FOR THE KIDS : The Cat’s Coming Back Again to Delight Ventura Youngsters : Fred Penner’s career as a top children’s entertainer began with a hit song about a funny feline who wouldn’t stay away.

The cat always comes back, or so the song goes, and Canada’s Fred Penner is returning to Southern California for a concert this weekend--good news for little “Fredheads.”

Penner, who launched his career 16 years ago with the classic “The Cat Came Back,” will be in the Ventura High School auditorium Saturday for a 2 p.m. performance.

It will be a nonstop whirl of songs, jokes and mingling with the audience of parents and kids, many who likely watched “Fred Penner’s Place” on cable TV’s Nickelodeon.

“It’s a very high-energy hour,” Penner said from his home in Winnipeg, where he lives with his wife and four children.

As always, he’ll be backed up by his three-piece Cat’s Meow Band. But that’s not all. In recent concerts, he’s added giant inflatable characters, such as a smiling sun and, of course, a cat.

“They gasp when they first see these creatures,” Penner said. “It’s great fun.”

If Penner, 48, has great fun on stage with his guitar, he also has great success. Since 1979, he’s put out nine albums, three videos and five story books. His TV show has been on Nickelodeon for four years and he is renegotiating for another season, he said. It’s been on the air in Canada for 10 years.

In 1990, Penner became the first kids’ entertainer to perform at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. He’s been back twice since then, the last time in 1993.

Called “Fredhead” by his fans, he’s still a down-to-earth kind of guy who can relate to the foibles of being a parent and a kid. He doesn’t travel as much as he could so he can spend time with his kids, who range in age from 13 to 4.

“I’m in the parental world in a big way,” he said. “What I bring [to the stage] is part of that lifestyle.”

Born and raised in Winnipeg, he began performing in grade school productions while teaching himself to play the guitar. After college, he worked in a treatment center for emotionally and physically challenged children, using used his music to entertain and help kids.

Throughout the 1970s, he dabbled in folk music, theater and comedy. He started a children’s dance theater company with his wife in 1977, and it was at a performance that he was spotted by someone who offered to finance an album of his music.

The album, “The Cat Came Back,” established him as a kids’ performer in Canada, along with rising stars Raffi and the trio of Sharon, Lois and Bram. Their success spilled over into the United States and helped pave the way for a flurry of new children’s entertainers here.

“The Cat” is his signature song and, of course, he’ll be doing it at the Ventura concert, he said. For those unfamiliar with this ditty and its many verses, it’s about old Mr. Johnson who had “troubles of his own,” a yellow cat who simply wouldn’t go away. Nothing worked, not even giving him to Santa Claus or putting him in a time machine with a rat. The darn cat came back every time.

“It’s a perfect song,” Penner said. “The idea of all these things happening to the cat. He has so much character.”

Penner writes most of his songs, but this one originated as an 1890s’ minstrel tune from the New England coast. He wrote nearly all the verses except for the first one.

At the concert, presented by the Ventura County Children’s Festival, he’ll also do a lot of songs from his newest album, “What a Day!,” a collection of warm, feel-good songs that boost self-esteem, family and communication. It’s easy listening (for parents, too) because his voice is smooth and mellow, and the orchestrations are top quality.

His music is a mix of calypso, country, rock and folk. Always in motion, he schmoozes with the audience, playing his guitar, telling jokes only kids can appreciate.

His feel-good-about-yourself philosophy is always there. He also believes that helping to build the character of kids is the most important work in the world. Especially today’s world.

“Kids talk tougher sometimes--their vocabulary has grown,” he said. “They’re more worldly, inundated with information from TV and school about AIDS and the environment. But they’re still sensitive souls who need nurturing as much as ever.”

Details

* WHAT: Fred Penner and the Cat’s Meow Band in concert.

* WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday.

* WHERE: Ventura High School auditorium, 2155 E. Main St.

* HOW MUCH: Reserved seats $14, $12, $8 $6.

* FYI: Tickets also available at Kideos in Ventura, the Parenting Store in Thousand Oaks, Serendipity Toys in Ojai and at the door.

* CALL: 650-9688 or 374-9222.