The Pet Companions Club Board, front row: Cathy Countryman Cook—Director; Melinda Klinka—Secretary, Mary O’Neill—President, Diana DeCanio—Director; back row: Bruce Banks—Director, Gina Bonnett—Director, Barbara Kamm—Treasurer, Sue Anderson—Vice President
Melinda Klinka
We are a small club of about 170 members, and we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit pet rescue. We focus our efforts within PebbleCreek. If a member of our community is no longer able to care for their pets, or they have passed away and there are no family members willing to take their pets, we work to foster and then re-home those pets, hopefully within our community. We occasionally take in pets from outside of PebbleCreek, but only if we are certain that we can find them a good home.
We rescue pets that have escaped from their PebbleCreek households and need help returning home. We work in conjunction with the patrol office to do this. We also get calls about stray dogs and cats that have wandered into our community from outside of our walls, and we rescue them as well. We additionally trap feral cats, spay or neuter them, get them vaccinated, and release them where they were found if they are not adoptable.
In addition to rescuing pets, we also rescue small wildlife, such as birds and bunnies, when they need help.
We maintain and publish a list of pet sitters for the community.
Part of our mission is to also educate, so we bring in monthly speakers on various topics, such as other rescue organizations, Arizona Game & Fish to discuss wildlife, dog trainers, etc. Our speaking events are open to the community, free of charge.
We use the tax-deductible charitable donations that we receive, as well as our club dues, to pay our veterinary bills for all of the pets that we rescue, as most need vaccines, spay/neuter, and medications.
Much like Kare Bears is available to provide support to all of the humans within our community, we are the support for all of the animals and all of the pet owners. As such, we are always in need of volunteers willing to help rescue animals or foster rescued pets. If you are interested in our mission, please join us or volunteer!
We also provide heartwarming stories about community pets and rescues. Please send any Pet of the Month submissions directly to mklinka@gmail.com.