Why is my cat pawing beneath the food bowl?

There is a method to that fur ball’s madness have you ever noticed your cat pawing or scratching the floor around their food and wondered what they were up to?

Although it might be weird (yet still adorable) to watch, there is a method to that fur ball’s madness.

This performance is a natural instinct, found in not only big cats but domestic cats too. Although your cat will have never been in the wild, amazingly they still have these instinctive behaviours within them.

In the wild, big cats hide their food from others so they can go back to it later. Leopards hide their food from big trees so that it will be safe to come back to later. Another reason big cats do this is to hide their tracks from predators. The smell of food makes it easy for predators to track them down. So cats will hide the remains of their food to cover their tracks and keep them safe.

Sometimes cats will scratch at the newspaper below the food bowl. Then attempt to cover the bowl with the scraps. This is their instincts kicking in, telling them to hide it from predators – even if the biggest predator in your house is a hungry teenager.

It is important not to attempt to stop a cat’s natural behaviors. If the pawing or scratching is causing a problem in your home- find an alternative outlet for your cat. Place something below the bowl which the cat can scratch at or move the bowl to flooring which will not be damaged by your cat.