My male cat digs in his litter box for a really long time before he's satisfied it's covered. No idea why he does it. My female likes to try to bury her food. Even if there is nothing around. I have the food bowl in my bathroom, and if there are any clothes on the floor, she will use that to bury the food.
I read that it's a left-over instinct. Big cats kill large animals. More than they can eat at a time. They will either take it back "home" or bury it for later. Our tiny house cats, if they kill at all, only kill in single serving sizes, like a mouse, or a bird. So she's trying to save her left over food for later. She's saying "I've had plenty, thanks. I'll just save the rest for the next time I'm hungry."
Aug 23, 2009 Rating
It's not too weird. by: DKGeneralLee
I have two cats who share the behaviors that your cat does. The older one, a 15+ year old Maine Coon, will sit in the litter box scratching for 5-10 minutes before taking a poop.
Afterward he will sit there and bury it for as long as he possibly can, I usually end up having to kick him out because the obsessive burying becomes annoying.
My other cat, a 10+ year old Russian Blue will attempt to bury the water dish after he's done drinking. He might do it with his food as well, but I've never caught him doing it.
Nov 20, 2008 Rating
Scratching in the Box by: frisky_kitty
2 of my cats scratch at the litter box for about 10 minutes when they go poo. They even continue burying it after I've removed it and flushed it down the toilet! The older cat doesn't even bother burying it anymore but then the 2 younger ones sometimes jump in and bury before I get to clean it out.
Nov 18, 2008 Rating
Cats Weird Scratching by: Anonymous
We had a cat that would scratch all around her plate after she ate. At first I thought she was wiping her feet - but then I realized she was 'burying' her left over food. Instinct. Once, after she had meticulously scratched all around her eating area, I 'unburied' her plate by scratching around it - whereupon she promptly 'buried' it again!
Nov 02, 2008 Rating
My cat will dig to china! by: jmanzana
About a cats weird scratching. I adopted a black British short hair from the local no-kill shelter and I swear this cat will dig to China in her box before she actually will dig at the litter. It's annoying and she can go at it for up to 10 minutes before I finally kick her out the box.
