Why Does My Cat Scratch The Floor Around His Food Bowl

Why do cats dig and scratch around their food bowl.

Why does my cat scratch the floor around his food bowl.

In the wild a cat has some sort of lair. Why does my cat scratch the area around his food. In the wild felines must hunt to eat. Although this behavior is obsolete in captivity it still happens which confuses cat owners.

Cats have been noticed to scratch around their food bowls even when their bowls are placed inside the house on tiles or carpets. What does the scratching mean. 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. Now that you know at a high level why this happens.

Since this would be place where he ate his meals his food dish becomes his lair in the home. Scratching around the food bowl is a common behaviour in cats which is completely normal. Some cats may take this behavior to an extreme spending a good deal of time scratching at the floor or kneading the carpet around their food bowl. In some cases cats will also drag objects such as towels on top of their food bowls.

Other than just digging his paws around his food dish he may also try and hide things there. Wild cats as well as feral cats have all been observed burying any uneaten food to avoid attracting predators or scavengers. If there was a paper towel or other easy to move object near the food dish she would probably cover her food with it moving it by scratching and pulling at it with her claws. Whether it s a favored tree or a little cave it s somewhere that belongs only to him.

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