I will come clean, even if I risk my reputation here.

I had a job with the local Humane society in my teens.

I grew up in the country, worked with all kinds of animals. I knew some of the animals I have eaten.

I got a job taking care of the animals, feeding and cleaning kennels at the humane society on the weekends. Part of the job that I was not told about was euthanising cats. Dogs were done by vets with needles.

I had no problem with this conceptually. Better to euthanise than to damn them to an overcrowded stressful life in a shelter, or worse a life in the wilds fending for themsleves.

I did euthanize a batch of cats. Once. After I finished throwing up, I wrote my resignation. Not that I objected to the practise, just that I didn't want to do it. I had no such compunction about "food" animals like fowl, pigs or cattle. But cats.....

James