In the wild, feral cats often dig in their food leftovers as a protective measure so that enemies can’t track them down: buried food almost doesn’t smell, nor does it attract scavengers or predators. Nursing females do it to prevent other animals from finding the litter.

Domestic cats demonstrate similar behavior. This is similar to “food caching” that their wild relatives practice in nature. The leopard is known for keeping its prey high in trees to stay away from lions and hyenas. The Canada lynx buries the remains of its food to hide it from other animals.

When you put newspapers under your cat’s bowl, you may notice that your pet scratches and tears them into pieces to be stacked on top of the leftover food. The same can happen with anything nearby that is suitable to cover its food.

Even if a kitten grew up alone, without a mother, it may still bury its food instinctively. This is the type of behavior that an animal does without thinking.

British amateur zoologist John George Wood described similar behavior of his own cat, Pret, in his book, Illustrated Natural History. According to him, the cat would bring a sheet of paper over and put it on top of a saucer after finishing her meal. She would also take handkerchiefs out of Wood’s wife’s pocket with her paw and use them for the same purpose. But there were also quite unusual cases. For example, in the absence of paper and handkerchiefs, Pret sometimes fetched one of her kittens to cover the food. Additionally, she’d use ragged pieces of carpet or a tablecloth from the table, which would then break any dishes that were on it.

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