importance to the life of a child. And they have gone to shocking lengths to subvert medical and scientific progress. Laboratories have been broken into, animals stolen and years of valuable data destroyed. Though many animal rights organizations refuse to condemn such criminal behavior, Americans should not tolerate these illegal campaigns of intimidation and threats against medical research and discovery.
While some research requires that dogs and cats are used, the vast majority of laboratory animals are rodents specifically bred for research. Nearly half of the dogs and cats needed for research are also bred for that purpose. State laws and local policies prevent many animal pounds and shelters from providing dogs and cats to research facilities, animal dealers are the primary source for the other half of the animals scientists require. These dealers must be licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and must adhere to Animal Welfare Act standards of care. Both dealers and research facilities can obtain dogs and cats only from specified sources and must comply with detailed record-keeping and waiting-period requirements. In addition, USDA conducts unannounced inspections of dealers and research facilities for compliance to help ensure research animals are not missing pets.
Computer models and cell cultures, as well as other adjunct research methods, are excellent avenues for reducing the number of animals used. These methods are used to screen and determine the toxic potential of a substance in the early stages of an investigation, thereby reducing the total number of research animals needed. The final test, however, has to be done in a whole, living system. Even the most sophisticated technology cannot mimic the complicated interactions among cells, tissues, and organs that occur in humans and animals. Scientists must understand these interactions before introducing a new treatment or substance into humans.
In addition, there are very strong economic incentives to replace animals with computers or other adjunct methods. Research animals are very expensive to acquire and care for and are only used because no alternatives currently exist. For the near future, however, these adjunct technologies will be used in conjunction with, not instead of, laboratory animals.
There are striking similarities between the physiological systems of humans and various species of animals. For example, much of what we know about the immune system has come from studies with mice, and much of what we know about the cardiovascular system has come from studies with dogs.
Research results from animals also provide the information necessary to design human trials that must be completed for legal approval of new devices, drugs or procedures. It is important to be able to gauge how a new drug or procedure will affect a whole biological system before using it on humans. This is critical for scientific as well as ethical reasons. Laboratory animals are an integral part of the research process. In fact, virtually every major medical advance of the last century is due, in part, to research with animals.
The number of animals used in research has actually decreased in the past 20-25 years. Best estimates for the reduction in the overall use of animals in research range from 20% – 50%. This reduction is more consistent and striking when comparing species. 95% of animals used in research are rats and mice, 1/2% are monkeys, and only 4% are made up of other species (dogs, cats, fish, etc.) Due to a variety of factors, including the increase in nonanimal adjunct testing and the refinement of laboratory animal medicine, there are fewer animals used for many research projects.
Explore & Learn
Put your knowledge to the test with these quick and surprising questions about medical research, pets, and animal studies. Check your answers as you go—let’s see how many you get right!
In the United States (population: approximately 323 million), most households have at least one pet. How many cats and dogs do you think this adds up to?
How Many Cats and Dogs (Total) live in American Households?
The national investment in biomedical research, including federally-funded studies with animals, is expensive. But in the words of Mary Lasker, “If you think research is expensive, try disease.” What percentage of American healthcare costs do you think are incurred by scientific and medical research?
What percentage of American healthcare costs is allocated to scientific and medical research?
Since 1981, FBR has championed ethical animal research to drive innovation in medicine. Your support helps us continue educating the public and empowering the research community to improve lives across species.
