One year ago this month, the Food and Drug Administration called a press conference to confirm what many pet owners had been suspecting for some time -- something was terribly wrong with the products they were feeding their animal companions. What followed, of course, was the largest consumer recall in the nation’s history: 60 million units of pet food sold under more than 100 brands, all contaminated with either melamine or cyanuric acid.

Chris Della Penna, with Tabby. Photo from PetFoodNightmares

I remember thinking, as I dialed into press conference after FDA recall press conference from March into the summer: At least it’s mostly dogs. At least I don’t buy my pet’s food at discount stores. At least I don’t feed my cats wet food. We’ll be OK. But in the end, none of us were safe. Our brand, Hill’s Science Diet, came up by the end of March – we were buying it from our veterinarian. Iams. Eukanuba. All the stuff we consumers were paying extra for, believing we were giving our cats and dogs the best. Who knew that some of those names were just nothing but that, names stamped on a bag, with what was inside coming out of the same big hopper called Menu Foods

We’ll probably never know how many animal companions were lost to kidney failure, their renal systems clogged and damaged from chemicals that normally go into plastics or fertilizers. The last time I looked, the FDA was sticking to its confirmed total of 15 dogs and 1 cat. The rest of us know it was thousands, maybe tens of thousands, that were made sick or died. They were, as New York University professor Dr. Marion Nestle calls them in her upcoming book, “the chihuahau in the coal mine.” Shortly on the heels of the pet food recalls came the ones focusing on lead in children’s products. Again, the shock of familiar, trusted names: Mattel, Polly Pocket, Dora the Explorer. Then there were contaminants discovered in toothpaste, in the drug heparin. And finally, Americans realized they had a very real and serious product safety problem on their hands.

Thousands of dogs and cats had to give up their lives for us to open our eyes. I remember the rage and grief in the postings I would read on blogs and message boards, people who watched their pets grow listless and sick with the dawning horror that they, the people who loved them, had unknowingly been feeding them what was poisoning them. The Della Penna family, of Wellington, started a Web site they called PetFoodNightmares after their 4-year-old cat, Tabby, died from what they believe was eating tainted recalled food. Pet owners from all over the country have shared their own tragedies on that site. It’s pretty hard to look at some of the photos, their pets so sweet-faced and happy.

So instead of blogging today about regulations and laws and debates -- there will be plenty time for that this year -- I just want to stop and say “I am so very sorry” to everyone who lost an animal companion they loved to the system that let us all down. You can share their stories below, if you want. Let’s remember them and push for a better, safer future for us all.