“Creature Thoughts“
GAZEHOUND’S ANIMAL COMMUNICATION NEWS
February 2010
Moonrise Before Eclipse, © Dede Price, 2008. (Click for more of her photography on Webshots)
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Keeping in touch with the animals….
and the people who love them
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The Full Moon and Animal Behavior
On the morning of January 31st, a day before this newsletter was due to be published, I posted to my Facebook profile that I was having a hard time thinking of an article for it. My friend Lin responded: “How about the link between a full moon and animal behaviour?” That sounded like a great idea to me.
Then, as I was trying to remember whether or not I’ve seen an increase in odd behavior in animals I work with during the full moon, it occurred to me that, other than one major incident, I really haven’t paid all that much attention to the moon phases! Uh oh … not much fodder for an article that way, is there? I have, however, seen an increase in the past week of people needing help with their animals, and many of those issues have been behavioral. One full moon does not a study make, of course, but it was at least a point to make note of.
That one major incident I mentioned, however, was significant … and was one of the events in my life that led me to the path I currently walk. In 1996, there was not only a full moon in June … but a blue moon. I’m sure most know that the phrase “blue moon” refers to two full moons in a calendar month. It was on the night of the second full moon, that my little tortie-point Siamese, Pree (yes,”that Pree”), who had been happy to be an indoor cat her entire life, tore a hole in the kitchen screen … and vanished. Pree had never once expressed a desire to investigate the outdoors. Her behavior was a complete mystery. Pree was gone for an entire month; we had feared that we would never see her again. It was on the following full moon, however, that the call came through that she’d been sighted, and we collected her and brought her home. Pree’s full story, Moon Journey, can be found in the old archives of her Pree-Am-Siamese blog.
This one experience was so intense, so mysterious, that, had I not already suspected a tie between animal behavior and the phases of the moon, it would have convinced me.
This morning, after Lin’s great suggestion, however, I decided that my one intense memory, and an over all feeling, really didn’t make much of an article. Therefore, I hit the Web, did a google search, and found this:
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
July 15, 2007, Vol. 231, No. 2, Pages 251-253
doi: 10.2460/javma.231.2.251
Canine and feline emergency room visits and the lunar cycle: 11,940 cases (1992–2002)
It appears that the research veterinarians at Colorado State University also suspected that the phase of the moon caused variations in animal behavior, and animal health. In fact, their suspicions were strong enough that, for eleven years, they performed a study of 11,940 cases (9,407 dogs and 2,533 cats), and concluded that there was a significant increase in veterinary emergency room visits during the fuller phases of the moon. The article states:
Emergency type was categorized as animal bite, cardiac arrest, epilepsy, ophthalmic, gastric dilatation-volvulus, trauma, multiple diseases, neoplasia, or toxicosis. The corresponding lunar phase was calculated and recorded as new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter, or waning crescent.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results suggested that more emergency room visits occurred on fuller moon days for dogs and cats.
So, if you’ve noticed that your animals behave differently when the moon is full, or that health issues appear to accelerate … you aren’t alone. Not only do I agree, so do the researchers at Colorado State.
Do you have examples and experiences of “moon phase behavior” in animals you’ve known? Please return to this post on the website, and tell us about them in the Comments section!
Pree
Links of Interest:
- Moon Phases, 2010
- Pree’s Moon Journey
- AVMA article of the Moon Phase study
- Visit Lin and her Salukis at Lorrequer.com
- Dede Price’s lovely photos on Webshots
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I set the above link as my homepage in my browser to remind me to search through iGive and earn pennies for the animals each time I search. iGive’s usual one cent per search is doubled through the month of December, too, so get using it now while we can earn the big bucks!
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Gayle Nastasi (of Gazehound’s Animal Communication) is a professional animal communication consultant and writer, who hopes her connection to the animal world can serve as a way to help her fellow humans enrich their relationships with their animal companions. By better knowing our non-human friends, we ensure a kinder future for our world and we learn what it means to be a unique and essential part of all that is. Permission is given to forward this article to anyone you feel might enjoy it, as long as it is understood that copyrights are held by Gayle Nastasi, and the author’s name, and links to her website(s) are left intact. If this publication has been forwarded to you and you would like to subscribe to Gazehound’s free monthly e-newsletter, “Creature Thoughts”, just visit the newsletter link below.
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How about the link between a full moon and animal behaviour.
He he he….I had been grooming at the shop when I heard a small snippet on the radio about animal behaviour on the full moon phase and also some information about teachers noticing a change in behaviour of the kids in the classroom on a full moon, so when I saw your FB note when I got back for a cuppa coffee I thought, well that would be perfect for Gayle. I know I have seen further research and I do know that my Salukis are squirrelly on the full moon phase, so much so that they drive me nuts – they are much more alert an boisterous and whilst nobody howled at the moon, they sure as did bark a lot when outside at night. Maybe because they could see more because the night sky was bright with moonlight and the whole backyard was awash in a white glow. Ooooohhh…..spooky. Have a photo from last nights’ moon, will send in private email.
.-= Lin´s last blog ..The Poser – PAW =-.
Kai’s also been in “woof mode” at night, running to the windows to give those little “do I really think I see something worth barking at” woofs. He’s also been feeling very much the entertainer — grabbing at toys and enticing me to play with him, trying to get the cat (who is seventeen and convinced the dog is an idiot, LOL) to play, etc. He’s had me laughing for days.
If you put that moon photo online, I’ll be happy to link to it here so others can enjoy it, too.