Animal abuse?

I am mostly directing this to people who have, are, or will abuse animals. Although I highly doubt any of you would have the balls to answer this. In my opinion, anyone who does is a coward. Did you feel any guilt   

or remorse? If I ever hit someone’s pet, it would haunt me for the rest of my life and carry incredible grief. That being said, anyone who doesnt and never will, have you known or had a friend that abused animals? If they were a friend, did they say or imply why they do it. It’s unconscionable and I am incapable of understanding, even if i ended up with the worst childhood ever (a common excuse I believe for why they do it.