Why Does My Cat Pretend To Bury Food After They Already Ate It?
Timothy Roberts
If you have a cat in your home, I'm sure that you would agree when I say that they can have some strange behaviors. Perhaps one of those that brings some questions to your mind is why a feline will pretend to bury their food, regardless of whether it is before or after they eat it.
Most of us are familiar with felines burying their feces in their litter but some cats will also eat part of their food and then act as if they are burying the rest of it. You might even wonder if they like the food they are eating, but let me put your mind at ease. There is an entirely different reason why cats show this strange behavior.
As a semi-domesticated animal, cats have a wild streak to them. They come from African Wildcats and if you've ever seen one of those wildcats, you might even think they are the same animal. Cats are essentially the same animal, which is different from dogs that are thought to come from the wild wolf. In fact, you can even interbreed an African Wildcats with a domestic cat without any problem.
In the wild, a feline will try to bury their food or cover any food that is not eaten to avoid attracting any attention from nearby predators. They also don't want to alert any pray that there is a hunter in the area.
You might also wonder if they bury the food so they can come back and eat it later. Actually, cats don't have that scavenger type of behavior so they don't bury it so they can come back when they are hungry.
It is strictly something that helps to protect them. Even if your cat has never spent any amount of time outdoors, it still has that survival instinct.
Of course, if the behavior bothers you for any reason, you can often overcome it by providing smaller portions to your feline.
Take note of how much they eat at any given time and only feed them the quantity.
You might also try taking away the food bowl when your cat is finished eating. Your cat will appreciate it because they like their food to keep its aroma and when you leave the food out, it tends to dissipate.
