The Full Moon, and What It Can Do For You

You may have noticed I keep a full moon gadget on my blog. I do this because I now track the full moon very closely. Why? Because the Full Moon is just another thing that drives us diabetic cat moms crazy, of course! Leo threw a really high number this morning, and looked so sad. I hope it's just temporary, and pray it's not the full moon, which is still 4 days away. What does the full moon do?

If you have a cat in your home, you've probably already noticed without realizing it. Cats seem very sensitive to the lunar cycles, and behavioral changes are rampant. One vet tech told me that it seems most prevalent in white or light color cats, but any cat can be affected. For those of us with diabetic cats, we can see many changes generally beginning 1-2 or more days before the Full Moon. Some cats numbers track up, some jump up. Some cats suddenly start having good numbers, only to climb steeply on the day after the Full Moon. Some cats climb the drapes and only come down if you walk by and they feel inclined to scalp you. Other cats hover at the door howling until your neighbors threaten to kill you and your foghorn.

I have compiled a list of tips to help you and your precious diabetic babies through the Full Moon in one piece.

1. Remove all glass articles from the testing area so when you throw your meter, nothing breaks. Also remove knives, guns and pins you might be prompted to stab your eyes out with.

2. Pick up your straight jacket from the cleaners and leave it on the couch for any emergency usage that might transpire. Try it on when you get home to make sure the cleaners didn't shrink it. (Lesson learned the hard way.)

3. Velcro any dogs in your home to the ceiling and duct tape their lips shut. To create a quick but genius toy for the cats, simply tie a string around the dog's tail and affix feathers to the end of it.

4. Have your neighbor come over and draw up insulin so when you see that 987 you are *not* inclined to shoot 70 units.

5. Place a courtesy call to the neighborhood police or sheriff's office and let them know some loud or strange noises might be coming from your home and that it would be nice if they placed a funny-farm ambulance on standby for you. Have a neighbor on alert to pet-sit, just in case.

6. Have a talk with your cats. Discuss evening rules, and how the neighbors will *not* be impressed with howling and screeching. Discuss with them possible ramifications of trying to trip (or in Dan's case, bodyslam) the human will result in an unfortunate trip to the hospital whereupon the cats might starve to death in the 5 hour interim before your return.

7. Take a handful of Tylenol around 5PM. Not alot, maybe 9 or 10. If no Tylenol is available, 9 or 10 Paxil will work slow the onset of any headaches occurring from the CAT-erwauling and BG chaos.

8. As midnight approaches, lock yourself in your bedroom. This is NOT a good time to test BG!! If necessary, use duct tape around the edges of the door to seal out the sounds of your meter calling your name.

I hope these tips will help you survive the full moon tonight. If any other members have handy tips, please affix them to this post so we may collect them for future generations.