Latest News
Friends of Strays nominated in Best of the Bay 2022!
We have super exciting news to share!
Friends of Strays has been nominated for "Best Place to Adopt a Pet" in Creative Loafing Tampa's Best of the Bay 2022! We could not have been nominated... Read more
Pinellas Cats Alive! will be closed for intake Tuesday, Aug. 9
Hey, Return To Field volunteers: Pinellas Cats Alive! will be closed for intake Tuesday, Aug. 9. Please do not trap any cats to bring in that day.
The program is still open for intake August... Read more
Clear the Shelters is August 1-31, 2022!
August 1-31 is Clear the Shelters month, a national movement designed to bring attention to the thousands of homeless animals across the country waiting in shelters to be adopted. The Clear... Read more
Friends of Strays welcomes Jennifer Silva, Director of Development
We are excited to welcome Jennifer Silva to our team! In her role, Jennifer will seek out and build relationships with local businesses, adopters, donors, volunteers, and other supporters... Read more
Catsmas in July Adoption Special
Adoption fees will be waived for all cats one year old and older from July 20-31! Read more
Friends of Strays welcomes Jenn Held, Intake & Adoptions Manager
We are excited to welcome Jenn Held to our team! As our Intake & Adoptions Manager, Jenn coordinates with other shelters and rescue groups to transfer pets in and out of our facility, and... Read more
Pinellas Cats Alive! closed for intake Thursday, July 14
Hey, Return To Field volunteers: Pinellas Cats Alive! will be closed for intake Thursday, July 14. Please do not trap any cats to bring in that day.
The program is still open for intake Wednesday,... Read more
Pinellas Cats Alive! intake closed Thursday, July 7
Please do not trap any cats to bring in that day. Read more
2022 Fourth of July Holiday Closures
Friends of Strays will be closed Sunday, July 3, and Monday, July 4, in observance of the holiday. Read more
Claire Wray retires from Friends of Strays
She has served many roles throughout her near-decade with our shelter. Read more
Benjamin J. Kirby joins Friends of Strays Board of Directors
Please join us in welcoming Benjamin J. Kirby as a new member of the Friends of Strays Board of Directors!
Benjamin is a communications professional with thirty years in politics, federal... Read more
June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month!
We have lots of fabulous felines to choose from, but if you're not ready to adopt there are other ways you can support our shelter cats! Read more
2022 Stray Pride T-Shirt Fundraiser
Three local businesses are supporting Friends of Strays with sales from their Stray Pride merch! Read more
Help Support Our Kittens By Participating In Our Kitten Shower!
Kitten season is just around the corner and we'll need all the help we can get to keep the kittens happy and healthy. Read more
Friends of Strays Competes in March Muttness 2022 Fundraising Competition
Friends of Strays, St. Petersburg’s oldest no-kill animal shelter, is participating in March Muttness 2022, a nationwide fundraising competition for nonprofit animal welfare organizations.... Read more
FOS Sets Adoptions Record With 1,547 In 2021
The total smashes the previous shelter record of 1,276 Read more
Friends Of Strays Sets Record With 4,017 Surgeries Performed
Friends of Strays finishes 2021 with 4,017 spay/neuter surgeries performed Read more
Friends of Strays Sets New Record For Adoptions In A Year
Friends of Strays, St. Petersburg’s oldest no-kill animal shelter, has set a new shelter record for completed adoptions in a single year. The previous record, 1,276 was set in 2020. Friends of Strays completed its 1,277th adoption Saturday morning. Read more
Eve Epstein Joins Friends of Strays Board of Directors
Please join us in welcoming Eve Epstein as another new member of the Friends of Strays Board of Directors! Read more
Michael McKenny Joins Friends of Strays Board of Directors
Please join us in welcoming Michael McKenny as another new member of the Friends of Strays Board of Directors! Read more
Rosa Lopez Joins Friends of Strays Board of Directors
Please join us in welcoming the fabulous Rosa Lopez as a new member of the Friends of Strays Board of Directors! Read more
Friends of Strays Awards Community Foundation Of Tampa Bay Grant To Sue Rountree For TNVR Services
Friends of Strays Animal Shelter was delighted this Spring to receive a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay that provided funding for the spay or neuter procedures for 104 community cats. Read more
Petco Love Invests in Lifesaving Work of Friends of Strays
Friends of Strays Animal Shelter announced today a $7,500 grant investment from the newly named, Petco Love, to support their lifesaving work for animals in Pinellas County. Read more
Laurel Moves out of Retirement
Laurel spent the past nine years living with her mom at Westminster Suncoast, a retirement community in St. Petersburg. Their compassionate staff ensured she received great care throughout her time with them, but when Laurel’s mom was diagnosed with dementia, they decided it was in Laurel’s best interest to be rehomed. Read more
Brody’s Retirement to South Pasadena
In honor of Heartworm Awareness Month, the Friends of Strays staff decided to pay Brody a visit. After Dan’s passing, Brody moved into his nextdoor neighbors Michel and Dolores’ lovely cottage overlooking the Gulf. Brody, now heartworm free, excitedly greeted us at the front door, tail wagging and insisting belly rubs. Read more
Spring Break Campers Join Friends of Strays’ Furever Family
Friends of Strays Animal Shelter welcomed children from the James B. Sanderlin Neighborhood Family Center into its Furever Family. On March 18, Friends of Strays Shelter Director Mari Salls had the privilege of engaging with the participants of the Sanderlin Center’s Spring Break Camp on the topic of responsible pet ownership. With the help of her canine assistants... Read more
FOS Receives $5,000 Grant from BISSELL Pet Foundation
Friends of Strays (FOS) is proud to announce it has been awarded a $5,000 grant from BISSELL Pet Foundation (BPF) for spay and neuter procedures. FOS hopes to address overcrowding in shelters and rescues by preventing unwanted litters of kittens in Pinellas County. Read more
Let's Celebrate Spay-Neuter Awareness Month!
Friends of Strays is paving the way to a no kill Pinellas County by stabilizing our community cat population through our RTF (Return-To-Field) and TNVR (Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release) programs. Read more
Paving the Way to a No Kill Pinellas
Friends of Strays is paving the way to a no kill Pinellas County. With the help of a $250,000 grant from Best Friends Animal Society, Friends of Strays Animal Shelter’s new Pinellas Cats Alive! program is estimated to save the lives of 2,800 community, or free-roaming, cats in 2021. Read more
TNVR: More Than Population Control
Long-term population control may be the intended consequence of TNVR, but there are health benefits to every individual cat as well. Vaccines protect outdoor cats from disease and parasites, while spay/neuter surgery comes with longer life expectancy, lower rates of certain cancers, and fewer behavioral issues. Read more
Empty Shelters, Full Houses
Minnie spent her 12 years in and out of the shelter system. A baby on the way, moving to an apartment that doesn’t allow pets, her dislike of most other dogs - whatever the reason, no adoption seemed to stick and Minnie found herself back at the shelter through no fault of her own. When she arrived at Friends of Strays, we were determined to change her luck. Read more
The Dan Calabria Heart-to-Heart Fund: A Good-Bye Salute and a Happy Beginning
In a year that was too frequently filled with sad news, we wanted to share a warm story of friendship and how sorrow can turn into joy. Former Friends of Strays Board Member, Bill Grom, recently established the Dan Calabria Heart to Heart Fund in honor of his late friend and their shared love of shelter animals. Read more
Better Together: Award-Winning Program Helps 1,303 Pets Stay with their Families Amidst Pandemic Woes
Friends of Strays’ Safer At Home program has wrapped up after providing 1,303 pets from 469 Pinellas County families with free veterinary care and pet supplies. A targeted, short-term program that ran from May-December 2020, Safer At Home was designed to help those in our community financially affected by COVID-19 care for their pets through the pandemic and ensuing economic recession. Read more
Home for the Paw-lidays: All Adoption Fees Waived at Friends of Strays for the Rest of the Year!
Amidst the holiday season, Friends of Strays is thrilled to announce that all pets will have their adoption fees waived for the remainder of 2020 in our “Home for the Paw-lidays” adoption promotion! Read more
A New Giving Tuesday Record!
THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this the most successful Giving Tuesday in Friends of Strays history! Whether you donated or helped us spread the word, we couldn't have done it without you! Read more
Friends of Strays Helps Cats from Ocala Hoarding Situation
Friends of Strays is assisting Marion County Animal Services with an extreme hoarding situation involving more than 500 cats. All cats were living together in a single home in Ocala, FL. Friends of Strays, along with other Florida shelters including Cat Depot and Jacksonville Humane Society, have taken in a number of these cats where they will be placed for adoption. Read more
Friends of Strays Resumes Doggy Day Out After 6 Month Hiatus
After a 6 month pause due to COVID-19, Friends of Strays’ exceedingly popular Doggy Day Out program is set to resume Monday, October 5th. Read more
Friends of Strays Gifted $60,000 from Milkey Family Foundation
Friends of Strays Animal Shelter is thrilled to have received a gift of $60,000 from the Milkey Family Foundation. In addition to a $10,000 donation earlier this summer to support general operating expenses, we’ve just received a $50,000 grant which will be invested in our new life saving programs designed to offer a second chance at life for those pets without one, as well as help our community's struggling families keep their pets where they belong: at home. Read more
Taylor Morrison Raises $4,000 To Help Friends Of Strays Keep Pets With Families
Taylor Morrison, the nation’s fifth largest homebuilder and developer, has donated $4,500 to support Friends of Strays’ Safer At Home Fund. Read more
Friends of Strays’ Pet Guardianship Program: So your pet will never be without a loving home
Friends of Strays’ brand new Pet Guardianship Program is a safe way to transition your pets into a loving new home, should they outlive you. By designating Friends of Strays as a temporary guardian of your pets, our trusted staff will pick up your pets and bring them to our shelter, where they will be cared for as beloved family members. While we find them the perfect new family, your pets will stay in the home of one of our trained and caring foster volunteers. Read more
2-Time Super Bowl Champion Fosters Orphaned Kittens for Friends of Strays
Logan Ryan, two-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots, and his wife Ashley, have joined the Friends of Strays family! The Ryans, well known for their work in animal welfare, are fostering four kittens for Friends of Strays who were found orphaned under an abandoned building in Largo, Florida. The couple’s two young children named their temporary house guests Apple Jack, Cocoa Puff, Lucky Charm, & Fruity Pebble but lovingly refer to them by their nicknames: Jack, Puff, Lucky, & Pebble Read more
Felines for Frontliners: Fee-Waived Cat Adoptions at Friends of Strays for Essential Workers the month of August
In collaboration with Clear the Shelters, Friends of Strays is waiving adoption fees on cats and kittens for our community’s essential workers for the entire month of August. Felines for Frontliners will be a part of the sixth annual Clear the Shelters effort, a nationwide pet adoption campaign hosted by NBC and Telemundo. Read more
No Dog Left Behind Fund Established at Friends of Strays Will Help Pinellas County’s Most At-Risk Dogs
Friends of Strays’ longtime supporter Barbara Stakk has given Pinellas County’s most at-risk dogs, and those who love them, ample reason to celebrate.
The newly established No... Read more
COVID-19: A Silver Lining for Homeless Pets? How Friends of Strays Plans to Keep its Kennels Clear
Is entering an animal shelter always the best option for a homeless pet? Friends of Strays, like many shelters across the county, has seen our kennels clear as a result of COVID-19. With so many working from home, we’ve seen our community step up to foster and adopt at unprecedented rates; and for the first time ever, the demand for shelter pets is greater than the supply. This got our staff thinking -- what programs can we implement to make an empty shelter the new normal, even in post-COVID times? Read more
Friends of Strays Joins Home To Home Initiative
Friends of Strays has teamed up with Home To Home -- an interactive website created to help keep animals in homes and out of shelters. It provides a positive and proactive method to rehoming pets... Read more
Friends of Strays and COVID-19
***ADOPTIONS WILL BE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY WHILE WE ARE CLOSED DURING COVID-19***
Amid growing concerns surrounding COVID-19, Friends of Strays will be closing temporarily as of Monday, March 23.
Please, if you’ve been... Read more
Friends of Strays Announces Safer At Home Fund
Friends of Strays is proud to announce its new Safer At Home Fund, a resource for our community members facing financial hardships as a result of COVID-19. The idea behind the Safer At Home Fund is... Read more
Let Us Draw Your Pet!
Let us draw your pet!
Our staff have spare time on their hands now that everyone is stuck at home, so we thought we'd have some fun by having a little art fest! For a minimum donation of $20, one... Read more
Found Kittens? Don't be a Kit-Napper!
When we find a litter of kittens, our good-hearted instincts tell us to jump in and help. Please don’t! Thankfully, human intervention is typically not required. In fact, the best thing you... Read more
5 Things To Do if You're Preparing to Foster a Kitten
The following article is a guest post from Saved By the Bark blogger, Mandy Lee.
So, you’ve decided to welcome a foster kitten into your home. Congratulations, and good for you!... Read more
