Clawing/Scratching Next to Food Dish

Lucy Belle has developed a peculiar habit of scratching/clawing the carpeting next to her food dish after a meal and sometimes before eating. Anyone knows what this means? I read that it could be a sign that she dislike her food, either that, or she has finished eating/not hungry. I am clueless. Any ideas? Thanks.

It is a sign that she is "all done". Some of my cats do it too .

Here is an interesting article about seemingly inexplicable feline behaviors

http://www.hdw-inc.com/behaviorswhy.htm

Actually I believe it's a burrying instinct. Was she ever an outside cat, or have other cats that take her food? She's trying to bury it, to keep it safe, whether she's finished or not. Ziggy started doing it when her kittens began weening.

From my understanding after reading it is a way of putting her scent there (scent glands in feet) and saying "this is my food stay away"

My kitten Jack does it before eating, during eating, after eating. Basically any time I take the dish and replace it he makes sure to do it. I always tell him "believe me Jack I do not want your food, it's all yours"

Leslie

Magrat (12wks) and Loki (8wks) do the very same thing! and was going to ask the vet about it too. Mogget (9wks) tho (farm raised) doesn't do that.

I noticed she started doing the clawing and scratching when I introduced her a a new wet food. I have been feeding her Wellness Kitten Food for about a week and decided to ratio it with Nutro Complete Care. She didn't like the chunky style meat so I had to use a fork to mash it up. So I thought this could be a result of the new food. I switched her back to Wellness and she is also doing the same thing although not as much.

And she won't eat dry and will be clawing and scratching crazily! I guess to answer my own question, she don't like her new food but she will still eat it when not given any other choice.

Several of my cats do this, including one 10 week old kitten. I think it's just an instinct to bury food they are not going to eat right then. My cats who do this do it with pretty much all their food, regardless of how well they like it or not.

Originally Posted by tutti_bella

Lucy Belle has developed a peculiar habit of scratching/clawing the carpeting next to her food dish after a meal and sometimes before eating. Anyone knows what this means? I read that it could be a sign that she dislike her food, either that, or she has finished eating/not hungry. I am clueless. Any ideas? Thanks.

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My cats do it too. I suspects she thinks she is burying it.

Radar is my scratchy boy, he will scratch around anything and everything. It does sometimes drive me nuts and I have been known to put something over their dry when they have finished with it for the time being just to try to dissuade him from digging through the floor. Sonic doesn't do it at all, he already knows that everything belongs to him, but Radar has gotten much worse with it since we got Sonic. Sonic is a very dominant cat and I think Radar scratches so much in order to mark to counter Sonic's attempted dominance.

Our cat Spooky must scratch next to their water dish. If someone touches her in the process, she'll have to reset herself & scratch all over again before she can drink. We had to make her a special carpet just for that habit. Shes a goofy girly

Trinity does that around her food, mostly wet food though. I actually have to be careful that I don't put her food down by anything because she has been known to pull boxes, towels, clothes, whatever is close by really, over her food to "hide" it.

I think its a cross between the two. Marking it so no one else eats it, and trying to bury it to save for later! Cats are so smart that they confuse us sometimes! Maybe try what someone else said and put down a carpet or towel underneath it so its easy to clean and has a better chance of smelling like her. Does she have a favorite binky? If she does grab that and put that underneath of it that way she knows its allll he