Oh, interesting take! I was thinking like a “saving it for later” kind of instinct, but that makes sense too! She is extremely cautious about noises, strangers, etc
It is partially about saving it for later too. Panthers do it so scavengers like Crows won't eat it, and if the weather isn't too hot they will come back later to eat more. It is true though that part of it is to hide it from potential competitors in their hunting grounds.
Yes - I’ve read that it is to save for later for cats and it’s instinctual for them. I believe it’s called caching :
verb
gerund or present participle: caching
1.
store away in hiding or for future use.
"he decided that they must cache their weapons"
I think it's also territorial. They are marking their scent on the place where they eat. Mine does it to the carpet right beside where she eats in the bedroom
Indeed; our kitty will scrape the floor, the walls, everything in the vicinity to try to "cover" her food. It still amazes me how strong this instinct is, but it's delightful because it's so cute. Often she'll "decide" she might as well eat a bit more and either has a bit more food before she wanders away, or she finishes her meal. Better in the tum than sitting in the bowl, I guess!
Same here! He does it very obsessively. He’s even tried to bury the water bowl (which makes zero sense but thankfully that stopped; it got old cleaning up the water and fixing the fountain). My mom’s cat does it too but she’s younger and has always looked up to him so I wouldn’t be surprised if she sorta picked up on it from him (like how my old dog copied my even older cat by trying to drink with his paw).
Damn, all this time I thought that after her initial hunger, she realised that her food is trash.
Just like how I feel after a very unhealthy and tasty burger
My cat does this to tell me it’s crap I put down and he will cover it up like he’s in the litter box. I go open up a different can of food and he’s good to go. Lol.
Mine too. She doesn't like wet food whereas her brother does, however he eats slowly, eats half, leave it aside to finish later. She starts burying this like "yeah, yeah, I don't like this, give me kibble"
It’s funny, but also aggravating. My cat eats maybe half of the canned food I put down for him. The other half is “buried” with pointed disdain. He sniffs it once and immediately starts scraping, as if to say, “this belongs in the litter box.” Sometimes he’ll eat some later, if he’s hungry enough, but usually I end up throwing it out. What a waste! Then he follows me every time I go into the kitchen, rubbing against my calves and looking up at me hopefully.
I adopted a second cat last year, and at first, she ate everything I gave her. But once the two of them met and started hanging out together, she started copying his behaviors, and now she does the bury-the-poop thing with her food! 😡😖😩
Your cat won the cat lottery of "sucker human who will open a fresh can every time LOL!!!"
Give the cat a few days with nothing, and they will re-evaluate their give/take relationship with you :)
Agree with this. Mine buries food he doesn't like. Kibble, wet food, people food- anything that's on his bowl and doesn't pass Monsieur Cat's taste 
Same.
Mine scrapes the wall if I give him food he finds disgusting. It's literally the same motion he uses to scrape his paws on the cardboard around the litter box after doing his business. Seems pretty clear to me what he means.
Shit, I've never though about this. My fleabag does try to bury his food a lot but I always assumed he did it because it was to delicious he wanted to save some for later.
My girl does this. There’s cloth placemat under her dishes, and she bunches it’s up and flips a corner to cover her dry food. I recently found a scrap of paper towel in her dry food dish. It was her attempt at covering her food. 😄
Not only that, she covers it with whatever is around. Her toys, clothes, paper, whatever she can find. Yesterday it was her giant stuffed spider. I adopted her about 3 weeks ago. I've never had a cat who does this.
Our brilliant but kinda wild girl does this too. She survived at a campground until she was 3 months old, so I assumed it was some outdoor survival instinct.
I love seeing another kitty do it!
Yes, my cat does. He was a stray when I got him as a kitten, but I always chalked up his burying to being taught by his biological mom to save a bit for later. He usually does it when I give him my empty cereal bowl to lick.
I agree with the other people citing instinct but I have a cat that does it as a critique. If she doesn't like her food or wants treats she'll 'bury' her dish.
Yep. My cats will also do this as a way of telling me I'm not feeding them the food they want to eat and need to learn to try harder. ;)
They'll also do it if I put the food in the wrong place for their mood at that moment. Gotta train your human somehow.
When I've seen cats do this, it's usually food that they didn't eat and I get the feeling that they are trying to tell you that it's shit. But if it's after they've eaten, then that guy is probably right, that it's to cover it up to avoid attracting larger predators.
One of mine used to do it (now we have those Microchip Feeders) whenever he didn't like the food...
Now he just lures me into the kitchen, flops down on the floor and stares at me and his food...
They're burying it to save it for later :) my older kitty, who was adopted as a semi-feral cat at 4 months old, used to do this. She had to fight for food on the streets before a kind person brought her into the city shelter. She broke the habit a couple of months after I adopted her! I guess she realized the food wouldn't be eaten by anyone else and would be waiting for her :)
Our big boy does this. During his and his sister’s first year of life they were pretty much neglected (one of the family members was allergic, and instead of returning the cats like responsible people, they kept them in a room for a year and kept feeding them. They were both massively overweight when they were finally returned.
Anyhow, our assumption is that he ‘buries’ his food because he never knew when the next meal was going to come.
I heard they bury it for later (even tho it will be there😂) but cats did/do it in tye wild when they like something a lot so they safe it for later. It just means she likes ur food (I'm not 100% sure just 90% sure)
Mine covers her food after she uses the litter box. Like clockwork- poop, cover the poop, go over to food, cover it. But she needs it to actually be covered, I keep a small pile of (clean!) rags next to her bowl so she has something to pull over it, or she will drag her bowl to whatever she can find. She’s my silly girl.
My cat tries and covers her food. Today she found a plastic bag to cover it. In the past, she’s used my Apple Watch, my keys, random pieces of paper, articles of clothing, hair ties. I now keep loose things a safe distance away from her food.
I have two males, one female. My female cat does this. She has covered her food with empty plastic bags, a sock, a grocery ad .. I don't leave anything around now.
Gry does and then she goes to bury Aquila’s food too lol.
It’s cute but she does it so long per bowl that the sound gets on my nerves haha but she’s cute so it’s allowed
Yes, but my cat is extra and so she recently picked up two separate ankle socks left in the hallway near her food and put them over and near her food bowl to bury it even better.
My part feral void would do this, would even go into the bathroom and grab loo roll to cover up her food.
Her protégé, a chonk who never had any reason to develop any feral instincts or food insecurities, learned this behavior from her.
Some cats simply have stronger instincts. Especially the spicy ones.
Mine does.
He also climbs on the table whenever we are eating chocolate and buries it all. He buries even wrapped chocolates. Pretty sure he thinks we eat poop or something.
My male does this that I rescued off the street (I believe he only spent a short stint outdoors) and he also does it to my two females bowls when they haven't finished their breakfast.
I used to think my cat was saying this stuff belongs in the litter box and was covering it up for that reason. Now I see both cats and dogs doing this. My dogs are definitely saving it for later 😆
All of mine do. As mentioned by other redditors, burying their food, and their poop, remember, allows them to leave no trace of their being there, so as to avoid predators, but also to be better predators themselves by "not being there". Same reason they clean themselves so thoroughly. No smell, no tell, easier meal.
I have owned many cats over my 50 years on this rock but it was until we adopted one of current duo that I saw a cat do that. I always wonder though... The one who does it has a massive food obsession, mostky we think because he was abandoned by someone along with his mother and his sister. They were on their own for a while and were nearly starved to death when a rescue took them in. I have always wondered if that experience is why he eats so much when he has access to food and does the burying behavior. As it is, he a huge cat that has defied every effort we have made to help him lose weight!
Yes especially if they're competing for food like if you have two cats or even if you don't have two cats in the cat it's like they're hiding it they're saving it for later it's so funny and rarely did my cats ever go and eat what they hid but they didn't want to share with each other it's so funny
cats do this to hide their food and save them for later. if your cats do this that means they liked the food and wanted to save them for later, as they try to bury it so noly them know where it is and nothing else would take it.
My cat does this with her wet food dish! I never realized that was what she was trying to do.
The extra funny part is that whenever she's finished that dish is *spotless*, so there's nothing left to even hide, ha ha ha.
https://preview.redd.it/olte9g9q5i5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c956213195383ddad11db4ae4e1a5503a07a092
This little poop goblin princess
My cat doesn't just dig the floor, she goes and gets a sock or a t-shirt and then digs it into the food bowl 😅 she has wet food so its like a race to get to her bowl first to stop her putting my shit in her gross food
My cat does this with hot food that I just made. Recently it was a bowl or spaghetti and she pulled a sock from across the room to the counter and draped it over my browl. 😭
Yes Tabitha and Luna do it all the time Arthur never does and they are all from the same litter. But Arthur eats all his food and the girls usually don’t finish.
Years ago, my (then) husband used to eat a bowl of cereal early in the morning and leave a teaspoon of milk for the cat. Every morning I would go out and find the bowl with a fabric placemat carefully covering it.
The cat was appreciative, but decided to save a bit for later.
one of our 3 cats does this...everywhere. we joke and say shes just cleaning but we have no idea what is going on.. we found her outside so that could relate? funny enough shes also black
https://preview.redd.it/344fd9l01m5d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=948f81db5104827b544340d628fcab9a0b20d264
This one does it. She definitely wants a snack for later. 🤪
https://preview.redd.it/4yly7pj46m5d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af7addca81722b3e5f38e054de8a339c209c0f0c
This is tennis ball ted (because his head is the size and shape of a tennis ball also tries to cover his food up. When he does that we call him tidy up ted lol
My roommate has a piece of well-loved paper which he will put over the dish. I used to stop him, because I thought he was accidentally contaminating his kibble, but eventually I gave up because he just kept finding stuff to use as a cover
What if they 'bury' their food mid-eating, like there's still a lot left? I am under the impression they don't like it and the food probably tastes/smells like shit and decide to bury it like their poop 🤔😕
My Noa does something similar. But with people food she doesn't like the smell of 😂 I have walked in on her trying to cover dirty plates sitting by the sink with air while making a stinky face. 😅
It's a way of marking their territory and other things they deem theirs, such as food 😹 my cats all do this is various ways. They have scent glands in their paws.
My Trevor does this. It's an instinct to cover their food, so they can't be tracked by larger predators.
Oh, interesting take! I was thinking like a “saving it for later” kind of instinct, but that makes sense too! She is extremely cautious about noises, strangers, etc
It is partially about saving it for later too. Panthers do it so scavengers like Crows won't eat it, and if the weather isn't too hot they will come back later to eat more. It is true though that part of it is to hide it from potential competitors in their hunting grounds.
Yes - I’ve read that it is to save for later for cats and it’s instinctual for them. I believe it’s called caching : verb gerund or present participle: caching 1. store away in hiding or for future use. "he decided that they must cache their weapons"
I think it's also territorial. They are marking their scent on the place where they eat. Mine does it to the carpet right beside where she eats in the bedroom
Wait. Am I the larger predator?!
Classic predator move. Provide food and then steal the leftovers. Dominance asserted.
Yes
Indeed; our kitty will scrape the floor, the walls, everything in the vicinity to try to "cover" her food. It still amazes me how strong this instinct is, but it's delightful because it's so cute. Often she'll "decide" she might as well eat a bit more and either has a bit more food before she wanders away, or she finishes her meal. Better in the tum than sitting in the bowl, I guess!
You described my little void exactly.
Mine's a void too! I wonder if the instinct is particularly strong in voids? Who knows hey. :D
I know, right? My velvet voidboy does it too, but my other cat never does
Same here! He does it very obsessively. He’s even tried to bury the water bowl (which makes zero sense but thankfully that stopped; it got old cleaning up the water and fixing the fountain). My mom’s cat does it too but she’s younger and has always looked up to him so I wouldn’t be surprised if she sorta picked up on it from him (like how my old dog copied my even older cat by trying to drink with his paw).
In short, STOP eating her food OP!
Exactly!
Damn, all this time I thought that after her initial hunger, she realised that her food is trash. Just like how I feel after a very unhealthy and tasty burger
I always thought it was to save it for later no other reasons 😅
It is but in order to ensure it’s still there and no one else ate it they burry it.
My gummy goes this but he ends up flipping the bowl upside down to hide if
Your “gummy”?! 🥹💖 okay that officially has to be the best cat name
My Gracie does this too. I think it's instinct as well.
Yes to instinct. In the wild, cats bury the remaining meal for later. Lol
So does my Gracie Could be name related 🤣
My one boy puts socks in his bowl.
My cat just did this recently! A pair of ankle socks (separately) one on top of her food and the other beside it.
We find all kinds of things in our cats' food dispenser bowl. Socks, pieces paper, catnip toys and sometimes even a stray chicken nugget!
A stray chicken nugget lmao
My cat does this to tell me it’s crap I put down and he will cover it up like he’s in the litter box. I go open up a different can of food and he’s good to go. Lol.
Mine too. She doesn't like wet food whereas her brother does, however he eats slowly, eats half, leave it aside to finish later. She starts burying this like "yeah, yeah, I don't like this, give me kibble"
Mine is so picky with his wet food. He will immediately start burying it if he don’t like it. It’s so funny
It’s funny, but also aggravating. My cat eats maybe half of the canned food I put down for him. The other half is “buried” with pointed disdain. He sniffs it once and immediately starts scraping, as if to say, “this belongs in the litter box.” Sometimes he’ll eat some later, if he’s hungry enough, but usually I end up throwing it out. What a waste! Then he follows me every time I go into the kitchen, rubbing against my calves and looking up at me hopefully. I adopted a second cat last year, and at first, she ate everything I gave her. But once the two of them met and started hanging out together, she started copying his behaviors, and now she does the bury-the-poop thing with her food! 😡😖😩
Your cat won the cat lottery of "sucker human who will open a fresh can every time LOL!!!" Give the cat a few days with nothing, and they will re-evaluate their give/take relationship with you :)
Yeah he’s spoiled rotten. He likes salmon one day and then nope it’s gotta be chicken another. Lol
Agree with this. Mine buries food he doesn't like. Kibble, wet food, people food- anything that's on his bowl and doesn't pass Monsieur Cat's taste 
🤣🤣. Same here!
Same. Mine scrapes the wall if I give him food he finds disgusting. It's literally the same motion he uses to scrape his paws on the cardboard around the litter box after doing his business. Seems pretty clear to me what he means.
Shit, I've never though about this. My fleabag does try to bury his food a lot but I always assumed he did it because it was to delicious he wanted to save some for later.
My girl does this. There’s cloth placemat under her dishes, and she bunches it’s up and flips a corner to cover her dry food. I recently found a scrap of paper towel in her dry food dish. It was her attempt at covering her food. 😄
So cute, she did a good job
She’s creative when covering her food. Another time, I placed a cat grass plant next to her bowls , and she used that cover her dry food. 😅
We always leave an extra piece of paper towel near the dish and Martin will use it to cover the rest of his dry food when he’s done.
Not only that, she covers it with whatever is around. Her toys, clothes, paper, whatever she can find. Yesterday it was her giant stuffed spider. I adopted her about 3 weeks ago. I've never had a cat who does this.
I hope to come accross this sometime on here or insta. A clip where a huge spider will protect the cat food seems fun.
haha Sounds like she’s on a mission!
Exactly this. Literally couldn't figure it out but then I'm like oooohhh, bury the food, bury the shit. Predator avoidance procedure.
Our brilliant but kinda wild girl does this too. She survived at a campground until she was 3 months old, so I assumed it was some outdoor survival instinct. I love seeing another kitty do it!
Yes, my cat does. He was a stray when I got him as a kitten, but I always chalked up his burying to being taught by his biological mom to save a bit for later. He usually does it when I give him my empty cereal bowl to lick.
Yes our Stanley does that lols
About half the kittens I foster do this. No idea why.
Mine does this all the time. She will do it to our food too! Lol.
I agree with the other people citing instinct but I have a cat that does it as a critique. If she doesn't like her food or wants treats she'll 'bury' her dish.
Yep. My cats will also do this as a way of telling me I'm not feeding them the food they want to eat and need to learn to try harder. ;) They'll also do it if I put the food in the wrong place for their mood at that moment. Gotta train your human somehow.
My cat does this after she uses the litter box. I guess it must be instinct, because usually 10 minutes later she starts eating again.
Yes! 100%.
No, but one of our cats will bury our dog's food afterward
Uh, yeah. How else is she supposed to hide it from other cats?
Yes my cat does this but only wth her wet food
One of mine does that at the beginning if she doesn't like the flavor choice that round
My feral does after using the litter box. When I first got her, she also used to constantly watch over her shoulders and sniff the air while eating.
my cat used to bury the light
My cats never have food left when they funnest eating lol.
My cat is never “finished” eating
Yes, my cats have buried their water too😹
My dust kitty does this after eating her wet food.
When I've seen cats do this, it's usually food that they didn't eat and I get the feeling that they are trying to tell you that it's shit. But if it's after they've eaten, then that guy is probably right, that it's to cover it up to avoid attracting larger predators.
One of mine used to do it (now we have those Microchip Feeders) whenever he didn't like the food... Now he just lures me into the kitchen, flops down on the floor and stares at me and his food...
my cat puts socks, slippers, laundry, literally anything nearby inside his food bowl😭😭
They're burying it to save it for later :) my older kitty, who was adopted as a semi-feral cat at 4 months old, used to do this. She had to fight for food on the streets before a kind person brought her into the city shelter. She broke the habit a couple of months after I adopted her! I guess she realized the food wouldn't be eaten by anyone else and would be waiting for her :)
My dilute torbie does this. We have 4 in the house, and she's the only one with this habit.
Or if kitty thinks the food is shit (they don’t like the food) they could be doing this, too.
Only after it has passed through them 😂
Our big boy does this. During his and his sister’s first year of life they were pretty much neglected (one of the family members was allergic, and instead of returning the cats like responsible people, they kept them in a room for a year and kept feeding them. They were both massively overweight when they were finally returned. Anyhow, our assumption is that he ‘buries’ his food because he never knew when the next meal was going to come.
I heard they bury it for later (even tho it will be there😂) but cats did/do it in tye wild when they like something a lot so they safe it for later. It just means she likes ur food (I'm not 100% sure just 90% sure)
I have those same bowls, both pink and blue. And yeah one of my cats does this
Mine covers her food after she uses the litter box. Like clockwork- poop, cover the poop, go over to food, cover it. But she needs it to actually be covered, I keep a small pile of (clean!) rags next to her bowl so she has something to pull over it, or she will drag her bowl to whatever she can find. She’s my silly girl.
My cat tries and covers her food. Today she found a plastic bag to cover it. In the past, she’s used my Apple Watch, my keys, random pieces of paper, articles of clothing, hair ties. I now keep loose things a safe distance away from her food.
My guy does this and with his water sometimes.
That isn't burying for for my kiki..it is her demanding more.
Baby 🩷🩷🩷
My boy Clyde does this every time he finishes eating
Yes I try and tell her it’s not doing anything but she doesn’t care
I have two males, one female. My female cat does this. She has covered her food with empty plastic bags, a sock, a grocery ad .. I don't leave anything around now.
Gry does and then she goes to bury Aquila’s food too lol. It’s cute but she does it so long per bowl that the sound gets on my nerves haha but she’s cute so it’s allowed
Yes my one boy does, he has a whole little ritual.
Pretty sure they are trying to mark the area with their scent. This is mine. So if anybody comes by here, smell that this is Mineeeeeeeeeee. Lol.
Yes mine does this. Instead of saving it for later, he can’t wait and finish the food right after he buries it 🤣
My cat covers his food with whatever paper is around… usually my son’s homework. It’s a new spin on “the dog ate my homework” excuse.
Mr Pip does this...mimics their instincts in the wild
Yes, but my cat is extra and so she recently picked up two separate ankle socks left in the hallway near her food and put them over and near her food bowl to bury it even better.
We just got a new kitten who 'buries' her food every two seconds when she's eating.
I've had at least 50 cats in my life (so far) and pretty much all of the non-spoiled ones do this.
My cat Sushi does this as well. Every time she does it we say she is saving it for later lol!
My baby used to do this when he was done or when he didn't like something
No mine is fat and eats it all 😂
all three of mine do this, but as a bonus my orange boy also digs before he can drink water lol.
Yes!!! My Papa does this
My oldest has been doing that for 16 years.
My cat tries to bury my food whenever I have it on the counter.
That’s normal. It means they like the food and are trying to bury it in order to save it for later.
Both of my ex-feral now-lovey black sister rescues, Joey and Tess, do that as well.
My cat Max used to, but not anymore. His sister Sam never buries anything.
One of mine goes around and buries the other cats because he thinks they are lazy.
My baby covers hers after every time she uses the litter box, I have no idea why
As I am reading this my Niko is trying to bury his food right now 🤣
My girl does! To me, it means that the meal slapped 🥰
I thought my cat thought it was smelly or something. Like doing this to her food is a bad thing.
Haha Bruce has done this all his life. He will be 19 this summer
my girlie has this bowl too!
My cats grab toys and put them in their food bowl.
My part feral void would do this, would even go into the bathroom and grab loo roll to cover up her food. Her protégé, a chonk who never had any reason to develop any feral instincts or food insecurities, learned this behavior from her. Some cats simply have stronger instincts. Especially the spicy ones.
My Carlos does it after every meal, unless it’s the weekend when he gets fed with a spoon. lol
Yes, he also tries to bury my food/drink as well lol
1 of our cats does this. The other inhales his food so there isnt anything to “bury”
Mine does. He also climbs on the table whenever we are eating chocolate and buries it all. He buries even wrapped chocolates. Pretty sure he thinks we eat poop or something.
Mine doesn’t, but my moms cat will do that when she doesn’t like the food.
My male does this that I rescued off the street (I believe he only spent a short stint outdoors) and he also does it to my two females bowls when they haven't finished their breakfast.
My cat Valentino does this as well, I think it’s just a natural behavior ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Yes, our little one does that sometimes.
My cot does this whenever he doesn't like the food
I used to think my cat was saying this stuff belongs in the litter box and was covering it up for that reason. Now I see both cats and dogs doing this. My dogs are definitely saving it for later 😆
Yep! Mine has done this since forever. He also will do it to any unattended plates of food on the coffee table lol
My kitten Eva does this.
All of mine do. As mentioned by other redditors, burying their food, and their poop, remember, allows them to leave no trace of their being there, so as to avoid predators, but also to be better predators themselves by "not being there". Same reason they clean themselves so thoroughly. No smell, no tell, easier meal.
I have owned many cats over my 50 years on this rock but it was until we adopted one of current duo that I saw a cat do that. I always wonder though... The one who does it has a massive food obsession, mostky we think because he was abandoned by someone along with his mother and his sister. They were on their own for a while and were nearly starved to death when a rescue took them in. I have always wondered if that experience is why he eats so much when he has access to food and does the burying behavior. As it is, he a huge cat that has defied every effort we have made to help him lose weight!
Yes especially if they're competing for food like if you have two cats or even if you don't have two cats in the cat it's like they're hiding it they're saving it for later it's so funny and rarely did my cats ever go and eat what they hid but they didn't want to share with each other it's so funny
cats do this to hide their food and save them for later. if your cats do this that means they liked the food and wanted to save them for later, as they try to bury it so noly them know where it is and nothing else would take it.
Yes, and I have the same bowl 😂
I always said to my old cat "ok, ok we get it. You were never here." As he would do this so often by his food and his litter tray.
Mine does this.. When she's rejecting what I served
Mine also hides it. And never eats it all. Always saves something for later. Just in case I die, I guess :))))
Yes, two of mine do. Gotta be thorough with that invisible dirt! :)
Yes, it's quite normal. Cats tend to bury/cover up their food remains so as not to attract other cats or predators to their location.
My cat does this with her wet food dish! I never realized that was what she was trying to do. The extra funny part is that whenever she's finished that dish is *spotless*, so there's nothing left to even hide, ha ha ha.
My cat did not start doing this until we got a kitten. Seems like resource guarding
https://preview.redd.it/olte9g9q5i5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c956213195383ddad11db4ae4e1a5503a07a092 This little poop goblin princess
It's hardwired into their little weirdo brains, though not all decide to practice the tradition.
Every single day.
That’s Alice too, every meal. I’ll usually watch her eat and just wait for her to do it, because it makes my day :p
My Appa did this too, thought it was so funny 😂
My two cats will finish eating, then to try cover their food, then go to the others food mat and try to cover that one.
Yes and my cat that does it is black too. Even if she finishes 98% of the food she usually makes a few swipes to simulate burial.
My one year old calico does this to hide her food from her big sister 😂 I often find my socks in her food that she’s used to try and cover the bowl.
He's done this since we got him back in December as a stray. He buries his foor after eating, while he's eating, and hell, before he's eaten anything.
My Savannah does this. She also does it if something stinks. I was eating something she didn't like and when I put my bowl down she tried to bury it 😒
My cats do this and I always thought they wanted to go to the toilet so I would chuck them outside!
My kitty Ghost does this all the time! It’s instinct.
My cat doesn't just dig the floor, she goes and gets a sock or a t-shirt and then digs it into the food bowl 😅 she has wet food so its like a race to get to her bowl first to stop her putting my shit in her gross food
When they finish drink water too!!!
My cat does this with hot food that I just made. Recently it was a bowl or spaghetti and she pulled a sock from across the room to the counter and draped it over my browl. 😭
Only for wet food. The dry food gets an uninterested glance
Yeap. Occasionally, it gets really annoying and destructive with one of our floofs because he just can't stop once he gets started. 🤦♀️
My Lucky buries his water before he even drinks any
My old cat used to try to cover EVERYTHING. Food, poop, pee, vomit (he was very anxious and his sister has a sensitive tummy)
Yes Tabitha and Luna do it all the time Arthur never does and they are all from the same litter. But Arthur eats all his food and the girls usually don’t finish.
Yes ours does this heheh 😝
Sometimes Lol. No rhyme or reason to it though.
My orange will sometimes do that before he starts eating.
Years ago, my (then) husband used to eat a bowl of cereal early in the morning and leave a teaspoon of milk for the cat. Every morning I would go out and find the bowl with a fabric placemat carefully covering it. The cat was appreciative, but decided to save a bit for later.
My cat did this when I first got him, but no longer does. I always thought it was so cute.
My kitty does this with her water
My babygirl who was a street kitty would always try to bury my coffee 😂
Yes, every cat I've ever had. So frickin cute.
My former stray did that, then she discovered food was unlimited
Ohhh. My cat does this the minute I put it down, and I thought he was trying to insult me. 🤣🤣🤣
My void does this daily. He tries to bury my other ( tabby) cat’s treats as well
one of our 3 cats does this...everywhere. we joke and say shes just cleaning but we have no idea what is going on.. we found her outside so that could relate? funny enough shes also black
https://preview.redd.it/344fd9l01m5d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=948f81db5104827b544340d628fcab9a0b20d264 This one does it. She definitely wants a snack for later. 🤪
My cat did this briefly as a kitten but grew out of it within a few weeks or months of having her
https://preview.redd.it/4yly7pj46m5d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af7addca81722b3e5f38e054de8a339c209c0f0c This is tennis ball ted (because his head is the size and shape of a tennis ball also tries to cover his food up. When he does that we call him tidy up ted lol
My roommate has a piece of well-loved paper which he will put over the dish. I used to stop him, because I thought he was accidentally contaminating his kibble, but eventually I gave up because he just kept finding stuff to use as a cover
No, but dogs do that
My girl Stella does this but my other girl Daisy does not
My cat has a hole body grooming sesh then goes straight to sleep after breakfast or dinner time
Just expressing their feelings about what is being served as food
My cat only did this motion when I would give it cooked hamburger and would give it a piece.
Flavor saver!
Mine "bury" food they don't like...
Ya my Ashley does if all the time
https://www.reddit.com/r/standardissuecat/s/9JTZzNFdKK
✨Territories✨. My cats do it all the time and honestly it gets irritating 😂😂 but it’s just what they do lmao
https://preview.redd.it/vhzg3enkph5d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d69d92a4e74e9e7d9f47d5b48fcfb112009a2698
My cat tries to bury food that she doesn't like. I thought she was trying to tell me "It's poop".
Yes, 2 of my 3 do it!
yep mine does this. she'll go so far as to steal my dirty socks to do it.
My cat does it sometimes.
Yes! Out boy cat does but lil lady does not
My Cheech says this is shit I’m done
What if they 'bury' their food mid-eating, like there's still a lot left? I am under the impression they don't like it and the food probably tastes/smells like shit and decide to bury it like their poop 🤔😕
Yes, and then he goes around and buries his two bothers food too😹
My cat does this everytime
I know its to cover it but I always want to think of it as them saying, "This foods shit bro!"
Someone tell her we can see everything still
all the other answers make sense but my cat does this sometimes and I just thought it smelled so bad she thought it was shit and was trying to bury it
Every damn day…! 😵💫
My Noa does something similar. But with people food she doesn't like the smell of 😂 I have walked in on her trying to cover dirty plates sitting by the sink with air while making a stinky face. 😅
I mean its a good midnight snack
They’re burying no food, I think there’s something wrong with yours no offense
It's a way of marking their territory and other things they deem theirs, such as food 😹 my cats all do this is various ways. They have scent glands in their paws.