Sarah, OP: What a great summary! I learned a lot from these two long pages.<p>Appreciate with some reservations this lead:<p>“I personally consider these experiments cruel and gratuitous (their medical benefit to humans is too often dubious) and though some such experiments are referenced here, Messybeast.com does not support this form of experimentation.”<p>I understand the political context of starting this way, and as a cat lover it resonates too easily even with me.<p>But in essentially all western-eastern-northern-southern societies (modern or ancient) that routinely kill and eat such clever beasts as cows, pigs, monkeys, horses, sheep, goats, bunny rabbits, octopi, and all manner of birds, I wonder if “gratuitous and cruel” are the right words. And this wuestion is especially relevant when, as you admit, so much of your cool overview relies on that scientific work. This is cognitive dissonance at its best—-well intentioned but still unrooted. Too “woke” for me.<p>I would say no: You cannot have this particular cake and eat it too!<p>And definitely not true the this “gratuitous and cruel” work was either gratuitous and cruel or that it has not contributed greatly to clinical care of humans. It has. Half of what we know (a bit rhetorical) about brain plasticity and repair following brain damage comes from exactly this type of work.<p>It is intellectually disingenuous to be squeamish, even if a cat lover, if you then use these finding.<p>And if one is NOT also a strict vegetarian, then please stay silent—-you have no standing in this court of ethical conundrums.