Why Do Cats Scratch The Floor When They Drink Water

In the wild cats don t come back to a meal they ve stored for several days.

Why do cats scratch the floor when they drink water.

Gracie has always scratched and clawed on and around the bowl before she drinks. This behavior is similar to burying feces in a litter box or on the ground. They walk over to the water bowl lower their faces near the surface of the water and stick out their tongues to get a little drink. She makes a mess.

For other cats though a front paw becomes a vital tool when thirst strikes. If you re feline pal has taken the time to physically cover his food rather than just pawing on the floor he s just going the extra mile. In addition as cats often sleep where they eat burying waste can be a way of tidying a cat s personal space. Why does my cat yowl at the water dish before drinking.

Like caching burying allows the cat to disappear by getting rid of its waste. Many cat owners assume this is a clear sign that the cat isn t interested in the food. A cat sits and screams at her water bowl for several minutes before taking a drink and the behavior has been going on for four years. I have 4 cats and they all do the same thing.

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. In some cases cats will scratch at or bury food or other items they dislike. Instead this is still him trying to be sneaky and not let predators know where he is. Sometimes i would go through 3 or 4 cans of cat food being scratched at before the cat would eat someth.

When she was a kitten i had to keep the water and food bowls separated because if the. However most consider water less of a plaything than a dish best served fresh. They have a water dish on the floor by their food and also have a 4 cup measuring cup in the bathroom and before they have a drink they do some sort of scratching with one or sometimes both of their paws in front of the dish or cup before they drink. To some cats that means moving water is preferable to the sort that sits still in a dish for hours.

So it is that some cats prefer to drink aerated water directly from the tap a fountain or even the toilet. As was mentioned below they usually scratch around their food bowl either after eating or before if they don t like what you are feeding them.