I think the real problem is that once you start looking at animals as intelligent (in some capacity) and capable of suffering (in some capacity) every decision

I think the real problem is that once you start looking at animals as intelligent (in some capacity) and capable of suffering (in some capacity) every decision similar to "ok, now lets eat it" start to seem horrendous. But we still need to eat them, because not everyone can be a vegetarian. The "intelligence threshold" or "emotional threshold" are imperfect, but they're the best we came up until now. They have clear imperfections and consequences that we don't want, but if we keep in mind that those are stop gaps and not real solutions, we shouldn't try to follow "logical consequences" that seem insane. We should try to find better solutions. I'm all for vat-grown meat. I'd never eat an animal again.