Luxury Shelter Is the Cats’ Meow : Animals: The Last Post provides care mainly for felines whose owners die or are in nursing homes. The pampered lifestyle is funded by donations.

The Last Post may be the end of the road for cats, but as a feline retirement village it rates four stars.

Down a winding dirt road on the edge of this quiet, rural town, 340 cats of all shapes and sizes live out their nine lives in quiet indulgence, carefully tended by a staff of eight and a local veterinarian who checks in daily.

In a row of four wooden cabins, calicoes, Siamese and tabbies stretch out together on pillows, couches and quilts arranged for their napping comfort. Large trays of wet and dry food are within easy reach and small cat doors open onto wide, wooden sun decks.

Started in 1982 by Pegeen Fitzgerald, a New York radio personality and animal lover, the Last Post provides lifelong care primarily for cats whose owners die or have to check into a nursing home.

“It’s so hard for people to make that transition to a nursing home in the first place, but then to have to say goodby to their beloved friends--it’s heartbreaking,” said Becky Linscott, the shelter’s assistant director. “We provide peace of mind because they know the animals will be taken care of well.”

These days, the 35-acre country retreat along the Housatonic River finds itself housing more cats whose owners are dying of AIDS or have lost their jobs because of the recession.

The shelter is funded through donations--mainly from people who entrust their animals to its care. Many leave money in their wills to send their animals to the Last Post.

The Last Post is not meant to be a luxury camp for the cats of the wealthy, staff members say. It’s the embodiment of Fitzgerald’s ideals.

“This is the culmination of her dream,” said Jim Gray, a retired Cleveland, Ohio, policeman and an old friend of Fitzgerald. He became executive director of the Last Post about two years ago.

“We believe in establishing a means of communication between all living creatures. Our job here is to provide decent, healthy and happy environments for all the animals around us.”

Fitzgerald and her husband, Edward, broadcast a radio show out of their apartment overlooking Central Park for about 50 years. They entertained their listeners with any number of subjects, from the goings-on of their neighbors and household help to their efforts to promote animal rights.

Fitzgerald, who died in 1989, spoke so often about her love of animals that many of her listeners began leaving their pets to her in their wills.

She adopted so many animals, in fact, that she soon moved some of them out to a country house in Kent and then made room for more by buying an old boys’ camp and starting the Last Post in 1982.

The Last Post welcomes visitors for the extra attention they give the animals and actively seeks people to adopt cats whose previous owners have not stipulated that they remain at the shelter.

But those who want to adopt a cat should not expect to bring one home after their first visit to the shelter. Staff members check references, including at least one from a veterinarian, conduct personal interviews and make sure that the animals respond well to their potential adopters.

“We all have assumed the responsibility for these animals for the rest of their lives,” Gray said. “We take that seriously, and we reserve the right to visit the adopted animals at any time.”

Mark Summers of Brooklyn, N.Y., recently dropped off his two cats, Buster and Buckley. Like many of the Last Post’s benefactors, he said he was giving up his longtime pets only with great reluctance. He plans to travel to England in the fall to get an advanced degree at Cambridge University, and he just couldn’t bring them with him. Finding them new owners also proved impossible.

“They’re 13 years old and I couldn’t find anyone who wanted old cats,” Summers said. “It’s hard because I’ve had them since they were 6 weeks old, and I want to make sure they’re fine without me. I know they will be here.”

Like many new residents, Buster and Buckley may be a little uneasy at first about living with so many of their own kind. After all, cats are nothing if not finicky.

That is why The Last Post breaks in each newcomer gradually in a special New Arrivals Room, where they get acclimated first in cages, then wander out to eat, sleep and survey the surroundings in the company of only about 20 other cats.

There is also a special, quieter room for older cats, known affectionately as the Over the Hill Gang--and a separate building for cats with chronic health problems.

All the rooms are thoroughly washed and disinfected each day, and serving trays and litter boxes are sterilized. The result is an amazingly odor-free environment, despite more cats in one small area than most people have ever seen before.

The phone rings constantly with people asking how they can reserve places for their animals.

“I try to spend as much time as I can talking to them, trying to suggest alternatives to make sure the animals survive even if we can’t take them,” said Linscott, who fields most of the calls from people desperate to find new homes from their pets. “Five (million) to 7 million cats are put to sleep each year in this country alone--mainly because people just won’t take enough responsibility for their animals.

“Animals are just looked on in this society as disposable commodities. It’s tragic.”