Kitten scratching outside his litter tray and also walls and around his food

[Rollergirl1]

Sorry, know I'm asking lots of questions lately...

As title says cat is scratching on the walls a lot after coming out of his litter tray and also scratching around his food. I have investigated on the interwebulator and there are lots of different theories, which are:

• Not happy with litter tray, litter, positioning of litter tray.
• Not happy with food.
• Marking his territory by scratching and leaving his scent everywhere he scratches.
• That's just what cats do.

So should I be doing something? His litter tray is a big covered litter box. It is positioned in the utility room so he has privacy. We use wood chips which is what he used when with his Mum.

He does his thing in the litter tray perfectly fine, just does the scratching thing a lot when he comes out of it. He also goes in the litter tray a lot and scratches about when he doesn't need to do anything. Is he just playing perhaps?

This is just something cats do IMO. It's an extension of their wanting to bury things. My male cat does this - does the burying of the deposits in the litter tray but then steps outside and does some imaginary burying. After eating, if there is something left (especially if it's wet food), he will do the same. The other day my puppy did a pee on the floor and my male cat did his imaginary burying of that too.

Far from worrying about it, I see it as something quite quirky in my cat's personality (my female cat doesn't do it). I think in the wild, a cat would bury half eaten food to save it for later, and it's a hang over from that?

Hope noone comes along and says this is an issue as I've thought it quite endearing up til now!

My kitten does it too. I think it's to bury the leftover food. She even scratches the swing door to her litter tray and it hits her on the head

Mine does it too. He was 9 weeks old when we got him and he did it from day 1. He also has a covered litter tray and wood chips.
DS2, who is our family cat expert, says the scratching around the food dish denotes burying the kill so he can come back to it later.
He also drags and leaves his toys in and around the food dishes. DS2 says that is his "fresh kill pile".
He reads Warrior Cats so he must know .

My new kitten does this, our old one doesnt.
(Its quite sweet to see the kitten go back and try to 'cover up' both empty dishes as if cleaning up after both of them).

Slinky does the burying of any wet food he adores but can't quite finish.

My 3yo cat still does this.