Laboratory Animals including rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, dogs, cats, monkeys, fish and reptiles help scientists and doctors first discover new human and animal medicines, and then test that the medicines are safe and effective. Laboratory animals are also used to investigate the causes of animal and human disease and to understand how disease progresses in a living body

All laboratory animals are looked after 24 hours a day, every day of the year (including weekends and at Christmas). Animal Technologists look after lab animals and are specially trained and take exams to prove they know how to care for lab animals properly. It is the job of animal technologists to ensure the animals are healthy and happy, and have the right food and living conditions.
To be an animal technologist you have to like animals a lot.

One of the main goals for animal technologists is to make sure that research animals are not exposed to any unnecessary pain. Animal technologists help calm and sooths animals, and if anything might hurt the animals it is given the appropriate level of pain relief. In the UK a vet is always available to treat lab animals if they are ill.

Doctors and vets can choose from many good medicines to prescribe to their patients and all of them have been developed with the help of lab animals.

The Government publishes an annual report of the numbers of lab animals used in UK medical research laboratories. 2.75 million scientific procedures using animals were made in 2003. The annual number of animals used has been halved over the last 30 years and work by animal technologists and their scientific colleagues has ensured a year by year improvement in the standards of care and welfare for lab animals.