Interesting piece. I disagree with the charge of hypocrisy when criticizing the eating of dogs & cats. As another reader points out, they were bred to be helper/companion animals, not livestock. The dog, in act, is humanity's single greatest invention. It was not bred for food.

Esthetic principles really don't, or shouldn't play a part here. E.g. pork. Yes, small pigs are cute, but feral wart hogs are incredibly ugly. Are they to be better eating?

That said, China in particular has experienced many horrendous famines. Pets & helper animals facing starvation themselves, might well be eaten for what is the alternative. There is also a degree of hypocrisy in criticizing those who eat dogs & cats from the standpoint of a nation that euthanizes hundreds of thousands of them each simply b/c they have no homes & their existence is inconvenient.

Indefensible, however, is the custom in some areas of SE Asia of boiling dogs & cats alive in the belief that adrenaline release caused by their agony enhances the flavor of their meat. That is simply barbaric.