<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of <i>The Greeneville Sun</i> (Greeneville, Tennessee) at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.greenevillesun.com/news/local_news/caring-for-the-colony-feral-friends-pampers-cats/article_b3e687a8-c785-5f2e-97da-908ce75eff1f.html?mode=jqm">http://www.greenevillesun.com/news/local_news/caring-for-the-colony-feral-friends-pampers-cats/article_b3e687a8-c785-5f2e-97da-908ce75eff1f.html?mode=jqm</a></div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div><h1 class="title" style="margin: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Caring For The Colony: Feral Friends Pampers 350 Cats</h1><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Driving onto County Commissioner Robin Quillen's property, several four-legged creatures greet her as she pulls into her garage and steps out of her red Jeep.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A few of them sat nestled in the shelves on heated blankets, with another sitting on top of a large 25-pound bag of cat food. She tells them all hello by name as she walks into the house.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I know it sounds crazy, but I could even know them by their meow," Quillen said, laughing.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Litter boxes are strategically placed, along with heated water bowls, in the enclosed garage. But those eight or so are just a snapshot of an estimated 350 cats that roam her property freely.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"All of these cats get food and water, and all of them are fixed," she said. "People ask if I am scared they are going to run away. Why would they? They get what they want every day, and that includes treats."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Feral Friends of Greene County Inc. is Quillen's nonprofit organization, set up to care for and save any cat that has ever been abandoned, along with controlling the population by ensuring they are spayed or neutered.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She accepts donations. One of her largest supporters is the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Mosheim, which provides her with pounds of cat food and a mix of treats.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"That's what Ryan want's right now," she said as a black and brown-stripped cat rubs up against her glass door. "He wants some treats."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Quillen reaches for a bag of treats, and opens the door onto a side porch, scattering handfuls of treats for about a dozen or so cats that hear the bag rattling.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She also fundraises year-round, with her most recent attempt sitting on her dinning room table. Yellow ribbons and cellophane wrappers sit with chocolate bunnies filled inside, which she is selling just in time for Easter.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Everyone asks me if I get grants, and I say, 'Are you kidding me?'" she said. "We do anything to make a buck for them."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Taking care of the cats requires about three hours of work per day after filling each bowl with clean water and food, cleaning out litter boxes and finding dirty blankets.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Once a week, she also does what she dubs as "cat laundry," which means she washes all the blankets to keep them sanitary and bleaches her driveway.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She has also outfitted small chicken coops with cat trees and blankets for the cats to live in if they so choose. Some of her cats live in a barn on her property, and some choose to stay close to the house.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But regardless of location, Quillen said they have all found their niche on her property.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It's weird, but once they get here, they find a place they like and stay with that group of cats," she said. "They won't really go anywhere else."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Each cat also has its own story, and Quillen knows them each by heart.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One cat, Hailey, was thrown out of car window and broke her pelvis. She hides under Quillen's bed a lot of the time. Another cat, Petie, the one she's had the longest, has a limp back leg full of small bullet fragments.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They are all my cats," she said, petting her cats Tara and Bubba. "This obviously takes a crazy person to do."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She understands that some may think it strange to keep hundreds of feral cats around, including some that are not adoptable.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I just couldn't stand the thought of an animal dying," she said. "That's why I do this. I just love animals, and every one of them deserves a bowl of food or a blanket to sleep on."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">County Commissioner Robin Quillen holds one of her cats, named Ryan. She names all of her cats and claims she knows them all just by meow alone.</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com/Caturday/Caturday_032815_01.jpg">http://www.MoscowCares.com/Caturday/Caturday_032815_01.jpg</a></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">-------------------</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Several felines hide on County Commissioner Robin Quillen's property either in heated dog houses or chicken coops, which are there for the cats' comfort.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com/Caturday/Caturday_032815_02.jpg">http://www.MoscowCares.com/Caturday/Caturday_032815_02.jpg</a></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Around 50 bags of 25-pound cat food sit in Robin Quillen's garage to help feed the many cats she cares for on a daily basis. </span></div></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com/Caturday/Caturday_032815_03.jpg">http://www.MoscowCares.com/Caturday/Caturday_032815_03.jpg</a></span></div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></body></html>