Every day is a Jellicle Ball at Catman2 Shelter & Adoption Center in Cullowhee, N.C. Just like in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical "Cats," old cats, fat cats, slinky cats, mischievous and magical cats come out to play, to bask in the warm sun, to celebrate life.

"Frosty" and "Milton" are opposites but best friends. They arrived at Catman2 about six months ago. Frosty is a black longhair domestic male, and Milton is a black shorthair domestic male. Both have white feet; Frosty has a white chin, but Milton has a white chest. Timid and unsure about people, Frosty delights in Milton’s company.

Known for her moodiness, "Nancy," a gray-and-white tabby Maine Coon mix, may be friendly one day but swat at you the next. She was a bit wild the first time she came to Catman2. After she warmed up to people, she was adopted, but her adoptive family let her roam. When she was recaptured she was just skin and bones, but still wore her collar with Catman2 identification.

"Autumn," a gorgeous tortoiseshell longhair female, is friendly all the time. She likes a clean litter box and will urinate outside of the box if it is soiled - a problem that probably could be remedied if she were a family’s only cat. "Wally" was named for the Wal-Mart in Sylva where he lived for 10 days atop retail shelves. His gorgeous black coat turns silvery when you stroke him backward.

Fifty-five cats - 55 colorful personalities, not one the same - currently live at Catman2. All are society’s rejects in one way or another.

Set against the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Catman2 makes a pretty postcard. On 10 acres not far from the hub of Western Carolina University lies this feline utopia where cats live in a homelike 4,000-square-foot building complete with sun porches, satellite radio and air-conditioning.

The real gem is the "Catman" himself, Harold "Hap" Sims. A retired college biology professor and outdoor adventurer who once taught canoeing, Sims fully engages in his mission of rescuing and finding homes for unwanted, abandoned cats. He wears the role proudly with a bolo tie decorated with a large ornamental cat hanging down the front of a plaid flannel shirt.

The phone rings. Sims answers, listens, and calmly replies, "Yes, we can come get the kitten." A woman in nearby Cherokee rescued a Siamese kitten and raised it on a bottle after its mother was killed by a car. She is no longer able to care for the kitten because her baby may be allergic to cats. The woman was going to drive the cat to the shelter but didn’t have money for gasoline after buying diapers. A crying baby could be heard in the background.

"The kitten needs to be rescued. It is probably terrified," says Sims, as he picks up the phone to call a Catman2 volunteer who lives in Cherokee to drive to the woman’s house for the kitten.

Call it serendipity that Sims got involved in animal rescue and learned the sorry fate of homeless cats in western North Carolina. What began innocently - trying to match potential adopters with individual cats at shelters - grew to become a small shelter contained in three buildings at his home near Glenville, N.C. Too many cats, not enough space evolved into a passion to build a cattery where cats could live freely, thus the origin of Catman2. The name Catman2 came about because someone had already registered Catman for their personal vehicle license plate.

"I want cats to live in a household environment where they are happy and treated like a pet," Sims says. "I believe that animals have a right to live, which is why I’ve had some cats for so long. Some are hard to place, but all they need is socialization and someone to work with them."

A Mom and Pop Operation

Someone to work with them is exactly what Sims and his wife, Kay, and 10 volunteers do regularly at Catman2. Sims knows each cat’s name, its personality, when it arrived, its approximate age, its favorite place to sleep, its favorite food and favorite toy. He calls their names as he walks by them; many come eagerly to greet him in return.

"We really are a mom and pop operation," he says. "You’ve got to know their personalities so you can recommend the right cat for the right home. I always am truthful about their personalities and any behavioral issues. I always give people the whole story."

Sims has been known to tell families with rambunctious children they might want to consider a dog instead of a cat. Some cats may not be well-suited in a home with other cats but potentially would thrive in an environment where they are the center of attention. Others would miss having cat companions.

The phone rings. It is the volunteer in Cherokee who is trying to reach the woman with the Siamese kitten. "Oh, no," Sims says. "Well, we’ll have to wait and see if she calls." Apparently the woman’s phone was disconnected. New worries surface about how to rescue the Siamese kitten.

About five years ago, Sims invited his friend and retired carpenter Jack Nowlin of Cullowhee to breakfast. Looking back, Nowlin laughs, "I made the mistake of meeting him for breakfast." Nowlin, then 67, had no clue of his 66-year-old friend’s intentions. In five minutes, the pair drew plans on a paper napkin for building a cattery.

It took them more than a year to complete Catman2. They subcontracted the plumbing and electrical work. Sims funded the $180,000 project except for a few thousand dollars received in donations. He established the cattery as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and leased the building to Catman2 for $10 a year.

The design of the cattery was inspired by a visit Sims paid to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tenn. "I wanted a beautiful unique building where visitors could see cats through large windows along wide hallways," he says.

Cats are housed at Catman2 in three suites and a large open area that includes an atrium. The 15-by-24-foot suites with adjoining 16-by-16-foot screened porches house about 15 cats. Twenty cats share the open area. Chain-link fencing is used in addition to the screens to ensure cats don’t escape from the porches.

The most striking aspects of Catman2 are its cleanliness, fresh smell and ample furniture in every room. Chairs and couches, as well as cat beds, toys and condos, can be found throughout. Cushions and comforters are kept laundered and replaced when needed.

Artwork featuring cats provides a cheery ambience. The philosophy of Catman2 can be seen on signs, such as one that reads, "No Parking Any Time on the Cat’s Chair." Another one says, "Lord, help me to be the person my cat thinks I am."

Besides the artwork on display, Sims has an impressive collection of Chessie memorabilia. The famous gray tabby was featured in advertisements for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway from the 1930s to the early 1950s. "Sleep like a kitten, arrive fresh as a daisy" was the slogan.

Each suite has its own heating and air-conditioning controls; the air-conditioning was donated by the owner of a local air-conditioning store. Air purifiers in each suite and the open area help to destroy mold spores, bacteria, viruses and airborne microorganisms.

A 6-by-15-foot food preparation area doubles as a room for anti-social cats. These cats enjoy the security of large wire crates that are 8-by-2 feet and have different levels for food, litter boxes and sleeping. Most of the doors to the crates are left open. Each day, the workers talk to the cats, pet them and encourage them to explore outside their crates.

A separate isolation building is used to quarantine new arrivals. Catman2 does not accept kittens under 4 months of age, partly due to state regulations requiring separate housing for them. The abundance of adult cats needing rescued keeps the cattery busy.

An 8-foot chain-link fence surrounds the outside perimeter of the cattery. It helps to ensure the safety of any cat that might get through the front door. A cupola and a custom weathervane with a mother cat and her kittens sits on top of the building. Cat decorations, figurines and signs in the windows and on the porch welcome visitors to Catman2.

Expenses for veterinary care, maintenance of the building, food and cat litter run around $30,000 a year. "We use 30 cans of wet food, five pounds of dry food, and 40 pounds of litter daily," Sims says.

Ten volunteers, all cat lovers, work at Catman2. Shirley Pinaud of Cullowhee, an owner of 10 cats, five adopted from Catman2, comes two times a week in the early mornings to clean and feed cats, and helps Sims train volunteers. Kay Sims works daily from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and helps with the annual garage sale.

Tom Nicholas of Whittier comes on Thursday afternoons to help with maintenance. He discovered Catman2 from an article in the local newspaper. Other volunteers have duties such as unloading supplies, posting cat photos on the Cat­man2 Web site, and cleaning. Some come just to help socialize the cats.

The Cat Room

The Simses lived in Florida prior to retiring to North Carolina in 1992. Sims taught at the St. Petersburg Community College in Clearwater, and Kay was a school social worker. Since the 1960s they had spent summers in North Carolina and had bought a summer home in Brevard.

Prior to moving to North Carolina, Sims had begun volunteering at a local animal shelter in Florida.

"I found the most enjoyment hanging around the cat room and helping people find the cat that was just right for them," he says.

When they retired and moved to Glenville, N.C., he found that the government-run shelters had little interest in adoptions as their primary function was animal control. "Local private shelters were small, and 90 percent of the space was dedicated to dogs," Sims says. "The few cats were housed in rooms so crowded you had to shuffle your feet to keep from stepping on them."

Wanting to help homeless cats, he converted a boathouse on the Glenville property to a cat shelter. Eventually he built a small shelter nearby and divided a building used for storing antiques so cats could stay in part of it. The arrangement worked out pretty well until he realized he needed a larger shelter. When he discovered the 10-acre property for sale in nearby Cullow­hee, he knew it was the right spot to build Catman2.

In time, Sims and Kay moved with their 15 housecats to a house that is adjacent to the cattery. Besides the Simses’ house and Catman2, the property has a barn with a modern upstairs apartment for guests. The barn currently houses items for the garage sale and auction fundraiser coming up in July. A two-bedroom contemporary log house also was built for houseguests.

Over the past 10 years, Sims has successfully adopted out about 2,500 cats. The cattery, with a capacity for 60 cats, takes in cats that Sims rescues from kill shelters, home surrenders and strays. It never fails - January is the biggest adoption month. This year, 30 adoptions took place, about one a day.

Catman2 charges $70 for adoptions. The fee doesn’t quite cover expenses for veterinary care and transportation, yet it allows Sims to recover most of the cost while also finding good homes for cats. Throughout western North Carolina, people know him as "Catman." They frequently come back to adopt more cats and send him cards with photos of their beloved felines.

Always one with lofty goals, Sims would like to persuade a veterinarian to open a feline veterinary hospital on land he owns near the highway or even near Catman2. "Cats are terrified in clinics with dogs," he says.

As he and Kay advance in age, his most pressing concern is to find someone to succeed them in running Catman2. His dream is to find a partner and caretaker who is as committed to rescuing cats as he. Not just anyone would go out at 1 a.m. to rescue a cat in need.

The phone rings again. The volunteer in Cherokee is on his way with the Siamese kitten, having gotten a call from the woman with directions to her house. As it turned out, the Siamese was adopted after only one day.

"Word got out from the veterinarian’s office and a person they recommended came for her," Sims says. "I wish all cats could be so lucky."

Then again, we think the ones that end up at Catman2 are pretty lucky, too. ©

How to Reach Catman2 Shelter & Adoption Center

Catman2 welcomes visitors, especially those interested in spending time petting, talking and playing with cats. For information about visiting, cats available for adoption or to reach Harold Sims, owner of Catman2, please visit www.catman2.org or call (828) 293-0892. You also may send an e-mail to hsims@catman2.org.