Why are people so cruel to animals?

There are many pet owners out there that either dont care about there pets, or dont know the correct way. With this kind of economy pets are one of the major things that get neglected. People dont think about how there animals feel when they are starved or thirsty, alot of them think of it as "its a dog, it can find food and water itself." Its sad to think about all the animals out there that have no food, water or shelter. There are many orgainizations out there that say they are out to save the animals and give them better homes, but thats not always true. Many of them lock the animals up in small cages and take them out 1-2 times a day, which is not enough. How would u feel if you were in a cage for 20 hours a day and only gotten taken out twice for 2 hours each time? I think that if everyone thought of it like that, then they would realize how good we have it and how bad animals get treated. The other major factor in animal cruelty is making them are food. If you could see what the factorys inject in those animals you would be disgusted. Some places beat the animals before they chop them up. There are many other methods of torturing these poor animals and it needs to STOP NOW!  Theres not many people out there that really care that much to stand up and put a say in about animal cruelty.