Bullying joins the list of behaviors linked to animal cruelty. There’s been a lot of research showing animal cruelty is connected to domestic abuse. This week’s Cat New Friday finds anti-bullying message is being spread by PBJ, who arrived at the York County SPCA with severed ears,  and a broken tail, which had to be amputated.

York County SPCA officials are quoted as saying it took two people to inflict these wounds – one to hold down the cat, another to weird the sharp object used to cut her ears.

While PBJ has become the shelter’s cat, having free roam of their administrative services, she has taken on a bigger role. The shelter has teamed up with the Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center for the center’s True Colors: You Make a Difference program, specifically for students in third, fourth and fifth grades. The message is simple. PBJ no longer looks like the other cats. That’s makes her an ideal ambassador, spreading the word – it’s ok to be different.

True Colors: You Make a Difference program introduces kids to the idea that everyone is different, has unique talents and personalities. The kids will be taught how to identify bullying behaviors, and break into small group and rotate to stations where they will work on teamwork.

PBJ will be at one of those stations. Their hope is to teach kids to be compassionate towards each other and animals. Victims are often, the smaller, the weaker, and the different.

For more on this, click on the link below.

PBJ the cat has a lesson to teach on bullies
Yorkdispatch.com
Sometimes it’s hard for kids to find the courage to report a bully. What if telling an adult makes the bully angry? What if people call you a snitch or tattletale? But consider the plight of PBJ, who animal-welfare officials said was viciously attacked ..

Are you a cat or dog person? Purina has chimed in on this age-old debate to have a little fun and help a good cause.

Now through Nov. 8, 2012, Americans can vote for Team Cat or Team Dog at www.AmericasPetDebate.com or www.facebook.com/AmericasPetDebateFacebook/AmericsPetDebate. For each vote cast in America’s Pet Debate, Purina will donate $1, up to $100,000, to Pet Partners’ Veteran Programs (limit one vote per person per day for all voting channels combined). The donation will help fund Pet Partners pet therapy teams for U.S. veterans by providing the mental, physical and emotional support of cats and dogs through animal-assisted therapy.

Purina will proudly declare America as a cat or dog nation on Nov. 9, 2012. For more on this, click on the link below.

*Animal Attraction: Cats Or Dogs: Which Is America’s Favorite Pet?
KHOU (blog)
Are you a cat person or a dog person? Purina is calling all pet owners, pet lovers and anyone else who’s ever enjoyed the presence of a cat or a dog to join in “America’s Pet Debate” and help settle the age old cats versus dog debate, once and for all.

There’s a lot of buzz in the news about adopting legislation banning feeding outdoor cats. In Savannah, Ga., the Milton Project, a local group that has been trapping cats, neutering them, and returning them to their colonies, disbanded. The reason, government regulations have hindered their ability to return the cats to their colonies. For more on this, click on the link below.

Feral cat rescue project calls it quits
Sacramento Bee
The Savannah Morning News reports (http://bit.ly/OWc8A3) that the Milton Project has been trapping the cats and then returning them to their colonies for the past eight years. However, the group suspended its operations Oct. 1. Project director Sherry …

There’s lots more cat news this week. For more interesting stories, check out the links below.

Feral cat population dwindling
The Statesman
The Aggie Cats live in many areas on campus — a colony of four lives next to the Junction, and another lives by the Townhouses. Whit Milligan, director of resident housing, was one of the founding members of the Aggie Cat Services, which began as an ..

What’s It Like to Watch 10000 Cat Videos? Ask Kate Hill
LA Weekly (blog)
She is otherwise a normal-looking girl, although watching so many cats in such a short period of time probably changes you in ways not immediately apparent to the naked eye. “It was a lark,” she says of her festival idea. “It’s been a whirlwind of …

Even indoor cats need rabies vaccine
Seacoastonline.com
Two instances, each occurring in York in recent weeks, highlight the need for all cats and dogs to be vaccinated for the rabies virus, regardless of whether they ever venture outside, or not. In once instance a dog was exposed to a rabid bat. In the …

Feral cat problem difficult to control
Charlotte Observer
Male and female cats recover after spay and neuter surgery at the Humane Society of Charlotte, which performs surgery on a number of feral cats during the “Trap, Neuter and Return” process. It costs $50 to spay a female cat and $30 to neuter a male cat.

For the birds? No, but how about some big cats?
Boston.com (blog)
Turns out she was there signing autographed pictures to raise money for her cause, The Roar Foundation, which she founded in 1984 to support the Shambala Preserve in Acton, Calif., home to more than 50 big cats such as lions, tigers, cougar, leopards …

*Dog and cat obesity epidemic expanding
The Chronicle
Some of the common weight-related conditions in dogs and cats include osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, breathing problems, kidney disease, and shortened life expectancy. Orthopedic surgeon, APOP Board member and Director of …

Officials clean out home of Las Vegas hoarder; find 5 fridges with rancid food …
Washington Post
Five dead cats also have been found, and nine others were captured by animal control officers. Epstein declined to comment, telling the Review-Journal: “You can write whatever you like about me.” He has been cooperative except when he locked himself in ..

Missing cat that vanished for SIX YEARS returns home after owner spots him in …
Daily Mail
A missing cat stunned his owners by walking back into their lives – after more than six years away. Black and white cat Charlie was nine-years-old when he left home and did not return. Distraught owners Jo and Ade Haigh thought they had lost their .

Pet owner killed cat trying to treat limp with paracetamol
Telegraph.co.uk
Claire Pritchard, 45, noticed her black cat, Midnight, was struggling to walk properly so fed her a quarter of a 500milligram tablet in a bid to ease its pain. She gave the two-year-old pet a second quarter of the painkiller the following morning but …

Dunmore proposes cat ordinance
Scranton Times-Tribune
After complaints in the borough related to too many feral cats, the council will vote at the next meeting on an ordinance prohibiting people from feeding them. Modeled after a similar ordinance in Clarks Green, Dunmore solicitor Thomas Cummings said …

#How Much Do Cats Actually Kill?
By Mike
Do you or someone you love still doubt the apocalyptic ecological impacts of outdoor domesticated cats? The Oatmeal serves up a must-see infographic that makes the connection between cats and the number 2,912,000,000 crystal clear.

##Is This the World’s Angriest Cat?
ABC News (blog)
Everyone knows about a “Smelly Cat” thanks to song lyrics made famous by Lisa Kudrow’s character Phoebe Buffay on the hit sitcom “Friends.” Now, what about an “angry cat”? That moniker is now being claimed by a Seattle furball whose owner’s postings of …

##Pets may get the flu more often than thought
Fox News
One study of cat blood samples found about 30 percent of cats in Ohio had been infected with seasonal flu, and 20 percent had been infected with the H1N1 flu strain that caused the 2009 pandemic. Studies also suggest there has been an increase in cat ..

On ‘Cats‘ 30th Anniversary, A Brief History (SLIDESHOW)
Huffington Post
Today marks the 30th anniversary of Cats‘ Broadway premiere. Based on the whimsical poems of T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” the musical first premiered on London’s West End in 1981 before opening at Broadway’s Winter Garden …

Rare rusty-spotted cat kittens born in Berlin
Scientific American (blog)
Berlin Zoo has announced the birth of its first rusty-spotted cat kittens since it opened 168 years ago. Nicknamed ‘the hummingbirds of the cat family’, rusty spotted cats (Prionailurus rubiginosus) rival the black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) of …

##Cat show organized in Vadodara
Times of India
VADODARA: Dozens of cats meowed and purred at Diwalipura area as their proud owners flaunted them during a cat show on Sunday. For the first time in the city an exclusive show for cats had been organized and it got an overwhelming response. Fifty cats …

Boy’s Letter: ‘Grown-Ups Killed My Kitty’
Huffington Post
SALT LAKE CITY — An 8-year-old Utah boy wrote a letter to his local newspaper after an animal shelter worker failed to write a note to save his cat from being euthanized. “Yesterday grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend, when they weren’t supposed …

Elmwood Park pair convicted in animal hoarding case
Chicago Tribune
A man and woman were convicted on misdemeanor animal cruelty charges this week after hoarding more than 40 cats and dogs in their Elmwood Park home last year, authorities said today. Janina Sapalska, 63, and Lukasz Sapalski, 35, were sentenced …

That Cranky Old Cat May Have Alzheimer’s
ABC News (blog)
Japanese scientists have discovered in the brain of wild cats protein deposits found in human Alzheimer’s patients, according to a study published in the science journal Plos One, providing new clues into the feline aging process. In the study …

City seeking ownership of 66 cats found in-house
Sioux City Journal
SIOUX CITY | Ownership of 66 cats rescued from a house on Sioux City’s north side will be determined at a court hearing next week. City officials are seeking the legal authority to find homes for several dozen felines found in the house at 1818 .

Commune with a dugong or have a cuppa with a cat? Only in Japan
The Seattle Times
A traveler to Japan gets a taste of the country’s fascination with unusual animals, from meeting a dugong at the Toba Aquarium to uncovering beetle-wresting matches to finding cafes where you can enjoy tea with cats. By LINDA LOMBARDI. The Associated .

Can You Give the Flu To Your Dog or Cat?
Smithsonian (blog)
As autumn arrives, the approach of flu season is a real concern. Last year, thousands of people suffered from symptoms including a high fever, chills and fatigue—classic signs of the flu. Some 2,374 people in the United States were hospitalized for ..