Animals are conscious and should be treated as such

[anagogy]

I don't know if "being harvestable" is entirely concomitant with "having 3D consciousness".  

For example, we could be 4D harvestable, but it doesn't mean we have 4D consciousness.  The 4D consciousness doesn't occur until after the harvest.  I tend to think it would be similar with animals.  As I understand it, the investiture Ra is talking about is the gradual individuation of these beings into specific personalities, apart from the group animal mind.  But even with these spiritual refinements, they are still 2nd density, just as we may become very loving beings, yet are still 3rd density. 

Now, the Maldek entities, on the other hand, are 3rd density beings incarnate in 2nd density bodies.  That is a slightly different situation, but the expressed result is the same.  They are self aware, yet unable to properly express it, due to the limitations of their biological vehicles.  They would need a 3rd density physical vehicle to properly express 3rd density consciousness.  So spiritually, they are 3rd density, but are operating with 2nd density intelligence due to the limitations of their biological brain.  Just as we would be limited in expression if we suffered brain damage which caused the 3rd density circuitry of our brains that allowed the expression of self awareness to malfunction. 

It's clear that animals shouldn't be mistreated, whether they are 2nd density or 3rd density.

In either case, animals are conscious, whether they are self aware or not.  Even humans are not "fully conscious".  That's a tall order we won't enjoy till 7th density.  

Ra has said 3rd density is the only plane of forgetting (the only plane with the spiritual veil).

With the veil not in place animals experience reality differently, "Ra: [...] Such is the result of the mind/body/spirit which is not complex. There is the possibility of love of other-selves and service to other-selves, but there is the overwhelming awareness of the Creator in the self. The connection with the Creator is that of the umbilical cord. The security is total. Therefore, no love is terribly important; no pain terribly frightening; no effort, therefore, is made to serve for love or to benefit from fear."

So if these are correct conclusions, animals are more aware than us (in some ways).  They know intuitively they aren't random combinations of material constituents.  However, I doubt they contemplate this to any great extent, and instead just accept it as a fact of reality.  They operate on instinct and intuition, not rational thought.

However, even with no veil, surface and instinctual behaviors are much the same.  Animals still eat each other (obviously).  And I don't think they fear death as much as humans do, since they know, rather than believe, it is not the real end.  But that doesn't give us the right to torture or mistreat them.  And there is still a biological imperative to thrive (clearly).