Why Do Cats Scratch The Floor When They Drink Water

A common mistake cat owners make is that when their cat swipes their paw on the floor around their food dish they think that they are covering up the food like they would their poop in a litter box.

Why do cats scratch the floor when they drink water.

Gracie has always scratched and clawed on and around the bowl before she drinks. A cat sits and screams at her water bowl for several minutes before taking a drink and the behavior has been going on for four years. They have a water dish on the floor by their food and also have a 4 cup measuring cup in the bathroom and before they have a drink they do some sort of scratching with one or sometimes both of their paws in front of the dish or cup before they drink. Why do these cats dip a paw in the water and then use it almost as if they re licking a popsicle.

Sometimes i would go through 3 or 4 cans of cat food being scratched at before the cat would eat someth. Why does my cat yowl at the water dish before drinking. In some cases cats will scratch at or bury food or other items they dislike. In addition as cats often sleep where they eat burying waste can be a way of tidying a cat s personal space.

Many cat owners assume this is a clear sign that the cat isn t interested in the food. This behavior is similar to burying feces in a litter box or on the ground. In the wild cats don t come back to a meal they ve stored for several days. She makes a mess.

As was mentioned below they usually scratch around their food bowl either after eating or before if they don t like what you are feeding them. They walk over to the water bowl lower their faces near the surface of the water and stick out their tongues to get a little drink. Like caching burying allows the cat to disappear by getting rid of its waste. To some cats that means moving water is preferable to the sort that sits still in a dish for hours.

So it is that some cats prefer to drink aerated water directly from the tap a fountain or even the toilet. Instead this is still him trying to be sneaky and not let predators know where he is. For other cats though a front paw becomes a vital tool when thirst strikes. For many cats drinking water is a simple process.

I have 4 cats and they all do the same thing. However most consider water less of a plaything than a dish best served fresh.