Strange eating habits.

[nombiecat]

Hi guys, I wondered if I could get your opinions on something. Luca has started regularly scratching at the mat under his bowls. I don't know, maybe he doesn't like the feel of it? We've had him for a month or so and it's been in the last fortnight, I think.

Along with that, a more inconvenient thing. He's started bringing bits of his food through to the living room to eat, instead of the kitchen where his bowls are. I had a cat once who would take food out of his bowl and put it on the mat but never through to another room and onto the carpet. We've not changed the food, we're feeding him the same stuff as his last home did. I've just been picking it up and putting it back in his bowl when he does this. Any idea why this is happening? And is there anything else I can do to discourage him?

 

[MoochNNoodles]

The mat scratching is a somewhat common behavior among cats.  it's instinctual.  In the wild; they would bury their leftovers to keep them from other cats and animals.  One of my girls has done this since kitten hood.  The other (her litter mate) does not.  

As for carrying his food around; that I'm not sure about!  I've had dogs that do something similar; but not cats.  Our girls used to leave pieces of food on the floor.  We switched from a swiffer to a steam mop and they stopped leaving food there; they'll eat it off the floor now.  But they still aren't bringing it to another room.  I'm not sure why your kitty is doing this; but I'm interested to hear if others have cats who do this! 

 

 

[mingking]

My cat does this with his toys. He'll "catch" the toy and then bring it to his "nest", as I call it, which is basically whatever box or plastic bag lying around that he's sat on before. 

So maybe the living room is his nest and feels safer eating there. That's my guess!

 

[nombiecat]

Ah the leftovers thing makes sense! Thank you MoochNNoodles . It's so interesting to learn what these "weird" behaviours mean and that they're actually not weird at all lol.

mingking Maybe. He does tend to follow us around, he doesn't seem to like being on his own much. Maybe he prefers to eat with company? In his last home, there were four people and two other cats. He could feel a little unsafe on his own...

 

[jcat]

He may be in the habit of "protecting" his food from other cats by taking it to another room. If the habit isn't too ingrained, he might stop doing it on his own.

 

[nombiecat]

jcat That makes a lot of sense too! Thank you.