Animals and the Full Moon Effect

Another full moon will make its appearance soon, with the inevitable increased howling and barking of dogs in my neighborhood. Generous portions of the lunar chorus will be contributed by the sixteen dogs of a neighbor of mine, half of them wolf-dogs. In case you've never been in the general vicinity of wolf-dogs, I can testify that if there is a healthy percentage of wolf in their genes, they howl rather than bark, just like their wild cousins. And they do it often. Add the full moon, which appears particularly luminous and massive against the night sky in the high-altitude rural area where I live, and a free, natural concert all night long is sure to take place.

As for my own far-removed-from-wolfhood dogs, they clearly enjoy being outside when the moon is full and howling along with their semi-lupine neighbors, as well as with our generally invisible but often audible local coyotes, who yip along in counterpoint. Sometimes I add a modest howl of my own to the symphony. It's very therapeutic. But my four indoor cats don't seem particularly moved by the monthly lunar plenitude, although I believe that a full moon makes my only male cat a touch more mischievous with his ladies. Is it lunacy to believe the so-called full moon effect influences animal behavior, or is there any solid evidence to prove it does?

An intriguing July 2007 study by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found that full moon emergency room visits for pets were increased compared to the rest of the month, to the tune of 23% higher for cats and 28% higher for dogs. Why? Nobody has a clue. Could it be that people and their pets tend to spend more time outdoors in the brightness of a full moon, and hence get into more trouble?

A 2001 study that appeared in the British Medical Journal was based on admissions to a human emergency department and concluded that there are more animal bites of humans in and around the time of the full moon than in any other lunar phase. The biters included dogs, cats, rats and horses.

But the results of an Australian study that same year conducted by the University of Sydney at public hospitals were totally different, finding no correlation between the full moon and dog bites. This study found that there were actually slightly lower admissions on full moon days, and that the biggest incidence of bites occurred around New Year's. No studies thus far have shown that human behavior is affected positively or negatively by a full moon, although a lot of circumstantial evidence exists, but it seems to me that there is something to the notion of nonhuman animals being affected by full moons. After all, our fellow animals-even domesticated dogs and cats-are closer to nature and rely heavily on their instincts, and they possess senses and response mechanisms that we humans still cannot fully understand or duplicate. But we can imitate. So the next time you find yourself in the presence of the full moon, give it your best howl.