Starlit's Strays TNR

26/03/2026

Right on cue, kitten season has arrived and we are in need of supplies! We need formula and miracle ni***es the most but there are other supplies we go through pretty fast too! Our Amazon list has the formula we use and supplies, if you can spare any of these items we would be so grateful! Our newest bottle babies were found in a box thrown in a dumpster. 💔

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/GIWLXVB2V6EH?ref_=wl_share

21/03/2026

The four kitties we trapped that needed a barn home are all setup in their acclimation crate and settled at their new home!

We were so excited when one of our followers responded to our plea for a barn home and offered to take all 4 siblings so they could stay together! Once spayed/neutered, vaccinated and ear tipped we got them set up in a crate area inside their new(beautiful!) barn for at least 4 weeks. This period in the crate is imperative for them to get used to their new home so they dont run away or try to find their previous home once released. We are so happy for them and know they will love their new home and caretakers!

14/03/2026

UPDATE: WONDERFUL BARN HOME FOUND! ❤️

‼️Barn homes needed‼️ These young kitties have been displaced and we need to find a good barn home for them. They are scared of humans because they were born outside but one of them was letting his feeder pet him, so they will likely warm up to their new caretaker over time!
They need a safe barn or shop for shelter, daily food/water and they will rid you of any pesky mice you have in return! They are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, flea treated and ear tipped.

In order to acclimate, they need to be held in a large crate with litterbox, food, bed(we can provide this setup) for a minimum of 3-4 weeks so they won't bolt and try to return to their old home.
If you are able to give a couple of these babies a happy barn home, please message us!

Please share if you can so we can reach a lot of people!

08/03/2026

Fantabulous February results. 🐾
Because of supporters like you, more pets are getting the care they need before unwanted litters begin.
Who wants to help expand BARC's spay/neuter reach by sponsoring surgeries? Every fix means fewer pets entering shelters and facing uncertain futures.
Prevention truly is the most compassionate solution.
https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1751917

27/01/2026

18/01/2026

15 kitties TNR'd so far in January to start off the year! We trap year round, even in the cold. If there are dangerous temps/weather we will postpone, but typical January cold weather we still trap. This time of year is when all the cats are breeding, any warm days we have seem to trigger the females to go into heat. It's really important to get a headstart on kitten season! It takes a little more planning, the wet food we use for bait will freeze if it sits too long and we have to set up heaters in Deb's garage to keep the kitties warm while they recover from surgery, but well worth preventing more kittens being born outside in the coming months!

02/01/2026

2025 Wrap-up! It was a year of learning to find balance for us. There are only 3 of us who make up Starlit's Strays TNR. Our main trapper had to work around her two jobs this year, which made it challenging. We went into the year knowing we wouldn't be able to trap as many as previous years but made a plan to get as many done as we could. Deb cared for and transported all the cats that Karen trapped and Van juggled bottle babies and fosters!
We had quite a few litters of bottle babies found at colonies, many kittens, and a few challenging medical cases as well.
We also spent more time in 2025 teaching people to use traps. We lent out 106+ traps for people to trap and take their feral/community cats to Carol House Quick Fix! This helped keep our waitlist down and get more cats spayed/neutered in the community.

Starlit's Strays TNR'd 136 cats in 2025. This brings our total in Phelps County to 879 cats spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and returned since 2020! We also rescued 75 kittens from colonies that went to rescues (679 since 2020) and 19 friendly cats found (194 since 2020)! We had a couple kittens with expensive life saving surgeries, emergency vet visits and dentals for elderly ferals. We also added a large colony to the colonies we care for daily as the caretaker stopped feeding them. We now care for TEN TNR'd colonies daily with a total of 65+ cats! None of this would have been possible without the support from our followers, thank you so much for a successful 2025! So many lives saved and improved thanks to your support! We cannot thank you enough! We plan to continue to TNR, caretake and help as many cats as we can in 2026! 💜

02/01/2026

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02/01/2026

Before we post our wrap-up for 2025, we have to post about finishing the large colony we started in October! We had another appointment for 10 cats in December, to finish off TNR for the year. We decided to use the drop trap for the cats that were remaining at this rural colony.
Cats tend to get trap savvy after a while when we are close to finishing a colony, sometimes just from seeing the other cats get trapped. In addition to that, many of the cats that have already been trapped will now go back into the traps repeatedly because they want the bait and have selective memory about being trapped! 😆

The drop trap is really helpful when there are just a few cats left. It sets up like a box on the ground and leans open on one arm that is connected to a rope that we can pull when the cats we want are under it. This allows us to load up a bunch of yummy food and the cats that have already been TNRd can eat to their hearts content while we wait for the ones we want to go under. Remember, we ear tip all the cats that we TNR. The left ear is cut straight across as the universal sign of a spayed/neutered cat. This makes it easy to identify who is left in a colony and who has already been fixed.

The first photo is the drop trap, this was taken when the Guineas decided to try their luck at eating all our bait! Eventually we were able to get them to move away, sorry we don't TNR Guineas!🤣

The drop trap also takes time but then you are able to really observe all the cats and make sure any that are hiding, come out. We trapped everyone except ONE lone female! Unfortunately we ran out of time, so we will not call this colony completely finished yet, we plan to go back mid January to set the drop trap again and get her. We always make sure to get all the cats at a colony so the cycle doesn't start again. Sometimes its takes some persistence and time, but we have to spay and neuter everyone single one!

Even though we don't consider the colony finished, we are really pleased to have ended the year with all but one of the cats TNRd from this colony. Our final numbers: 33 cats spayed and neutered from this site. Originally he thought he had about 60! Sometimes people can overestimate how many they have, especially when you see what 33 cats looks like all at once, it's a lot! We took 8 kittens from the site that weren't doing well and now we are working to socialize them so they can go to rescue to find homes.

We are so relieved that these cats will no longer be fighting for resources with each other and struggling to survive the breeding cycle. No kitten season will arrive for this colony this spring and they are all healthier and happier!

A huge thank you to Best Friends Animal Society and barcstl.org for the grant that made our TNR possible this year and Carol House Quick Fix Pet Clinic for doing our surgeries and being so flexible with getting us appointments!

13/12/2025

Let's talk about aging community/colony cats. Its not talked about often for a few reasons, the main being that outdoor cats have a shortened lifespan compared to their indoor counterparts. Many of them are hit by cars or killed by predators before they reach old age. Plenty of well cared for community cats that have been TNR'd (trapped, neutered, returned) DO live relatively healthy lives once spayed/neutered! That can pose challenges for people trying to care for these kitties longterm.

Starlit's Strays TNR cares for 10 colonies in Phelps County. We took on most of these colonies when we came in to TNR the cats and the caretakers decided to stop feeding/caring for them. We couldn't leave the cats to starve once we fixed them, so we took over their care. Many of our colonies are small, some only with 3 or 4 cats, because we've been diligent about TNR, there aren't any kittens being born, so the colonies naturally shrink in size over time. We have a few larger colonies that are newer, one with almost 30 cats! Daily every single morning Deb and Karen drive to each colony to feed, water and check on the cats. Most of our donations are spent on these cats who have no one else to care for them. Some of our colonies we've had for years are starting to have aging cats who need medical attention, this poses a new dilemma.

Socks Kitty and Girlfriend are two of our oldest feral colony cats that we TNR'd years ago. Although it's popular belief that you can't retrap cats, you can, it just takes some finesse and time. Both of these cats were trapped to spay/neuter years ago and then about 4 years ago we retrapped them because they were having some mouth issues. They had dentals/some teeth removed, updated vaccinations, and were healthy enough that we re-released them. Recently they have started to look very sick, drooling, and not cleaning themselves and we decided to retrap them again. This time they won't be going back outside, they're old enough we dont feel they would survive or have any quality of life, so they will retire to Karen's indoor feral group... but at some point this won't be an option with how many colony cats we care for, and likely not an option for every colony caretaker either.

The majority of colony cats would prefer to continue to live outdoors in the only home they know. The cats they live with are their family, the area they live in is home. Our suggestion for anyone with aging colony cats is to try to weigh their health/age with the stress of trapping and getting medical care for them. Most will be able to be retrapped for medical care and then returned back outside where they are happiest, to live out their lives.

For Socks Kitty and Girlfriend, they're bonded and luckily have tamed up enough over the years and know us well enough that we feel they will be happy inside. With that said, they have upcoming appointments at our vet for bloodwork, multiple tooth extractions, vaccinations, and medical care to get them healthy again and we could use your help! If you can donate to help with their care and the other community cats we care for, we would be so grateful! You can donate below, to our PayPal [email protected], or call the vet directly and donate for Socks Kitty and Girlfiend's care. St James Veterinary Clinic 573-265-5525

Please let us know if you donate below or call the vet so we can properly thank you, fb doesn't show us who donates! 💜

10/12/2025

From starving and an almost certain death, to rescue with Starlit's Strays TNR, to Seven More Cats Rescue, the Candyland girls are lucky babies. Today Miss Frostine went to her forever home! She has a new feline friend waiting and two human brothers to make this a truly Merry Christmas. It’s a very good day. ❤️🐈‍⬛

06/12/2025

Thank you so much to everyone for the wet food donated!! The colonies we care for and the kittens we have rescued are happy happy kitties! This time of year, especially, they really need the extra calories and moisture from wet food. Thank you so much for helping us keep their bellies full!