Does anyone’s cat scratch around their food dish?

[MotionActivatedDog]

My boy cat seems to have become obsessed with scratching around his food dish. He will eat his food then scratch the floor around his dish in much the same way as he scratches in the litter try to cover his poo. Does he think he needs to cover his food?

Yes, hes mimicing hiding it as he's obviously had his fill for the time being!

My cat does this sometimes too.

She'll use her tray and then cover it up. She'll then walk past her food bowls and scratch around them too. I've always wondered why.

Yes,one of mine did it.Every time after feeding and leaving a bit he was making those cover-up movements.
No idea why,he was with us since a little kitten and never been short of food.

Mine does it. I think the thick ones do. My old clever one never did! They think they are lions!

Mine do that. I thought it was when they didn’t like it (they were trying to bury it like shit) but maybe it is as another poster says that they are saving (hiding) it for later.

Yes! One of mine does this. It means 'Finished' - either because it's actually finished or he doesn't want anymore because he doesn't like it.

@ClarasZoo

Mine does it. I think the thick ones do. My old clever one never did! They think they are lions!

Yeah, he’s definitely not the brightest

Also our girl at always pushes him away from the food dish (she’s the boss) so maybe he thinks he should hide it from her

Oh no mine must be thick then!

I assumed mine does it to hide the scent, you know to hide it from other predators. I thought she was being quite clever! She does it every time.

My kitten does this, I was wondering what he was doing! Old boy never did this!

Mine does this too. I figured it was a "hiding the scent of your kill" thing. Although she is spectacularly thick, so...

I was eating an almond croissant in bed this morning and Luckycat was terribly interested (as always, although he's never found any kind of human food he likes) so I let him have a sniff and he made the burying motion on the duvet cover.

I had a cat who did this when I gave her her non-preferred brand of food!

One of mine does it all the time. She asks for food and when it’s put in her bowl she immediately scratches round it. She then goes out and comes back later to eat it.

Our lady one used to pull the bath mat over his food

New boy kitten has done some scratching as well

My other cat doesn't do the scratch, but he puts his feather toys in the feeding bowl.

Yep ours does. And ours its pompom toys in there too. Our other 2 cats didn’t do this. She also mouths and massages her blanket when settling down to sleep

Basil does this periodically, and since we put the cat bowls down on newspaper it's very effective for him.
I tend to assume it's when he's not keen on the food so he's just telling us that it's shit

Mine always did/do this.

It’s another fascinating insight into their natural, hardwired behaviour. Wild cats of any size, think lynx up to tiger, will cover their food when they’ve had their fill - to hide it from scavengers so that they can come back to it later.

Another example of why I find cats so interesting - so much of what they do, you think “but, HOW do they know to do that?”

Then, on the other hand, you can find yourself thinking “how DIDN’T you know not to roll over when you’re snoozing on the windowsill?” 😂😂

A couple of ours do this. Every time I tell them there aren't any hyenas or vultures in our house but they still do it! Or find something to drag over the top of the bowl.

I also love how the wild instinct is there!

OP here under a name change.

Glad to know it isn’t just my wild beast that does it.

I also love how the wild instinct is there!

My boy catches crisp packets for me his wild instinct is somewhat confused.

@HerRoyalNotness

Yep ours does. And ours its pompom toys in there too. Our other 2 cats didn’t do this. She also mouths and massages her blanket when settling down to sleep

Col used to drop Pom Poms and hair ties in his food bowl and eat round them. I sorta figured as they were his favourite toys and he loved food he was keeping it all in one place

My old cat did this and I often wondered why? He was lovely but was a bit thick. 🤣 Also use to bring certain toys and place them around his bowl. No idea what that was about.

@MrsRobbieHart

OP here under a name change.

Glad to know it isn’t just my wild beast that does it.

I also love how the wild instinct is there!

My boy catches crisp packets for me his wild instinct is somewhat confused.

Sodding hauled a baguette home from somewhere earlier this week. DH saw him killing it in the garden.

Our boy cat does this sometimes after eating. He is also extremely ott about cleaning up in the litter tray. Sometimes going in and cleaning up after his sister who isn't fussed about burying her poo. (We have other trays but they choose to use the same one).

Sodding hauled a baguette home from somewhere earlier this week. DH saw him killing it in the garden.