Catman2 Shelter

Catman2 Shelter www.catman2.org Catman2 is unlike any other shelter in the Jackson County area. We are non-profit, safe for life, cats-only, and cage-free.
(205)

We are also the only shelter in our immediate area that operates out of its own facility and does not rely on foster networks. We are open to the public by appointment - please call 828-293-0892.

Herbie 💗 he’s on the way home! With a little joker smile 😊
07/01/2025

Herbie 💗 he’s on the way home! With a little joker smile 😊

Our little scrungly baby Herbie had a successful surgery on his jaw. His little face looks so good all stitched up witho...
07/01/2025

Our little scrungly baby Herbie had a successful surgery on his jaw. His little face looks so good all stitched up without any open tissue!

Thank you cherokee_animal_care_clinic_ for all hard work you’ve all done to help our little buddy.

Will update when he is home.

This is not the update we wanted to give but I believe in being transparent, sharing the stories of our precious feline ...
07/01/2025

This is not the update we wanted to give but I believe in being transparent, sharing the stories of our precious feline friends, and ultimately sharing a part of my heart and the heart of our organization with you all.

Yesterday evening I went to the shelter to do night rounds and make sure Herbie had his medications and food before a certain time (he was going to have surgery this morning but it got bumped to the afternoon and I’m waiting on an update). Our little broken leg orange dude Gerard had not been wanting to eat much so I picked him up to give him a squeeze treat and try to stimulate his appetite more. That was when I felt his belly and what I knew was his bladder which was huge and turgid. I was able to express him a little and reduce the size of the bladder but it was very difficult and I knew he could not stay like that overnight. Bladder obstructions are deadly if not treated swiftly and having experienced a few of those with adult male cats over the years, I was not about to take my chances with Gerard who we have worked so hard on fixing up for the last two weeks since he arrived. So I called MedVet in Asheville and made the necessary arrangements, reached out to one of our board members to see if they’d go with me, packed him up and headed out.

Sebastian and I arrived at MedVet shortly after 10:30PM and met with a sweet technician named Kaitlynn who listened to my concerns and Gerard’s history. She took him back to the doctor who shared my concerns about bladder obstruction. However, things were super busy there (of course, it’s a Sunday night) and they thought he would be better off being seen at SAVES (South Asheville Veterinary Emergency Services) where there was a specialist in neurology who could check him out. It is rare for a kitten to get blocked like this - it usually happens to adult male cats. (Why it’s very important to monitor your cat’s litter box behavior and activity!) But given his leg injury and healing wound around his back end, it would be prudent to have more help if we needed it and if we went to SAVES, he would get relief faster.

So we packed him up and headed to SAVES and got there after midnight. The kind folks at the front desk immediately sent him to triage after learning about his blockage and we met another sweet technician who got his history from us. After a short wait, Dr. Franke led us into a room and explained what he initially thought was going on. Gerard was painful because of retaining urine and they could try to reduce the bladder as much as possible, send him home with pain meds and antibiotics, etc… we explored some different options and opted to try for just getting him more comfortable and able to come home so we could take him to his regular veterinarian who is very familiar with his case for follow up.

More waiting. Then Dr. Franke brought us back to the room and delivered some tough news. He discovered that Gerard had actually developed a fistula in his wound that bore into his bladder and that was what was causing the extra swelling that was backing him up and causing the pain. Due to his tiny size and particular anatomy, and the extremely friable tissue there, the prognosis was very poor for him to be able to survive the surgery necessary to repair all of his issues. We went over all of our options, weighing in many factors including his quality of life, likelihood of successful surgery and recovery, and costs and resource allocation… and we were ultimately left with the most heartbreaking choice we ever have to make for our beloved charges: we needed to let Gerard go. He had been acting like a maniac kitten earlier and now we had to make this decision for him?! It didn’t seem real but it very much was.

We were all preparing to say goodbye when without warning, Gerard suddenly arrested and passed away on his own without intervention. It was shocking and upsetting but in a way sort of comforting that he went out on his own terms. It eases some of my anguish to know he was comfortable and being doted on by the staff and it was quick. The doctor and staff were devastated. I was able to hold him one last time and kiss his little head like I had been doing every day for the last two weeks. The med team even took a flower and laid over his little body when they placed him in a box so we could have him created with our local friends at Peaceful Paws. .

This kitten had been through so much pain at only 3 months old and yet he only wanted the comfort and companionship with people. He never stopped making biscuits and purring and trying to get attention. Even with a dangling leg and maggots eating him alive when we he first came to Catman2, he was the sweetest baby. And he had so many people working hard to help him. Dr. Black and her team at Sylva Animal Hospital saw him several times for wound care. And the kind folks at MedVet, and Dr. Franke and his team at SAVES did all they could to help him. I am grateful for all of them and for all of you, who shared his story and donated toward his care. Your support means the world to us as an organization and to me personally.

I’ll be honest; this loss cuts deep in a brutal kitten season which continues to inundate us with grossly injured and sick cats and kittens. The calls and messages and surrender requests don’t stop just because we had a sad, sleepless night. We will continue to do what we can to help sweet broken babies like Gerard, even if only for a short time to show them what it means to be loved. But we may need to turn the phone off and take a three hour nap surrounded by paperwork sometimes. That’s okay, too.

Be good to yourself and each other.

- 💚 Kaleb

Mitch and Myron found a wonderful home together with our favorite visitors - the Marsic family. These boys came to us ba...
06/29/2025

Mitch and Myron found a wonderful home together with our favorite visitors - the Marsic family. These boys came to us barely weaned and struggling. To see them so happy and loved by their new family makes all the hardships worth it! Kittens are always better in pairs when possible.

🫶🏻 happy life, boys!

I will be working this clinic tomorrow so bring your kitties to be vaccinated, too! 🐱 💉
06/27/2025

I will be working this clinic tomorrow so bring your kitties to be vaccinated, too! 🐱 💉

Update: ADOPTED! Hi my name is ✨ Khalil ✨ and I am the last one of my litter to find a good home where I can live out my...
06/27/2025

Update: ADOPTED!

Hi my name is ✨ Khalil ✨ and I am the last one of my litter to find a good home where I can live out my days safely indoors and with lots of love! I’m only 3 months old and it’s lonely all by myself 🥺. I promise to be a good boy at least 75% of the time if you’ll have me!

Tell me about yourself here: https://form.jotform.us/93037105972154

(PS: Remember there is only one of me 😌, but there will be more kittens available after the 8th of July, and of course several nice grown kitties looking for homes, too!)

Heeeeeyyy little baby Herbieeeee 💗 all done with his last vet visit of the week. On Monday, Dr. Robbie will operate on h...
06/26/2025

Heeeeeyyy little baby Herbieeeee 💗 all done with his last vet visit of the week. On Monday, Dr. Robbie will operate on his jaw in a procedure called a hemimandiblectomy that will remove a piece of his dead jawbone. His wound is healing nicely and this surgery will help it heal better without food constantly getting into it. He’s so flippin’ cute I can’t stand it 🤯. It will be a riskier surgery because of his brief anesthesia-induced unaliveness from the first day we got him, but we are hopeful that is because he was in such bad shape. He’s so much stronger now and he needs this surgery to have a good quality of life. So we are all in! He’s on his way home to eat that good kitten Sheba to which he has come to expect 😂 thanks everyone to donating plenty of it so he’ll never go hungry again!

BOLO in the Mineral Springs area of Sylva, NC
06/26/2025

BOLO in the Mineral Springs area of Sylva, NC

Update on Sisqo! Little dude got his front leg amputated and recovered well despite a complication that used up one of h...
06/25/2025

Update on Sisqo!

Little dude got his front leg amputated and recovered well despite a complication that used up one of his nine lives. He has a little bit of a wonky eye now but neither it nor the lack of a fourth leg are stopping him. We decided to play it extra safe and have his neuter surgery done locally by his surgeon who already knows all about him (Dr. Black), but that’s not happening until later in July. We opted to turn the Green Room aka Kitty Condo into a medical room where he could be out of his cage before his surgery, since he’s young and needs to work on his muscles after a long recovery. Other medical kitties Calvin (who is awaiting oral surgery on the same day as Sisqo) and Amber Lynn (in a cone to prevent her from traumatizing the healing eosinophilic plaques on her neck and head) also share this space with him and they all have become quick pals.

All this is to say why I’m so proud of this photo - Sisqo in all his tripod glory has discovered the joy of the vertical enrichment we added to the walls and he was chilling in the wall box this morning at breakfast time! Cats are incredible. He’s going to make someone a fabulous friend once he’s fixed and ready to roll out. 🧡🧡🧡

Address

635 Bo Cove Road
Cullowhee, NC
28723

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+18282930892

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Catman2 Shelter posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Share