What does it mean when my cat tries to bury her food before she eats it?

Question

She paws at the floor all around the bowls. Does it mean she would rather bury it than eat it or is it natural instinct; hide the food?

She's done this since she was a kitten.

Answer 1

Sometimes after eating, or simply when you put down a bowl of wet food, your cat may try to let you know that the food is not to her liking by trying to "bury" the entire bowl! This behavior can also occur when the cat is displeased with the location of his food bowl, the food itself, or possibly when he is not very hungry, and is trying to "bury" her food (which she is then thinking of as "prey") for her to have later on, when she is perhaps more ready to eat.

Answer 2

do you have other cats in the household? my cat tries to hide food from the other cat.  

Answer 3

Hi Jonandtami,

While many folks suspect that cats try to bury their food because it is not to their liking, which may be the case at times, cats often attempt to cover their food dishes to protect it from "predators" so they can come back  to finish what they have left, undisturbed, and not have their "prey" discovered.

It can also be done as a "hard wired" survival tactic to hide their presence, period, to be safe. From what you describe, since she is doing it before eating, I would imagine it may be a survival tactic, not only hiding the food, but hiding herself.

Don't forget that these are instinctual behaviors and have little to do, most of the time, with reality. While there is not a cougar or lion hanging around your house out to get your cat, her unconscious brain may not know that.

I had a cat that would drag the kitchen mat to his food dish, and drape it over it when he had enough to eat. It mat was bigger than he was. It was kind of funny to watch him do that, and it was generally with his "favorite" food. Go figure.

Hope this helps,

Troublesniffer

Owned by cats for over 40 years

Former Siamese and Oriental Shorthair Breeder

http://frequentlyfeline.blogspot.com/

Answer 4

She is burying, just like what he does when she's in her litterbox.

There are many theories on this actually:-

1) Your cat is not hungry and would like to save the food for later

2) Your cat find the food to his dislike

3) Your cat wants to bury the food that he likes and wants to come back and enjoy it later

4) Your cat is trying to hide his scent after a meal, afraid that it might lead a predator to his location

It's hard to know for sure what the actual reason is but cats have many quirky behaviors that we can't really understand anyway.

Answer 5

In the wild, cats bury their food when they're full to save it for later and hide it from other animals that may eat it. If she's "burying" before she eats there could be a chance that she doesn't like the food.