Stratching the Floor

My new cat has a strange behavior, I'm not worried about it but I was wondering if anyone else has a cat that does this. After eating or after using the litter box, my cat always scratches at the linoleum near the food mat or litter box. I have no idea why she does this. Anyone else have a cat like this?

Yes, this is VERY common.

My cats don't usually try to "cover" their food, but once I had to move their food into the living room for a couple of days while work was being done in the kitchen. The whole time it was there they kept trying to "cover" it!

That's weird. You think she wants to cover her foot? Cats are strange.

It's not even really the fact that they want to cover it as much as they want to put thier scent on it. They have glands on thier paws that release thier scent. This is why they scratch as well.

My cats do that with cat nip. I think they are trying to bury it to save it for later - kind of like a dog with a bone.

My cat used to do this with her food too. My vet said it was territorial. I would clap and say no when she did it, and made sure the kitties all had separate eating areas. It didn't do much, as they all ate mostly at the same one, but the scratching kitty eventually stopped doing it.