Cat floor scratching behavior

December 25, 2014 10:32 PM

My cats scratch the floor sometimes. It seems to have something to do with food. What does this behavior signify?
posted by the barbarita to Science & Nature (13 answers total)

My understanding is that they are trying to bury the food, like they would do in the wild. I've had my cats do this at various times, especially with wet food. It's hilarious.
posted by Fister Roboto at 10:35 PM on December 25, 2014

I have seen cats smell their food and proceed to scratch the floor as if to 'cover' its smell (like they do with their waste). Sometimes the cats that do this are rejecting the food, other times they seem to be saving it for later.
posted by This is the decision I made. at 10:37 PM on December 25, 2014

Yup, my two have managed to hide some of their food under a kitchen towel or two.

Bobcats and cougars will also cache food. Presumably they would use a bath towel or beach towel respectively.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:10 PM on December 25, 2014

Are they scratching with their claws, or "brushing" the floor with their paws? Is it a hard floor, or carpet?

One of my cats paws at the floor as if to cover her empty food dish (if the floor were sand). She also, more naturally, paws at the floor to "cover" any spots where she recently peed or barfed, even after it's cleaned up.

I've had cats that use the carpet as a scratching pad, which we took care of by providing better alternatives and directing them to them: a rope-covered scratching post was the best option, and my mother has put a car floormat over a threshold that one still scratches at.
posted by WasabiFlux at 11:16 PM on December 25, 2014

My kittens did this at the vet's when presented with treats after their vaccinations. As others have commented here, the vet said cats who do this are attempting to mask the scent ("burying") the food they may not finish in one go, so that other animals won't find and eat it before the cat can return to it.
posted by tzikeh at 11:28 PM on December 25, 2014

What it signified to us was that there was junk in the can food ("Meow. I'll treat this like poo."). It never happened with fresh liver, for instance.
It is hilarious, also because they look so serious when they do it. Like, "leave me alone, I'm busy doing this really intense embarrassing intimate thing that you don't know anything about."
posted by Namlit at 3:04 AM on December 26, 2014

I'm so glad you asked this, I was about to post the same question. My cats do this too. And yes, they do it when they are not eating all the wet food at once.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:07 AM on December 26, 2014

My little boy kitty Malcolm does this, but I don't know why, his sister always comes and finishes it up for him. It never fails to charm me.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:33 AM on December 26, 2014

My cat Boo (RIP) used to do it near where his sister Atticus (RIP) had barfed or accidentally kicked something out of the litter box. Amusingly, it was only her mistakes that he did this to - never his own. I told him to stop snitching but he never did and anyway I appreciated the alert LOL
posted by janey47 at 4:53 AM on December 26, 2014

They are "burying" the uneaten food to keep in from drawing predators.
posted by Leatherstocking at 5:59 AM on December 26, 2014

Nthing that this is symbolic burying to save for later. Our cat does this with food she clearly loves when she's decided she's had enough for now. She only gets wet food and we don't free feed. Not sure how that might figure in.
posted by slkinsey at 6:39 AM on December 26, 2014

It's the burying instinct, as stated above. An example of this instinct in action in the real world -- the people across the street from my parents had five chickens taken by a bobcat recently. The bobcat buried the chickens in the yard, then came back for them one-by-one. (They caught it on a wildlife cam.)

Big cats often kill more than they can eat in one sitting, so they hide the remains until later. Mountain lions will do this with their kills, except they drag them off into brushy areas and such, because it's a lot of damn work to bury 75% of a deer.

House cats still have this instinct for some reason. Possibly to demonstrate to you that they know what to do with your body if, you know....

Edit: Sorry, sebastienbailard, I didn't realize I repeated pretty much just what you said.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:33 PM on December 26, 2014

Yep, burying instinct behavior. My cat does it even to my food (that he has no interest in eating) if I put it on the floor.
posted by FlyByDay at 9:21 PM on December 26, 2014