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The National Cat Protection Society is launching a capital campaign to raise the $250,000 needed to expand its current Retirement Home for cats at its Spring Valley shelter. Phase One of the state-of-the-art remodel, NATCAT Paradise: Purr-fect Retirement Living, is scheduled to open early 2009, and will serve as a progressive model for other shelters that currently or plan to provide specialized lifetime care to senior cats in a designated space.

Designed by the creators of the feline fantasyland The Cats’ House, artists, and authors Bob Walker and Frances Mooney, Paradise will provide senior cats with an imaginative environment that motivates them to play and comforts them while they rest. “We’re turning NATCAT’s Retirement Home into a tropical retreat with a cascade of colors, plentiful places to climb and explore, private nap areas, and a whimsical water ceiling,” says Walker. Paradise will also function as a therapeutic venue for senior citizens, youth groups, those with special needs, and any other individual or organization interested in cat companionship.

Paradise will surround NATCAT’s senior cats with what has come to be known as “environmental enrichment” in animal welfare, which refers to the practice of increasing physical activity and improving quality of life through environmental stimuli. “Twelve years ago, NATCAT’s Newport Beach shelter commissioned us to design the remodel of their Retirement Center with a Newport Pier replica, lifeguard tower, corrugated waves, a floor-to-ceiling scratching pole, and cat-sized stairs for easy pier access,” says Walker. “NATCAT had the vision to create “purr-fect” areas for play and rest long before environmental enrichment became the international movement that it is today.”

To avoid disturbing the resident cats, the elements of Paradise will be constructed offsite as modular parts and transported to the shelter on a regular schedule. Movable walls will be built to protect the cats from the construction areas as the parts are assembled, prepped, and painted.

The National Cat Protection Society, under the direction of President Denise Johnston, takes in sick, injured, lost, abused, abandoned, and relinquished felines. Homeless seniors, cats, and kittens are provided with high-quality food, medical and dental care, and individual attention on a regular basis by staff members and volunteers. NATCAT also publicly spreads the importance of spaying and neutering to reduce pet overpopulation, conducts cruelty prevention programs for youth and adults, and provides education programs on animal welfare.

For more information on NATCAT Paradise: Purr-fect Retirement Living, please contact Gerri Calore at 619-469-8771 or natcatsv@gmail.com.

The National Cat Protection Society, a nonprofit organization funded solely through donations and memberships, has been dedicated to the protection and welfare of cats and kittens for almost 40 years. Founded by the late Mr. C. Richard Calore, NATCAT shelters owner-relinquished cats in Spring Valley and Newport Beach and educates others in the community on how to humanely treat all animals.