Does your indoor cat do this?

[CheshireVal]

Whenever I give canned/wet food to my kitties, my male Siamese (Sebastian) will try to "bury" the leftovers when he's finished eating. He will turn around and start scraping his front foot on the kitchen floor as if he's throwing dirt on the plate. I guess it's instinctive behavior but it's so funny to see it manifest itself in an imaginary way. He's always been an indoor cat! And he only "buries" his wet food, not dry.


Our female, Chloe, doesn't do this. Is it just a male thing? Do your cats do this, too?

 

[AllyandJack]

All 3 of my cats do this.....not just with their food, but with anything they want gone. My female cat tried to "bury" my bottle of water because it was on the bed in "her" spot. One of my male cats was walking around a plate of pasta I cooked, sniffed at it, and then tried to bury it.

 

[Gaspode]

Hiya,

all three of our cats have been known to do this (two females, one male). they are indoor/outdoor kitties.

At first we took it as sign that they thought the food was not nice - ie they were scraping imaginary litter over it !! lol

then, when we adopted our two little kittens and asked about it (as it was a behaviour our eldest often displayed and now they were too!) we were told it is an inate behaviour caused by back when cats had to bury their leftover food to stop it being stolen by other cats out in the wild?! not sure on this.

Now, to be honest, they all do it less often, only very very occasionally... so i'm still inclined to believe my own 'litter' theory

Gaspodé

 

[CheshireVal]

My female cat tried to "bury" my bottle of water because it was on the bed in "her" spot.

Okay, now *that's* funny!

 

[Laura]

Yes, we recently had to give one of my cats some eye ointment. We were out of the usual treats that the kitties get as a reward when something unpleasant happens to them (like meds or claw trimming), but DH had some tuna. So we fed both cats pieces of tuna in their food bowls--you know you can't give it to just one of them. My younger kitty ate hers up in about two seconds, then ran off to play. The older kitty ate some, then decided to "bury" the rest for later.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

yes, but with dry food: cat #1 eats what she wants of her food and then goes over to cat #2's dish and goes through all the motions of burying what is left (she doesn't cover up her own leftovers) ....to save that food for her for later, I guess. It happens almost every time!!! Cat #2 doesn't pay any attention....they're silly!

 

[Denine]

I had one cat that I really think was trying to put imaginary litter over the wet food. He gave it one sniff and thought it should be in the litter box. He never ate the stuff.

The male cat I have now must be "burying" for later. He always does that when he is finished eating.

 

[Poohbear123]

Miss Tiggie does this too, I thought it was because she didn't like the wet food I was giving her.

 

[GADISNEYGIRL]

I've had cats that did this. One, in particular, used to try and "bury" my coffee. Every single day. I'd sit down on the floor, with my coffee beside me... and here came Soda, to bury it. I think he didn't care for the smell!

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

My (male) cat does this, too. Even if he just comes around and sniffs at his food he'll "bury" it before he leaves. He will eat it, though. I guess he's just saving it for later.

He's 5 years old and has been an indoor cat all his life.

 

[goofygirl]

My girls do this.

Also if they get a hairball up, they try to "bury" that too.

 

[CheshireVal]

Great stories! Seems like a lot of cats do this!

So silly.... for such smart and sophisticated animals (supposedly! ), you'd think they'd realize they're not actually scraping dirt.

 

[Kitty 34]

Out of my 5 cats, we have one that buries the food all the time and she's female.

 

[Kay7979]

This is so interesting. We adopted a stray male cat in December (actually he showed up and adopted US) and he does the burying his food thing. I have owned a number of cats, and until we got Tornado, I had never seen a cat do this! We thought it was odd but very funny. I thought it would be great in a cat food commercial: Bring out Competitor Product B, show cat sniffing and promptly attempting to bury the food, now bring out Product A, show cat running with delight to Product A and gobbling down the food enthusiastically.

 

[Simba's Mom]

yes, but with dry food: cat #1 eats what she wants of her food and then goes over to cat #2's dish and goes through all the motions of burying what is left (she doesn't cover up her own leftovers) ....to save that food for her for later, I guess. It happens almost every time!!! Cat #2 doesn't pay any attention....they're silly!

Sounds like your cats do what ours do. Tigger's our only exclusively indoor cat; our other one, Simba, is indoor/outdoor. Tigger won't eat anything except dry food. But when Simba leaves canned food in his dish, then goes outdoors, Tigger prompty goes over and "buries" the canned food so that it will be there for Simba for later. So thoughtful!

 

[ImMarcik]

My indoor cats do this too. I've never seen them bury dry food, but give them wet food and once they are done eating they do the bury thing with their paws.