I hope the rescue service includes neutering the cats, or their kind actions might backfire on them. Good luck to Turkish cats.

No it's not hard to be empathetic if you're convinced your way is right, unless your way somehow dictates a lack of empathy, which vegetarianism doesn't. Quite the contrary, empathetic people are much more prone to choose to live a vegetarian lifestyle.

And YOU are being judgmental about vegans, most vegans are not preachy at all. And so what if they are, it's not a bad thing to preach what you believe. Anyway you're also not an example of being open minded. I'm not claiming at all I'm fully open minded, especially not about this subject. I'm convinced I'm right and killing sentient life for own gain is barbaric.

Not all animals are eating other animals, so the argument of "disconnecting from nature" makes no sense. Being veg is not unnatural. Being a human you can't just place yourself in the world of animals. Animals don't have to make choices along their life path, they just live their lives. As human you can't avoid the choices, humans have options to choose from. Sadly most humans choose for themselves (which includes people close to them) only and don't give a shit about other living beings.