This assumption is inaccurate.
Why does my cat scratch the floor around his food.
Many cat owners assume this is a clear sign that the cat isn t interested in the food.
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.
Everything your cat does even the things that make no sense to you at all are geared towards the cat s survival.
Now that you know at a high level why this happens.
This is an instinctual behavior to hide the scent that leftover food leaves behind.
Since this would be place where he ate his meals his food dish becomes his lair in the home.
Domestic cat this is part of the burying behavior discussed above.
Another mysterious bit of behavior from your pal felis catus.
Whether it s a favored tree or a little cave it s somewhere that belongs only to him.
Other than just digging his paws around his food dish he may also try and hide things there.
Many cats will scratch paw or knead the ground around their food bowl before or after eating.
Wild cats as well as feral cats have all been observed burying any uneaten food to avoid attracting predators or scavengers.
Why does my cat scratch around his food.
In the wild a cat has some sort of lair.
Another theory is that as cats in the wild tend to eat where they sleep they don t want a rotting carcass lying around.
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.
What is floor pawing in cats.
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.
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.
Although this behavior is obsolete in captivity it still happens which confuses cat owners.
The pawing and digging is an example of instinctive behavior meaning your cat probably didn t learn it from its mother.
