They are carnivores. We are omnivores, meaning we can survive on vegetable matter only. And we should, if we do care about animal cruelty and suffering. That is why it is such an ethical conflict for an animal welfare society to serve dead factory farmed animals.

I would go further and say that it is a conflict for any person to say they love animals, yet eat them.

(By the way, my dogs are as vegetarian as I can make them at this point.)