# A cage-side observation. *What happens next?* Of 20 facilities whose procedures we read, 16 flag the cage with a card, but the report itself reaches the vet team in 7 different ways. The most common, at 6 of 20, is the card plus a web form. [Open the Vet block](https://streamcell.com/library/vet) ยท [See the form](https://streamcell.com/library/sick-animal-report#the-form) ## Key facts - **Facilities compared**: 20, from their public procedures, October 2026 - **Ways it's done**: 7 - **Part of**: [The Vet block](https://streamcell.com/library/vet) ## What the procedures reveal Three findings a vet or facility manager would stop on. - **16 of 20**: flag the sick animal's cage with a card. 12 name its color, from yellow and pink to green, red, orange and lavender. - **13 of 20**: say the same report is written in two or more places, such as the card and a web form. - **1 of 15**: forms ask how urgent the case is. Urgent cases go another way at 14 of 20, most often by phone. ## Where do facilities part ways? One path from the cage to the lab, and the four points where the 20 facilities split. 1. **Who reports it?** - Husbandry and animal care staff: 13 of 20 - Anyone who sees it: 4 of 20 - The PI or lab: 1 of 20 - Not stated: 2 of 20 2. **A card goes on the cage**: Yellow, pink, green, red, orange or lavender, by facility. (16 of 20 facilities) 3. **How does the report leave the cage?** - A web form: 6 of 20 - A paper record: 5 of 20 - A phone call: 3 of 20 - A software module: 2 of 20 - An email: 2 of 20 - A scan at the cage: 1 of 20 - A chat channel: 1 of 20 4. **Who sees it first?** - Vet staff or a vet tech: 15 of 20 - A manager or supervisor: 3 of 20. Sees it before any vet does. - A trained designate or study technician: 2 of 20 5. **And when it's urgent?** - A phone call: 10 of 20 - Direct contact, channel not named: 4 of 20 - The same route as any report: 1 of 20 - Not stated: 5 of 20 6. **The lab is told**: By vet staff, a vet tech or a vet at 12, and by a designate or study technician at 2. (16 of 20 facilities) Each dot is one of the 20 facilities whose procedure we read. Where one way clearly leads at a fork, it is outlined. ## How does the report get to the vet team? The second fork, way by way: how the report first leaves the cage. - **A card plus a web form** (6 of 20 facilities): A card goes on the cage and the report is typed into a web form or database that alerts the vet team. - **A paper record** (5 of 20 facilities): A paper report, log or two-part card in the room. A manager or technician picks it up and decides who to call. - **Phone first** (3 of 20 facilities): The call is the report, to a number on a sign or a contact sheet. Any paper comes after. - **A module in the facility's software** (2 of 20 facilities): Entered in a vendor's suite, sometimes by a technician from a lab member's email. - **An email report** (2 of 20 facilities): A templated email to a vet team list, which the facility then logs. - **Scan at the cage** (1 of 20 facilities): Scanning the code on the cage card opens the report on a phone, and the vet team gets an email. - **A team chat channel** (1 of 20 facilities): A card and paper notes, with the vet team told in a chat channel. Each dot is one facility whose procedure we read. Counted from public procedures, October 2026. Whatever the route, the chain is short: two to four people, with a median of three. No facility sends a routine report straight to a named vet. Vet staff or a vet tech see it first at 15 of 20, and a manager sees it before any vet at 3. ## What should a sick animal report contain? The fields facilities' forms carry, with how many of 15 carry each one. **Sick animal report** (HC). Statuses: Reported, With vet team, Lab told, Closed. Counts are of 15 facilities' forms. **What you saw** - Animal (Link: SoftMouse animal): 8 of 15 - Cage (Link: SoftMouse cage): 7 of 15 - Room (Link: Housing Room, required): 8 of 15 - Species (Dropdown, required): 7 of 15 - Sex (Dropdown): 5 of 15 - Date of birth (Date): 4 of 15 - Protocol (Text, required): 8 of 15 - PI (User, required): 8 of 15 - Signs (Dropdown, required): 5 of 15 - What you saw (Rich text, required): 13 of 15 - Seen by (User, required): 7 of 15 - Seen at (Date and time, required): 7 of 15 **Vet team** (opens when the workflow reaches it) - How the vet heard (Dropdown, required): 1 of 15 - Vet's advice (Rich text, required): 4 of 15 - Lab must act by (Date) - Checks and treatments (Table): 4 of 15 15 of the 20 facilities list what to record, on a form, a card, a log or a call script. 13 of 15 ask for a description of what was seen, and 8 each for the animal, the PI, the protocol and the room. 1 of 15 logs how the vet was told, which USDA guidance suggests recording for every contact with the attending vet. ## Find your starting point Answer yes or no to find the facilities that work the way yours does. 1. Does the report go into a computer system: a web form, an app or a software module? 2. Do you start it by scanning the cage card? 3. Is it part of a software product your facility bought? 4. Do you send a written message, by email or in a team chat? 5. Is it an email? 6. Is the first thing you do to phone someone? - **A card plus a web form**: You work like 6 of the 20 facilities we read, the most common way. - **A paper record**: You work like 5 of the 20. A form can replace the paper, with a morning list to the vet. - **Phone first**: You work like 3 of the 20. The call stays; whoever answers opens the record. - **A module in your software**: You work like 2 of the 20. Streamcell would sit beside your suite. - **An email report**: You work like 2 of the 20. The email becomes a workflow that writes itself from the form. - **Scan at the cage**: You work like 1 of the 20. - **A team chat channel**: You work like 1 of the 20. Streamcell posts to Slack or Google Chat. ## What do the rules ask for? Daily observation, and a fast route to the vet. None of them sets a form. - **Animal Welfare Act regulations:** every animal observed daily; problems reach the attending vet through direct and frequent communication; emergency, weekend and holiday care available (9 CFR 2.33). They do not cover purpose-bred mice and rats. - **The Guide:** a timely and accurate way to tell the vet about any abnormality, and a duty on everyone involved to use it. - **USDA guidance:** log each contact with the attending vet: the animal, the date, the problem, how the vet was contacted and the advice. ## How does Streamcell run it? The default is the most common way: the card stays on the cage, and the report is a form. 1. **Report**: Priya Sood fills in the form after the morning check. Its record number, HC-0184, can go on the card. 2. **Vet team told**: Creating the record emails the vet team, or posts to their Slack or Google Chat channel. 3. **Taken**: Jules Ferreira presses Take this report, and the vet team's section opens on the same record. 4. **Lab told**: Tell the lab emails the PI named on the record, Noor Adler. A morning list shows labs that haven't answered. Facilities that phone first keep the phone: whoever answers opens the record during the call. Urgent and routine reports run as two workflows, because Streamcell has no if-then step. The report becomes the health case on the same record, so the vet team never types it twice. ## The research behind this guide We read the public procedures of 20 research animal facilities in the US and Canada, mostly universities, in October 2026, and recorded how each one runs the job: who starts it, who receives it, what the form asks for and where the record ends up. Counts are facilities, not documents. ## Start from the *Vet block* The sick animal report, the health case and the views a vet uses every day, as one package your team changes to fit. [Open the Vet block](https://streamcell.com/library/vet) --- Source: https://streamcell.com/library/sick-animal-report Last reviewed: 2026-10-16 Streamcell is made by Iseehear Inc., 250 University Avenue, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5H 3E5, Canada. Book a demo: https://streamcell.com/demo