Why Does My Cat Scratch The Floor Around His Food Bowl

What does the scratching mean.

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

Cats have been noticed to scratch around their food bowls even when their bowls are placed inside the house on tiles or carpets. In the wild felines must hunt to eat. Since this would be place where he ate his meals his food dish becomes his lair in the home. 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.

Scratching around the food bowl is a common behaviour in cats which is completely normal. Another theory is that as cats in the wild tend to eat where they sleep they don t want a rotting carcass lying around. Now that you know at a high level why this happens. Why does my cat scratch the area around his food.

Although this behavior is obsolete in captivity it still happens which confuses cat owners. This is an instinctual behavior to hide the scent that leftover food leaves behind. Whether it s a favored tree or a little cave it s somewhere that belongs only to him. In some cases cats will also drag objects such as towels on top of their food bowls.

Wild cats as well as feral cats have all been observed burying any uneaten food to avoid attracting predators or scavengers. 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. In the wild a cat has some sort of lair. Even though there is no soil to scratch or move around this behavior remains present in cats because it is related to an instinct.

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.