Q. Is it true that it is correct to own a pet like a cat or dog to comply with the mitzva of feeding your animal before you eat?
A. Sefer Chassidim Hechodosh, indeed writes that one should own some pets in his home, so they can be fed before one eats and thus comply with the mitzva mentioned in the Shema, of feeding animals before one eats.
Others quoting the Arizal that on the contrary, there is danger in having pets as one may not take care properly for them, causing them to suffer and will thus be punished, sometimes severely. Peleh Yoetz, Tzavoas Chaim and others maintain a similar point.
See question 2962 regarding if it is appropriate to have a pet dog.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu Shlit’a.