Everything about us began when our cat Timber died on Nov 17, 2006.  Our three year old Tabby was put to sleep to end his suffering from liver failure.  His system simply shut down.  The Vet said that morning Timber only had a couple of hours left and that ending his life was all he could do.  It was heart-wrenching and his suffering still haunts us today. 

When the recall came out in March we, like a lot of people didn’t connect Timber’s death with the food.

Then one day a couple of weeks ago while shopping in the local grocery store, I felt compelled to LEAVE the store.  I struggled to get a few more things but the “little voice” inside me kept telling me to leave and leave now.

So I abandoned my shopping, pushed my basket to the front of the store and headed to the first check out line.  I stood in the express line (which I never go to) and waited while the checkout gal tried to fix the register tape.  Normally I would have left for another aisle but not this day.  Soon a man pushed his basket and positioned it behind me.  He began talking to me….he began telling me how he had two dogs die in four months.  As the conversation continued, it dawned on me, Timber was not just some freak death.  He was eating the food on the recall list in November 2006, the month of his death.  Was it possible the tainted food was on the shelves in the fall of 2006?

I came home and did my homework.  Menu Foods knew something was wrong the first week in December 2006.  I knew in my heart, the timeline had to go back further.
Statements would later reveal a timeline as far back as Nov 8, 2006.

The revelation that Timber DIDN’T have to die such a horrid death, that he didn’t have to suffer was more than I could take.

To learn more about the issue of tainted food and Timber’s death, I began visiting online with members of a Yahoo group.  It was there that the Nationwide Memorial March was conceived.  People were compelled to act.  They needed to do something to express their outrage. They needed to say in a voice loud enough to be heard “I wont let my dog, my cat, my friend’s death be in vain”.

In response to this cry for action, I created a modest free website hosted by Bravehost.

The site grew.  And it grew.  And soon we were looking at the real possibility of the site shutting down due to the volume of traffic.

It was then we made the decision to spend the money on a website that could handle a volume of visitors.  We felt that strongly about the project and we felt that people needed a place to honor their pets, to feel a unity with others who care and to inform others of the opportunity to gather on April 28th in remembrance of their pets (and support for those still struggling with the effects of the tainted food).

We feel honored that many people have shared pictures of their beloved pets, both living and deceased.  The faces of the many dogs and cats keep us focused and on task.  We work this website in honor of and with the greatest respect for those countless animals who have suffered at the hands of a negligent company.  And we spend a lot of time in tears when we look at the faces of these beautiful animals.  Knowing they were loved and now missed is something to which we can both relate.

Timber didn’t have to die.  He was only three years old. He had many, many years ahead of him.  He didn’t do anything to deserve to die. All he did was eat Hill Country Fare’s canned cat food.
And it made him sick. And then it destroyed his liver.  And then it killed him.

Who are we you ask?  We are a mother and a daughter who just so happen to be single moms and just so happen to have loved and lost the coolest cat in the world…….

Thanks to each of you who visit the site.  You validate our work and remind us that we aren’t alone in this battle to keep safety standards high on all imported products coming into the USA.