Starlit's Strays TNR

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!

02/12/2025

It's still Giving Tuesday, we're a bit late! Our TNR'd colony cats are in desperate need of wet pate cat food we feed them daily. We also need dry and wet kitten food for the kittens we have rescued from colonies! We normally get the wet food we feed our colonies with from the rescue food bank but they haven't had any the last couple months so we are almost out. Thank you so much if you can help!

https://www.chewy.com/g/starlits-strays-tnr_b90163322 -list&wishlistsortby=DEFAULT

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

24/11/2025

Friday we had another successful TNR day at the large colony we are working on! 10 more cats were trapped, spayed/neutered, vaccinated, ear tipped, and returned home. We also took shelters out to the site to help them stay warm this winter. We've now spayed/neutered 26 cats from this site, we're estimating there are another 15-20 left at this location.

08/11/2025

Maeve getting to experience her first Christmas tree! We haven't updated on Maeve in a while... she's healthy and doing good! She definitely isn't a normal kitten, she seems to have some delays still from the head trauma she experienced. She is happy though and we just take each day as it comes! She's confused most of the time and slow to respond to things. We actually wondered if she had some sight issues but think its more of a delay in responding to what she sees. We adore her and she can take all her time healing or stay just as she is, she's precious! Her fur is finally starting to grow back where they shaved it at VSS. 🩷

25/10/2025

Today Clover (the kitten who had fallen off a car and banged up her face) and the Candyland girls(bottle fed babies) went to our friends at Seven More Cats Rescue to find their forever homes!! We are so grateful to be able to network with such an amazing rescue and excited for these sweet kittens to find their forever families. We thought they might be a little scared arriving at a new place, but they were playing almost immediately and happy babies like they always are! We know they will find the purrfect homes for them.💜

23/10/2025

We started TNR at a new colony today. We trapped 17 cats, 7 of them were kittens that we will be able to find rescue for. The kittens are all in pretty bad shape with upper respiratory infections, covered in fleas, diarrhea and underweight. Luckily they all allowed us to handle them (with some patience! Lol) and we've started them on vaccinations, antibiotics, dewormer and flea treatment. The 10 adult cats will go to Carol House tomorrow to be spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and ear tipped. We're in desperate need of paper pellet litter and wet kitten food for these additional kittens! If you can help with paper pellet litter or wet kitten food, we would appreciate any help! Chewy and Amazon lists below, but any paper pellet litter or wet kitten food would be great.

https://www.chewy.com/g/starlits-strays-tnr_b90163322 -list&wishlistsortby=DEFAULT

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

20/10/2025

UPDATE!! We have all the drivers needed, THANK YOU SO MUCH for being available, we will have another day we need help on November 21st and will ask again closer to that date!

DRIVER HELP!
**whoever messaged and said they lived bear Carol House and could help at 4pm to take back to Deb's, please message me, I cannot find your original message to us!

We are starting the large colony this Friday, October 24th need to confirm with the people who said they might be available to help Debbie transport cats in traps from her house to Carol House Friday morning since I work. You would need to be at Deb's at 7:30 to load up a few head to Carol House (5 minute drive). Pickup is at 4pm and we need the same transport back to Deb's house.

16/10/2025

It's National Feral Cat Day!!! 🐈‍⬛💜
Our hearts and souls are dedicated to feral & community cats that don't have a voice or a family to speak for them!

TNR (trap, neuter, return) is the most loving thing we can do for them, in addition to feeding and providing them with shelter from the elements. We like to remind people that feral & community cats are still domesticated cats, they were just abandoned by humans and left to breed outdoors. Feral just means they're unsocialized or had much exposure to humans. They're no different from house cats except they're scared. We may not be able to pet them, pick them up, or bring them inside, but we can make their lives exponentially better by spaying/neutering them! We have some of the healthiest, happiest colonies we care for daily, all because of TNR.

16/10/2025

Through the Trap-Neuter-Return program, thousands of feral kitties in the St. Louis region are spayed and neutered each year, and 2,900 underwent surgeries last year between the St. Louis and Rolla locations.

14/10/2025

We often get people asking us to relocate cats to barns instead of returning to where they were trapped once spayed/neutered. We rarely relocate to barns, this article explains more why...

🐾 Barn Homes Aren’t Always Happy Endings for Cats 🐾

Lately, it feels like putting cats in barn homes has become the new “solution” when people decide it’s better than TNR. It can sound like a kind, responsible choice- but for the cat, it often isn’t.

In my 20+ years of doing rescue and TNR, I can count on one hand the situations where a cat truly could not, under any safe or ethical circumstance, return to its original home.

🔹 Is the cat’s original site always ideal? No.
But it’s their home. It’s where they know the hiding spots, the predators to avoid, the food and water sources, and the other cats in the area. Cats are territorial- familiarity is what keeps them safe.

📊 What we know about relocation:
• A large percentage of relocated cats don’t stay at their new site, even with proper acclimation.
• Many disappear within weeks despite being given food, shelter, and careful introductions.
• Even highly experienced rescuers who do everything “right” see heartbreaking results.

One of my mentors used to run barn relocation classes and oversaw many placements. She set them up with large safe spaces, proper slow-release periods, and great follow-up. And still, the number of cats who didn’t stick around was devastating. She eventually stopped, because even with the best methods, too many cats were lost.

✨ A Real-Life Example ✨
The cats in this photo were originally being considered for a “better” barn placement. But after talking with their feeder and explaining why TNR would be best for them, the plan changed. They were all trapped, neutered, and returned to the only home they’d ever known.

They know the area, they know how to stay safe, and best of all- they get to stay together, because they love one another. 💕

💡 Of course, there are times when relocation is the only safe and humane option- whether due to demolition, extreme danger, or truly unlivable conditions. And when that’s the case, it’s understandable. But too often, people are quick to make that decision for the cat.

👉 Relocation should be the last resort, not the default.
👉 A barn placement may look like a happy ending to us, but to the cat, it can mean losing everything familiar.
👉 More often than not, the best outcome is letting them stay where they already know how to survive.

So the next time you see a post about a cat “needing a barn home,” please remember: it may not be the happy ending it sounds like. For most cats, the real happy ending is going back home. 🐾