Trying To Bury Can Of Food

MonaLyssa33

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I give my cats wet and dry food everyday. I've noticed that Remy in particular tries to "bury" the wet food with the stray cat litter that ends up all over my kitchen despite my best efforts to contain it. When I pick up the can or bowl, there is a ring of litter. Is there a reason he does this? Does he not like the smell? It sometimes helps when I have to sweep, but I find it really strange.
 

1CatOverTheLine

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MonaLyssa33 MonaLyssa33 - There are two reasons that cats "bury" their food indoors - either because they're trying to tell you to serve up something else, or as instinctual caching - hiding their uneaten food from other predators. If your kitty is digging in, and then 'burying' the leftovers, it's nothing to worry over.
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MonaLyssa33

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MonaLyssa33 MonaLyssa33 - There are two reasons that cats "bury" their food indoors - either because they're trying to tell you to serve up something else, or as instinctual caching - hiding their uneaten food from other predators. If your kitty is digging in, and then 'burying' the leftovers, it's nothing to worry over.
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That's what I was thinking, but just making sure. I don't think either of them liked that cat food anyway and it was the last can I had, so I guess I really know now to not buy that good anymore. Thankfully I did find something they both like.
 

tarasgirl06

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I give my cats wet and dry food everyday. I've noticed that Remy in particular tries to "bury" the wet food with the stray cat litter that ends up all over my kitchen despite my best efforts to contain it. When I pick up the can or bowl, there is a ring of litter. Is there a reason he does this? Does he not like the smell? It sometimes helps when I have to sweep, but I find it really strange.
I've seen this happen a lot with a lot of cats in this family, and I would definitely attribute it to prey-hiding behavior, since it's more like wild prey in texture and smell than the dry food.
 

basscat

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Hiding it, saving it for later, caching.
Which, always makes me laugh due to the extremely poor job they do. :lol:
Spend 30 minutes rooting around in the litter box trying to cover a turd.
One pine needle on top of a chicken leg and it's all good! :flail:
 

tarasgirl06

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Hiding it, saving it for later, caching.
Which, always makes me laugh due to the extremely poor job they do. :lol:
Spend 30 minutes rooting around in the litter box trying to cover a turd.
One pine needle on top of a chicken leg and it's all good! :flail:
Yeah, but in the wild they have a lot of substrate. In the house? Not so much.
 

KarenKat

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My favorite is when Olive throws a bunch of carpet fibers on her food to hide it, then she decides she is hungry after all and goes to chow down on her furry food.
 

1 bruce 1

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Hiding it, saving it for later, caching.
Which, always makes me laugh due to the extremely poor job they do. :lol:
Spend 30 minutes rooting around in the litter box trying to cover a turd.
One pine needle on top of a chicken leg and it's all good! :flail:
:crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup:
 

1 bruce 1

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Mingo makes it very clear when he scratches over his food that he doesn't like it. There is no question about this. He is clearly miffed.
One of ours will start burying his food if he doesn't feel well, but I think this is more along the lines of that instinctive thing. "I feel like a pile of pine needle covered chicken legs and do NOT want to eat this now, but I probably will later" etc.
(I will be laughing at the pine needle over a chicken leg thing for a few months, fyi).
 

tarasgirl06

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One of ours will start burying his food if he doesn't feel well, but I think this is more along the lines of that instinctive thing. "I feel like a pile of pine needle covered chicken legs and do NOT want to eat this now, but I probably will later" etc.
(I will be laughing at the pine needle over a chicken leg thing for a few months, fyi).
:crackup:*You definitely compounded the funny.*
 

losna

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Tempest doesn't bury her food when she doesn't like it - she flings it all over the bedroom. She makes sure it lands in immediately obvious locations though, so it's absolutely clear it isn't up to snuff. :lol:

If it's really good though, she licks the bowl completely clean and then puts her favorite toys in the empty bowl.
 

basscat

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"Bob" was a wild bobcat kitten. At 4 months old, I don't think she was taught to cache/cover food. But, when we would give her a whole chicken, she would eat about 1/3rd of it, and cover it with gravel (her enclosure floor was smooth, round, gravel stones). And she did a fairly decent job of covering it with a little mound of gravels. The next day more of the chicken would be gone, and the pile would be somewhere else.
STILL, not near good enough of a job to keep ANY other animal from finding it. Which, one would think, would be the whole point. :lol:
I assume instinct since nothing ever taught her to do this.

Gibs does the same, but, to him....it's the attempt that matters, not the finished product. To him, one pine needle on top of a chicken leg means it's hidden. :lol:
 

tarasgirl06

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"Bob" was a wild bobcat kitten. At 4 months old, I don't think she was taught to cache/cover food. But, when we would give her a whole chicken, she would eat about 1/3rd of it, and cover it with gravel (her enclosure floor was smooth, round, gravel stones). And she did a fairly decent job of covering it with a little mound of gravels. The next day more of the chicken would be gone, and the pile would be somewhere else.
STILL, not near good enough of a job to keep ANY other animal from finding it. Which, one would think, would be the whole point. :lol:
I assume instinct since nothing ever taught her to do this.

Gibs does the same, but, to him....it's the attempt that matters, not the finished product. To him, one pine needle on top of a chicken leg means it's hidden. :lol:
*Bobcat wisdom 101* :winkcat:
 

1 bruce 1

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"Bob" was a wild bobcat kitten. At 4 months old, I don't think she was taught to cache/cover food. But, when we would give her a whole chicken, she would eat about 1/3rd of it, and cover it with gravel (her enclosure floor was smooth, round, gravel stones). And she did a fairly decent job of covering it with a little mound of gravels. The next day more of the chicken would be gone, and the pile would be somewhere else.
STILL, not near good enough of a job to keep ANY other animal from finding it. Which, one would think, would be the whole point. :lol:
I assume instinct since nothing ever taught her to do this.

Gibs does the same, but, to him....it's the attempt that matters, not the finished product. To him, one pine needle on top of a chicken leg means it's hidden. :lol:
We started feeding our dogs in crates, kennel runs, or outside only because one dog we had years ago decided he wanted the turkey tonight but not the chicken wing, thanks, and buried it in the couch cushions.
How do you even explain that to someone when they sit on your couch and find a chicken wing under a throw pillow.
 

1 bruce 1

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"Bob" was a wild bobcat kitten. At 4 months old, I don't think she was taught to cache/cover food. But, when we would give her a whole chicken, she would eat about 1/3rd of it, and cover it with gravel (her enclosure floor was smooth, round, gravel stones). And she did a fairly decent job of covering it with a little mound of gravels. The next day more of the chicken would be gone, and the pile would be somewhere else.
STILL, not near good enough of a job to keep ANY other animal from finding it. Which, one would think, would be the whole point. :lol:
I assume instinct since nothing ever taught her to do this.

Gibs does the same, but, to him....it's the attempt that matters, not the finished product. To him, one pine needle on top of a chicken leg means it's hidden. :lol:
Also the hidden thing, not for food but we had a fat tortie girl when I was a kid and if she found a toy or a random non-food treasure, she sat on it. It was hilarious. She'd find a little random piece of dirt or a leaf or twig and was like "this is cool. It's mine now" and plop herself on it.
 
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