A new White Coat Waste investigation says the National Institutes of Health has awarded, renewed, supplemented or extended more than $225 million in dog- and cat-related research since February 2025, even as the agency directs major funding toward human-based alternatives to animal models.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The National Institutes of Health has continued directing substantial federal funding toward research involving dogs and cats while simultaneously expanding programs intended to reduce reliance on animal experimentation, according to a new investigation by the White Coat Waste Project.
The watchdog organization’s new analysis identifies more than $225 million in NIH grants, contracts, supplemental funding, renewals and project extensions involving experiments on dogs and cats that it says were approved or continued since February 2025.
White Coat Waste had identified more than $150 million in such funding by June, according to the report. By early September, its tally had climbed above $225 million — an increase of roughly 50% in several months.
Nearly 44% of the spending identified by White Coat Waste — more than $98 million — involved pharmaceutical companies conducting testing with dogs, while another $11.7 million was connected to invasive experiments involving cats, according to the group’s accounting.
The findings come as NIH publicly moves in another direction on part of its research portfolio. In March, the agency announced more than $150 million for its Complement-ARIE program to develop, validate and scale human-based research methods designed to reduce reliance on animal models. Those approaches include organoids, tissue-based systems and computational models. NIH has also created an office dedicated to advancing and validating human-based research technologies.
NIH’s stated policy is to reduce animal use where suitable alternatives exist, not to immediately eliminate all animal research. The agency has said emerging technologies can complement and, in some circumstances, replace animal models while maintaining that animal models continue to play a role in biomedical research.
White Coat Waste argues that the continuing dog and cat expenditures identified in its review undermine the speed and scope of that transition. The group said the $225 million-plus it traced to those projects exceeds NIH’s highly publicized $150 million investment in new approach methodologies by more than $75 million.
Among the projects identified in the report is a University of Minnesota grant of up to $2.4 million involving 60 kittens as young as two months old. White Coat Waste says the experiments include opening the animals’ skulls, introducing viruses into their brains, inducing strokes and ultimately euthanizing them.
The watchdog also identified a $439,016 University of Wisconsin-Madison award associated with maintaining a colony of nearly 300 kittens bred with glaucoma. According to the report, some are killed before reaching one day of age so researchers can examine their eyes.
At Vanderbilt University, White Coat Waste traced approximately $3.9 million to research involving dogs, including a new five-year grant approved in February 2026. The organization says the studies use high-fat and high-fructose diets to produce obesity and metabolic disease in dogs before researchers perform catheter procedures and collect tissues.
Another approximately $2 million went to University of Utah research involving cardiac studies in dogs, according to the report. White Coat Waste says the procedures include restricting arteries, implanting pacemakers and electrodes, administering electrical shocks and radiation and collecting the animals’ hearts.
The watchdog identified an additional $1.9 million for University of Missouri research involving beagles intentionally exposed to ticks, along with $305,627 for Temple University experiments in which cats undergo spinal-cord injuries and are made to walk on treadmills.
A new $7.2 million contract identified by the organization supports a University of North Carolina dog colony involving puppies bred with bleeding disorders, while Syntis Bio received $916,400 for research in which experimental weight-loss drugs are administered orally to beagles, according to the report.
White Coat Waste also identified dozens of Small Business Innovation Research awards collectively worth tens of millions of dollars that it says support pharmaceutical testing involving dogs for experimental treatments addressing cancer, ALS, opioid-use disorder and other medical conditions.
The organization argues that NIH retains control over whether existing projects receive additional money or time even when the underlying research originated before the current administration. White Coat Waste says its $225 million-plus calculation therefore includes not only wholly new awards but supplements, renewals and extensions approved after February 2025.
In a statement, White Coat Waste pointed to previous instances in which planned animal experiments were canceled following scrutiny:
“White Coat Waste’s landmark BeagleGate campaign already proved that NIH can cancel planned dog experiments when it chooses to act. In 2022, following White Coat Waste’s investigation and bipartisan pressure, NIH canceled nearly $2 million in planned Fauci-funded beagle experiments.
“Now, NIH must stop issuing new grants and contracts for dog and cat experiments and prohibit supplements, renewals, and extensions that continue existing projects. A credible phase-out requires a clear, enforceable deadline, measurable results, and real spending cuts — not NAMs, vague promises, or press releases.
“Congress and taxpayers must hold NIH leadership accountable for ensuring that its funding decisions match its public commitments.
“Until the spending stops, Secretary Kennedy’s promised phase-out remains only rhetoric.
“The solution is simple: Stop the Money, Stop the Madness!”
The dispute comes amid a broader federal shift toward alternatives to certain forms of animal testing.
NIH announced in April 2025 that it would prioritize human-based research technologies and reduce animal use, including organ-on-a-chip technologies and other laboratory and computer-based systems. In March 2026, it followed with the $150 million-plus Complement-ARIE investment, saying the initiative would develop research tools that more closely simulate human biology.
The Food and Drug Administration has pursued a similar transition. In April 2025, FDA announced plans to reduce, refine or potentially replace animal testing requirements for monoclonal antibodies and other drugs using computational modeling, human cell systems, organoids and real-world human data. The agency reported in April 2026 that it had completed key first-year goals under that roadmap.
The Environmental Protection Agency has also recommitted to eliminating mammalian animal testing by 2035. In August, EPA announced additional alternative approaches for chemical and pesticide evaluations as part of that policy.
Changes have also reached the Defense Department. The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act included a provision prohibiting painful research using domestic cats and dogs unless the defense secretary grants a case-by-case waiver, according to the congressional agreement accompanying the legislation.
White Coat Waste says other federal actions have included the closing of NIH’s remaining in-house beagle laboratory in Bethesda in May 2025 after a long-running campaign, ending a septic-shock program the organization says had used more than 2,100 beagles over roughly four decades.
The organization also says the Navy stopped dog and cat experimentation in May 2025 and canceled a $10 million contract involving cat research into constipation, incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Congress later halted a joint NIH-Defense Department contract involving drug testing on hundreds of beagles each week at a laboratory in China, according to White Coat Waste.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has separately reduced research involving dogs, cats and nonhuman primates over time. VA records have documented a reduction of more than 90% in the use of those sensitive species over two decades as alternative research techniques have developed, although VA continues to state that animal models remain scientifically necessary for some research.
Against that broader federal backdrop, White Coat Waste is pressing NIH to go beyond investments in alternatives and place restrictions directly on continued dog and cat funding. The organization is calling for NIH to stop approving new grants and contracts involving the animals, prevent additional supplements and extensions for existing projects and establish a firm timetable for reducing expenditures.
NIH, meanwhile, has framed its strategy as a scientific transition toward more human-relevant methods rather than an immediate termination of all animal studies. Its own announcements emphasize development, validation and adoption of alternatives while acknowledging that animal models remain part of the research system where replacements are not yet available.
The White Coat Waste report places renewed attention on the difference between those long-term policy goals and current NIH spending decisions. According to the organization’s analysis, more than $225 million in newly issued or continued funding involving dogs and cats has moved forward since February 2025 even as NIH has invested heavily in technologies intended to reduce the need for animal experimentation.
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