Why Does My Cat Scratch The Floor Around His Food

Scratching around the food bowl is a common behaviour in cats which is completely normal.

Why does my cat scratch the floor around his food.

Whether it s a favored tree or a little cave it s somewhere that belongs only to him. Now that you know at a high level why this happens. Another mysterious bit of behavior from your pal felis catus. The pawing and digging is an example of instinctive behavior meaning your cat probably didn t learn it from its mother.

This assumption is inaccurate. A common mistake cat owners make is that when their cat swipes their paw on the floor around their food dish they think that they are covering up the food like they would their poop in a litter box. Another theory is that as cats in the wild tend to eat where they sleep they don t want a rotting carcass lying around. In the wild a cat has some sort of lair.

Since this would be place where he ate his meals his food dish becomes his lair in the home. Many cat owners assume this is a clear sign that the cat isn t interested in the food. Ditty s motivation for scratching the floor and wall around her food after she eats differs from why she s scratching the wall after using her litterbox. These are large translucent storage containers that the cat can easily turn around in and when filled with about 3 inches of litter dig in to her heart s content.

Everything your cat does even the things that make no sense to you at all are geared towards the cat s survival. Why does my cat scratch around his food. Domestic cat this is part of the burying behavior discussed above. Many cats will scratch paw or knead the ground around their food bowl before or after eating.

So when my cat eats some of her food first then begins to paw around the dish she s following an instinct that doesn t make much sense for her circumstances she is after all a house cat. What is floor pawing in cats. Why does my cat scratch the area around his food. Other than just digging his paws around his food dish he may also try and hide things there.

This is an instinctual behavior to hide the scent that leftover food leaves behind.