AMÍ Cat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AMÍ Cat is the brand name of a vegan cat food manufactured since 2001 by AMÍ s.r.l., a pet product company from Padua, Italy. It is primarily only available in Europe, but due to the increased demand for vegetarian and vegan options for pet food, it has been imported to Japan and the United States since 2005, though with limited availability.
AMÍ Cat is a dry kibble product that is the result of over 15 years of university-based nutritional research, which was sponsored by company founder, Michele Ghezzo. As a vegan food, it uses no ingredients derived from animal sources. For ingredients typically only found in animal sources and necessary for the health of a cat, such as taurine and vitamin a, synthetically produced forms are used. AMÍ Cat claims to be hypoallergenic, containing no soy, dyes, or artificial preservatives, and they test their ingredients regularly to be sure they are GMO free.
There is significant controversy on feeding vegan or vegetarian diets to cats, as they are obligate carnivores. Research in the matter is ongoing. AMÍ itself started a multi-year study in 2002, on cats fed their diet in a non-exploitive home setting, instead of a laboratory. The results of their study are due in 2007.[1]
