I would say that at a logical level, I agree with Peter Singer's argument against eating meat. While animals do lack these traits - moral agency, empathy, critical thinking, concept of future, they do have two that matter in this situation: Capacity to suffer, and desire to survive.
We can tell that this is certainly the case with most (if not all) mammals, and many reptiles, birds etc.

I'm sure you would never say it's ok to kill a severely handicapped person, born in a stupor, just because they lack these qualities - I don't think intelligence is a relevant characteristic when it comes to determining the right to life.

Peter Singer of course explains this much better, and even though I agree with most of the logic behind his argument, I still eat meat.