Q. Does one have to feed his dog before he feeds his small children?
A. Pele Yoetz (Erech Baalei Chaim)mentions that just as it is prohibited to pain one’s animals or pets that depend on him, certainly it applies to human beings that also need one’s food.
Igrois Moshe (O.H. 2: 52) rules that small children that cannot feed themselves definitely have priority over pets and animals.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu Shlit’a.