A person who owns domesticated or wild animals must provide for their food, and may not eat before feeding them. The Sages based this (Gittin 62a) on the order of the verse (Devarim 11:15): “I will give grass in your field for your animal,” and only afterward, “you shall eat and be satisfied.”[2]
This prohibition is easy to understand. Domesticated animals cannot provide food for themselves; if their owners forget to feed them, the animals will suffer. In addition, since these animals work for people or produce milk for them, it is proper to repay them for their service by providing their food. They must therefore be fed at fixed times. To ensure that they are not forgotten, the Sages established that a person should feed his animals before feeding himself.
The main prohibition applies to animals that cannot find food for themselves, such as livestock in pens, chickens in coops, and caged parrots; compassion for these animals is especially important. Dogs and cats are different from animals kept entirely in confinement: dogs and cats sometimes roam outdoors, and in pressing circumstances they can survive on whatever they find there. Their owners are therefore not prohibited from eating before feeding them. Nevertheless, it is an act of piety to feed even dogs and cats first. Although domesticated dogs and cats can manage on their own with difficulty, domestication has made it harder for them to find food, and it is proper to have compassion for them. Moreover, both species benefit people: cats catch mice and snakes, and dogs are loyal to their owners and guard their homes. It is therefore fitting to repay them for their service (She’elat Ya’avetz 1:17).
The Sages said that a person should not bring an animal into his domain unless he knows that he will be able to feed it properly (Yerushalmi, Ketubot 4:8). They also taught that God tested the leaders of Israel through their treatment of animals. Moshe Rabbeinu and King David were first shepherds, and only after God saw that they led their flocks with kindness and compassion and cared for their food did He choose them to lead Israel (Shemot Rabba 2:2).
