Pawing floor at food bowl as if litter box???

CeleryStalks

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Friendly Stray cat...been feeding about six years off/on. Cat got comfortable enough to stay inside full time about 1 month ago. Cat sometimes "paws" at floor to cover up food dish as if in litter box.

(Floor does not smell, dishes are changed with each meal)

Then eats food (all or part of it).

Uses litter box no problem.

Any advice appreciated.
 

Mr. Meow

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Cats will attempt to cover up food for 2 reasons. First, they try to cover up their own activities as to not alert predators of their location. Also, it's to cover any uneaten food as to not attract others.
 

susanm9006

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Sometimes a cat will cover food that they like and are saving for a future meal due to an instinct to protect their food from other animals. Or in some cases a cat may cover a food they don’t like. Best to just ignore the behavior and keep toys and other things far enough away so that they don’t end up in the dish. If they never come back to finish it it is either something they don’t like or they are getting too much food.
 

tabbytom

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Cat sometimes "paws" at floor to cover up food dish as if in litter box.
This is normal as what the other posters mentioned. My boy always do that after his meal or sometimes he sees his food ready for him but he's not hungry, he does that and also when he sees my food, he smells it and does the covering action on the dining table next to my food :lol:
 

ArtNJ

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Its also done to make you worried they are going to take a *&^! in your kitchen. Objectively, there is no correlation, no such risk. Try telling that to my wife :)
 

Neko-chan's mama

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Neko-chan sometimes does that if she doesn't finish her food. I tell her no one's going to take it away. She still does it.
 
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