Cat trying to cover her food

Hello to all,

My cat has a funny habit. As I adopted her when she was approximately over a year old from a shelter, I do not know much about her past.

When there is food left in her plate, she will try to cover it by repeatedly scratching lightly on the floor. Her kitten was doing the same thing. I think this is from her past months in the wild, when she had to cover her food or hide her new catches from other predators, not to be discovered by them.

My Ariel does this too! She's done it since she was a wee kitten. She's funny to watch because she gets lost in her own little world and just digs and digs and digs.

Very normal, though it's strange to us. All of my cats except Zakk used to do this a lot. Rocky did it the most and seems to have slowly grown out it. Its very instinctual.

My cats do this too. Little Big Man does it not only around the floor, but will try and pull the walls down on it too. Forget if I leave a piece of paper or bag on the floor. That, with most of their toys, also end up in their food bowls.

It's my understanding the reasons cats do this is the same reason they cover their bodily functions in the litterbox. If predators smell the food and their messes, they will come around to find them. By covering the food it keeps predators away and from finding them.

Deja Vu, who as a stray from outside, did it so much that every one of her kittens did it from the time they were starting to wean.

Oh definitely. Most cats do this...it's an instinctual cover-my-scent-as-well-as-anything-that-indicates-my-presence type of thing. Not only that, but it prevents other animals from discovering and eating their food, which they no-doubt worked quite hard to catch! Yes, it is something they naturally do in the wild, but there are cats that have never been outdoors that do it, too. Since your babe was outdoors for a time, I'm not surprised it's something she does. It's not a thing of her not trusting you, it's just simply a habit that she can't break now that she's learned. I've always found it to be kinda cute.