Fundamentals of Cage Wash Operations

The animal care and use facility support—or cage wash—area has evolved tremendously in the past 50 years. It is now recognized as a critical component in programs of animal care and use throughout the world, yet there has previously been no single, comprehensive resource to support it. This much-needed book describes facility support operations that have a direct, substantial effect on the program’s ability to provide quality animal care. Editors James D. Cox and Bruce W. Kennedy, practitioners with more than 80 years of experience in laboratory animal facilities between them, show how cage wash serves as the hub of the entire research animal enterprise. After all, when cage wash comes to a halt, there are no clean cages or equipment, and research struggles to continue.

There is a significant volume of knowledge necessary to work in facility support roles, spread across many different resources, many of which are unpublished and/or at a highly skilled technical level. This book brings all the relevant information together in an accessible, highly practical guide.

By increasing staff knowledge and skills in the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of equipment, the book shows that cage wash can be a viable career path, especially as facilities increasingly depend on different types of automation.