>>508796000
At no point have I said you need to have empathy for animals in general or "all life period". I'm saying two specific species evolved to, and then were selectively bred to mimic human empathy triggers and elicit an empathetic response among properly functioning humans.
Jainism is pagan schizophrenia, linked to their belief in reincarnation. I'm talking about something more real and neurological. Two very specific species (cats and dogs) each self domesticated when certain individuals were less fearful of humans, and cute enough to elicit some empathy, and then as time went on, humans selected the ones that were better at that (natural preference) and now cats and dogs are an excellent empathy litmus test.
People who shoot dogs are consistently more likely to go on to commit worse violent offenses
This is not true of people who hunt deer, or who kill chickens or cattle in normal volumes. Only high volume slaughterhouse work has the same effect as abusing cats and dogs.
They ARE special. They ARE NOT like other animals. We modified them specifically to tug at your heartstrings. And I doubt the cats were somehow not cute enough to fulfill their 10,000 years going evolutionary purpose.