I'm not condoning animal abusing in any way, in fact I am against all types of abuse directed toward humans and animals alike, as I have first hand experience from being abused by my parents via eczema and physical beatings.
Let's be real here, thousands of humans die per day in a gruesome fashion due to being unlucky yet no one gives a shit about them, laborers like constructions workers best exemplify this.
But when one cat/dog gets abused by its owner (normie btw), then boo hoo everybody must feel bad for the pet or else you are a labelled a demon.
This twisted view of putting the lives of animals over humans is ridiculous, hypocrisy at its finest.
It is because anti-culture associates animals with kids. Both are "innocent" since they cannot grasp what we adult humans are capable of (both are confined to primal instinct and functions) and as such, they're made equal. More so, a pet cannot escape this while the child will escape that state and it has potential for both good and evil future, so its always uncertain whether you should mourn or rejoice the death of a child since its determined by the childs character yet to be formed. (since there is no, it is almost a zero, you also have almost a zero in reaction)
There's also the archetype of sexual attraction to dogs mostly by men, as the wolf was an image of malehood is etched into our minds (dogpill for foids is different) therefore the closer you are to the dog, the closer you satisfy your most basic need of what the relationship between members of society should look like: savage, natural...Like in a pack, it's a universal kink, and a relationship, not necessarily romantic, extinguishes the needs. To strike the dog, is to strike that symbol, this creates a spiritual heartache every man feels. Its offensive, and people are proud in a group. Also optics. Not to mention the "man's best friend" (I know "man in this context means human) trope. A human abusing a dog is like Gondor not answering Rohan when Westmark was falling.
Same goes for cats. Catgirls aren't an arbitrary invention that got luckily sold. Cat behaviour was always "foidy" slender moves, quirky behaviour and so on. Foids are the same. Foids bought into it because they saw men liking it and because a cat reminds them of themselves.
To put it simply, we extend our humanity onto them, abusing an animal is a strike on all of humanity, while on a child is just a bleak domestic issue we humans got going on.
I don't have to explain that people kill for abstractions, when asked if human lives can be sacrificed for culture and pretty structures the answer is yes by some etc.
This is partially why.