10/21/2026
FREE TNR'S FOR RICE COUNTY! I know this is a long post, but please take time to read it.
With all the concerns about feral cats in Sterling, Lyons, and the surrounding communities in Rice County, I wanted to update everyone on our idea to help get this problem under control. We have started a plan involving Meow Menders TNR where every other Thursday afternoon from 3 to 5 pm we will not take appointments but instead devote that time to TNR surgeries that will be FREE to Rice County citizens! Here is how this will work:
Clients can come pick up live traps at our clinic Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays between 8am and 5pm every other week on the week we do the TNR's (the next one being October 29th). We purchased 12 new traps that we donated to Meow Menders TNR for this purpose.
Clients will then trap the cats at their convenience either Wednesday evening or sometime on Thursday and bring them to the clinic that Thursday (in the live traps) between 9am and 2pm so that all cats will be ready for surgeries by 3pm. If you are unsuccessful in trapping a cat, the trap would need to be returned empty on that Thursday as well so that we have all traps ready for the next event. There will be a $100 fee for each unreturned trap. Yes, these traps are not cheap.
Once surgeries are finished and the cats are fully awake, then either our employees or someone from Meow Menders TNR will return the cats to their Sterling and Lyons colonies from where they were trapped. For surrounding communities like Little River, Geneseo, Bushton, etc., we will make special arrangements for those clients to pick up the cats and return them to their respective colonies and return the traps back to us.
Here are the caveats:
This program is for feral cats only. If you are feeding cats and are able to pet them and hold them, or bring them into your house, then those are your cats, not feral cats. If a cat is brought in that is friendly, it will not be TNR'd for free. You will have the option to have us go ahead and spay or neuter it at regular cost, or pick it back up "unfixed".
This program is also not for "barn cats" or "farm cats". We do not want to get so bogged down with "fixing" every farmer's mouse cats that we don't have time to focus on the colonies within our towns that are causing the most issues. However, we do realize that there are some situations where certain farmsteads may be overrun with cats and we can handle those situations on a case by case basis.
All cats that get spayed or neutered through this program will get their ear tipped and belly tattooed, a rabies vaccination, pain medication, and a dose of flea/tick prevention and dewormer.
Our goal is to provide a cost effective way to cut down on the feral cat populations in Rice County (specifically the colonies wreaking havoc within the communities of Rice County), but also limit the likelihood of people taking advantage of the program by trying to get their own cats spayed and neutered for free. We do have a separate organization called Friends of Animals Rice County that can assist clients with financial restrictions in getting their pets spayed and neutered.
The biggest issue we have been facing to date is having enough volunteers to trap the cats and get them to us. We had planned to do about 30 cats last week on Saturday the 17th but at the last minute, the group of people who were responsible for trapping the cats backed out. So we are thinking that instead of trying to trap a large number of cats all on one day once every month or two, requiring many individuals working together, that it might work better to do more frequent smaller trappings that are left up to individuals to organize.
And while this program is specific for and free to Rice County citizens, if you would like to donate to the cause, you can do so through the Meow Menders TNR page as they are helping to support some of the costs associated with this program, or you can make your donations out to Ark Veterinary Clinic and put in the memo for Meow Menders TNR and we will apply it to their account!
As we move forward, there may be tweaks in the program to improve its successfulness, so let us know your thoughts as we all work together to resolve our feral cat problem! Please feel free to call us if you have any questions.
