A hospital staff member took this 2019 photo of a cat used in experiments at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. Tests involved placing electrodes in the cat’s bladder and using a device to stimulate urination. The VA in 2024 is seeking to implant wires and sensors in the legs and backs of cats in a separate experiment to test an implant for translating signals from a prosthesis to the nervous system. (White Coat Waste Project)
WASHINGTON — Researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs will implant pacemakers in the hearts of 54 dogs that will be euthanized at the end of the tests and surgically embed wires and sensors into the backs and legs of cats in separate experiments that the VA plans to conduct on live animals in 2024, according to agency documents.
Though the Department of Veterans Affairs is under order by Congress to phase out live animal experiments using cats, dogs and primates “with limited exceptions” by 2026, the agency continues to support live-animal research at VA facilities across the U.S., according to the VA.
More than 62,000 cats and dogs are in U.S. labs for live animal experiments run by government agencies, colleges and universities, and private companies, according to the Humane Society of the United States, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the welfare of animals.
The VA has been phasing out live animal testing on dogs, cats and primates since 2018.
Terrence Hayes, the VA press secretary, said the agency is assessing a new congressional directive adopted in March to eliminate the live-animal tests “with limited exceptions” within two years.
“VA is reviewing the recently signed fiscal year 2024 appropriations law to ensure any implementation of the new provisions fully meet congressional intent, including using of funding, program requirements and reporting to our congressional partners,” he said.
A provision requiring the VA to end live animal research is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law March 9. The legislation requires the VA to provide a plan for ending the tests within 90 days of the bill’s enactment.
In 2024, the VA’s list of “approved research” on live animals includes two separate experiments using dogs at the Richmond VA Medical Center in Virginia.
The experiments involve implanting pacemakers in the hearts of dogs to induce extra heartbeats that disrupt the regular heart rhythm, causing a sensation of fluttering in the chest. The purpose is to measure deteriorating heart muscle and heart failure caused by the extra heart beats.
The dogs will undergo open heart surgery to implant a pacemaker device and a radio telemetry system. Catheters also will be positioned on the heart surface, according to the project description.
Fifty-four dogs will be used in the experiment, after which “most will be euthanized,” according to VA documents.
Dogs not euthanized will be granted a four-week recovery at which time the pacemakers will be disabled, and the animals further studied. Those dogs also will be euthanized at the conclusion of the tests.
The White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit watchdog group, said records obtained by the organization under the Freedom of Information Act show no dogs are currently confined at the Richmond VA Medical Center or being used there for heart experiments.
A separate VA experiment using cats is approved for 2024 for the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland for testing the durability of implanted medical devices to stimulate nerve sensation in patients who have undergone amputations.
“New prosthetic technology for amputees can restore natural sensations,” according to the project proposal published by the National Institutes of Health.
Funding through September for the experiments is about $270,000, according to information the VA published on its website.
The experiments involve surgically embedding wires and sensors into the legs and backs of cats, according to documents obtained by the White Coat Waste Project.
The procedures risk paralysis and death in the cats, which is counter to directives by Congress for restricting these types of tests, said Justin Goodman, senior vice president of White Coat Waste Project.
The experiment is to test a miniaturized implant that translates electrical signals from a prosthesis to the nervous system, which could allow veterans who lost a limb to achieve a better sense of balance and motion in digits and joints, Hayes said.
He described the experiments as safe and said the cats will be placed into adoptive homes at the conclusion of the research in six months.
The VA also has approval in 2024 to continue experiments on dozens of rhesus macaque monkeys for measuring treatment outcomes for spinal cord injuries.
The experiment at the VA San Diego Health Care System involves damaging a monkey’s spinal cord in surgical procedures.
The monkey then undergoes “multiple major survival surgeries” along with stem cell therapy to address injuries and observe recoveries.
“Each of these surgeries will add to the body of knowledge we can gain about recovery from spinal cord injury,” according to the project description on the VA website.
“This research is to explore the possibility that neural stem cells can be used to help bridge the damaged tissue and restore communication across the site of the injury,” according to the project description.
The experiment identifies the use of restraint chairs for behavioral testing to force monkeys recovering from spinal cord injuries to use the hand with limited use to perform tasks. The monkeys also are expected to walk on treadmills and retrieve food to improve function, according to the project description.
The experiments using the monkeys are being conducted in conjunction with other agencies including University of California-Davis, which has one of the biggest primate laboratories in the country, Goodman said.
Animals are purchased from breeders licensed to sell dogs, cats, primates and other animals to laboratories for use in live-animal experiments.
Goodman said his organization objects to the VA using taxpayer dollars to purchase animals and submit them to painful experiments. He said animals often are euthanized and dissected at the end of the research, as part of the study.
