(...) eat living animal (...)
Nothing unique. Ever heard how lobsters are "fried"? Haven't you been to Wal-Mart and seen the lobster container? What do you think you're supposed to do when you buy one of those? Normally lobsters are fried in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then served. Which is why they keep the seafood kitchen out of sight in the nicer restaurants.
Never been to Wal-Mart, never seen a lobster container. But I think you're missing the point here - the crabs die all right, they aren't alive any more when they are served - unlike these fish, which are partially fried so that the meat can be eaten while the vital signs remain even at the table.
Anyway, the nervous system of lobsters is pretty much on the same level as scorpions and spiders. Pain is most likely to them a sense amongst others - a warning sign - and they likely don't really have enough resources to suffer from it. But it's difficult to define the difference between pain and suffering.
Neither sheep nor cats. Although it's not really the "killing" part that I care about. If someone shot me and then served me on a plate, I wouldn't care any more than if they'd just shot me and left me there. What vegans and vegetarians are on about is not the killing of animals, but the conditions they're held in beforehand, which is why noone has any idea what they're talking about. Few people would still eat meat if they spent just a day in a meat plant, but most people would rather not look deeper into the issue and would prefer to stick with society's point of view.
See no evil, hear no evil, eat no evil, eh?
Some non-meat-eaters don't eat meat for the reason you mentioned, but there are other reasons as well. Personally, I have to agree on the point of the conditions beforehand bothering me way more than actually using the meat of any animals for food because of some moral*/ethical** dilemma of eating fellow beings *chuckle*. The treatment of higher vertebrates is so industrialized that the stress levels of the poor beasts are likely pretty high.
However, I can't really see that me stopping to eat the meat would have much of an effect to anything the meat industry does.
*Moral dilemma would be thinking if something you do is accepted by others (society). This goes on with a lot of young people in schools, so when someone prominent enough becomes a vegan/vegetarian/whatevertarian, it causes people to follow.
**Ethical dilemma would be thinking if you yourself can accept something that you're about to do. This is much more rare than moral dilemmae.
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