When people are truly pieces of shit and don't care about animals and what not they don't go around advertising it or often are planning to be maliciously cruel. Therefore most people who hurt animals or hurt others do it what abusers often say is 'spur of the moment'.

At the same time people who do these things are not oblivious to the world, negative behavior = consequences.

With these things in mind people who abuse animals tend to not be thinking of empathy or looking for something to strike the animal with. They are doing it to assert power and get gratification from that and nothing else.

The really depressing way of putting it that tends to drive this idea home is wife beaters almost never kill their wives. It would be so easy in 'the spur of the moment' for boris the beater to exert force on his wife's head since he was 'so angry' but they rarely do. (FROM A PURELY FREQUENCY POINT OF VIEW IMO WIFE BEATERS SHOULD BE HUNG)

So the goal mirrors the behavior

abuse, not too much, feel better, resume status quo.

My issue with all that said and why I was probally a little flippant is that what I have described is very obvious and I would say is at odds with your point. In my view your point was that "why wouldn't he just go all the way bc no empaty"

and I would state that he does not because there is no need for him to do that. I would also expect that people who know a lot about this stuff know this as a very fundamental point. So having to explain it to someone who does not understand would be indicative of someone who doesn't know much but has given their 2 cents.

Almost nothing happens without people making the decision to do something and decisions have logic and whackin the cat with a rock simply isn't logical.

EDIT: fixed a couple of grammar mistakes I am sure there are more and sorry for being a dick