The full moon debate rages on, yet few can argue with a force strong enough to turn the tides. A significant increase in homicides, suicides, fatal traffic accidents, aggravated assaults and psychiatric emergency room visits occurred in a study conducted in Dade County, Florida by Al Lieber, author for PubMed, a service for the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. His report states that the increased activity had a direct link to lunar activity.

It only stands to reason that if the full moon has an adverse effect on people, the same would hold true for animals. At our house, the cats are the first indicator that a full moon is coming. These loving, peaceful creatures are suddenly lurking about, waiting for the right opportunity to jump on a feline friend. Our dog (aka the cat police) is ever watchful for yet another fight to quell. At the barn, during every full moon, the alpha leader of our two horses tries to bite the other horse and forcefully chases him out of the barn at feeding time.

A study entitled "Canine and Feline Emergency Room Visits and the Lunar Cycle" was conducted by Raegan Wells, DVM, and colleagues at Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The report appears in the Journal of the American Veterinary medical Association and is compiled from the case histories of 11,940 dogs and cats treated at the university's veterinary center. Studies show that emergencies on full moon days were 28% greater in dogs and 23% greater in cats compared with other days.

How can the moon have this effect on people and animals? When the moon is new or full, it is aligned with the sun and the earth. At this time, there are extremely strong gravitational forces that cause very high and very low tides. These are called "spring tides". The name has nothing to do with the season of year, but comes from the Anglo-Saxon word springan, meaning "to rise".

In the human body, our brain is made of up 95% water, blood is 82%, and lungs are 90%. Being that mammals (man and beast) are made up of mostly water, one can only surmise that the same gravitational forces/lunar activity that causes the ocean tides to change can also have a profound effect on all members of the animal kingdom.

Learn more about this author, Lisa Creedon.
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