diff --git a/charts/connaisseur/templates/deployment.yaml b/charts/connaisseur/templates/deployment.yaml
index 0e6959f87..9612ef164 100644
--- a/charts/connaisseur/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/charts/connaisseur/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -42,13 +42,6 @@ spec:
               path: /ready
               port: https
               scheme: HTTPS
-          startupProbe:
-            httpGet:
-              path: /start
-              port: https
-              scheme: HTTPS
-            periodSeconds: 5
-            failureThreshold: 30
           securityContext:
             {{- toYaml .Values.kubernetes.deployment.securityContext | nindent 12 }}
           resources:
diff --git a/cmd/connaisseur/main.go b/cmd/connaisseur/main.go
index 980cd67f3..73451e4e7 100644
--- a/cmd/connaisseur/main.go
+++ b/cmd/connaisseur/main.go
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ func startServer(config *config.Config, alerting *alerting.Config) {
 	mux.HandleFunc("/health", handler.HandleHealth)
 	mux.HandleFunc("/ready", handler.HandleHealth)
 	mux.HandleFunc("/mutate", handler.HandleMutate)
-	mux.HandleFunc("/start", handler.HandleStart)
 	mux.HandleFunc("/metrics", promhttp.Handler().ServeHTTP)
 
 	cache := caching.NewCacher()
diff --git a/internal/handler/start.go b/internal/handler/start.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 0f055f3c2..000000000
--- a/internal/handler/start.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-package handler
-
-import (
-	"connaisseur/internal/caching"
-	"connaisseur/internal/constants"
-	"net/http"
-)
-
-// HandleStart tries to ping the redis. Return 200 if successful, 503 otherwise.
-func HandleStart(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-	switch r.Method {
-	case http.MethodGet:
-		ctx := r.Context()
-		cache := ctx.Value(constants.Cache).(caching.Cacher)
-
-		if err := cache.Ping(ctx); err != nil {
-			http.Error(w, constants.ServiceUnavailable, http.StatusServiceUnavailable)
-			return
-		}
-
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
-	default:
-		http.Error(w, constants.MethodNotAllowed, http.StatusMethodNotAllowed)
-	}
-}
diff --git a/internal/handler/start_test.go b/internal/handler/start_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 2cdd5f491..000000000
--- a/internal/handler/start_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-package handler
-
-import (
-	"connaisseur/internal/constants"
-	"connaisseur/test/testhelper"
-	"context"
-	"net/http"
-	"net/http/httptest"
-	"testing"
-
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
-)
-
-func TestHandleStart(t *testing.T) {
-	handler := http.HandlerFunc(HandleStart)
-
-	ctx := context.Background()
-	redis := testhelper.NewFailingCache(t, []testhelper.KeyValuePair{}, []string{}, true)
-	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, constants.Cache, redis)
-
-	req := testhelper.MockRequest("GET", ctx, nil)
-	resp := httptest.NewRecorder()
-	handler.ServeHTTP(resp, req)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusServiceUnavailable, resp.Code)
-
-	ctx = context.Background()
-	redis = testhelper.NewFailingCache(t, []testhelper.KeyValuePair{}, []string{}, false)
-	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, constants.Cache, redis)
-
-	req = testhelper.MockRequest("GET", ctx, nil)
-	resp = httptest.NewRecorder()
-	handler.ServeHTTP(resp, req)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, resp.Code)
-
-	req = testhelper.MockRequest("POST", ctx, nil)
-	resp = httptest.NewRecorder()
-	handler.ServeHTTP(resp, req)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusMethodNotAllowed, resp.Code)
-}
diff --git a/internal/handler/validation/skip.go b/internal/handler/validation/skip.go
index 179a3e759..a7c321b7d 100644
--- a/internal/handler/validation/skip.go
+++ b/internal/handler/validation/skip.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
@@ -106,6 +107,9 @@ func getCachedDigest(
 
 	val, err := cache.Get(ctx, img.OriginalString())
 	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "dial tcp") {
+			logrus.Warnf("error connecting to cache: %s", err)
+		}
 		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("cache miss for image %s: %s", img.OriginalString(), err)
 	}