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Why do cats do this?

15 years ago

I have a cat who likes to "wipe" the ground in front of his water dish before he drinks out of it. I had another cat for 13 years with the same quirk and I'm just curious if anyone else has a cat who does this and knows why?

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Comments (9)

arbisi
15 years ago
Mine do the same thing. I have heard that it has something to do with their depth perception--they are trying to get the water to move so they can see it better.
michelle_phxaz
15 years ago
Haw! We were just watching ours do this tonight! I think it emulates them "kneading" mom cat when they were nursing. My two girls do it, but not my boy. Also, the two that came from the same mom both try to cover up their food (like in a litterbox) when they are done eating. They just scratch at the floor in front of the food. Too funny!
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stir_fryi SE Mich
15 years ago
I had always heard it is some instinctual thing that makes them feel they are burying or covering their food from competitors.
trekaren
15 years ago
My cat Bindi (who by now you are probably tired of hearing about) rarely 'laps' the water. She scoops it in her paw and drinks it that way.

I sure end up with dirty water all the time - even with the charcoal filter fountain. :-)
jodik_gw
15 years ago
Cats aren't the only ones with strange quirks... dogs do some pretty weird things, also!

I've seen a few dogs in my day that have "nosed" the floor around their food dishes, as if to cover the food so no one else could find it, or so they could save it for later...

My bulldog, Minnie, used to take a mouthful of her food out of the bowl, walk to the other side of the room, spit it out, and commence picking through it, eating one piece at a time... she'd repeat this process until she was finished eating. It took her a long time to eat a meal!

It wasn't that she only ate certain pieces, mind you... she ate them all... she just felt the need to eat them in a certain order? I don't know... most of my other dogs just dig in and gobble until they're full or the bowl is empty... whichever comes first!

One of my current bulldogs, Huck, will spend an ungodly amount of time arranging and rearranging his blanket in his crate... it must be just so before he will lay down upon it. I can take it out and fold it nicely, place it back in for him so it's nice and comfy... but he will nose and paw that blanket into a strange little wrinkled nest, and it will be some time before he's satisfied it's perfect for flopping down on.

Cats... dogs... even people can have strange habits and quirks... I guess it's this individuality that makes us so... lovable?
sweetchastity
15 years ago
My parents male Sheppard Jessie used to take a mouthful of food and go to the center of the kitchen and drop it on the floor and then eat them one at a time from there. That is until they got their female Sheppard who would follow him and, being a pup and smaller than him, would eat the bits before he could finish them all up, lol. He stopped doing that because he wasn't fast enough and she was small enough to stand under his chin and gobble up the bits.

He also had this white furry blanket that he'd pull into a corner and he'd bunch it up in front of him and in his mouth until he had a mouth full of this blanket and was hugging the blanket with his front paws. Then sometimes he'd kinda whine, it was so funny, lol.
trekaren
15 years ago
There was a horse at the barn we used to ride at. When we would pitch hay out for them, he would go pee on the hay pile, then start eating the hay.

Kinda like a 10 year old boy spitting in the bag of popcorn to keep anyone else from eating it LOL

It sure worked! He got all the hay to himself.
sephia
15 years ago
I have two cats, and one of them likes to stand with both front feet in the water bowl as he drinks. The bowl is big enough for both of his feet - and then he bends over and drinks. He's 9 1/2 and has always drank like this. It's only when he wants to then use the litter box that we have a problem ;>) I've had to towel-dry off his feet before he hops in the box!
jodik_gw
15 years ago
Speaking of peeing on hay... when my husband was a teenager in high school, he learned that if he slobbered all over the filter of his cigarette, no one would ask for a drag, as most smokers will... and he's had his cigarettes all to himself ever since! LOL!

We have 2 thoroughbred geldings on the property, and both pee in their freshly bedded stalls immediately upon going in them. Why? Marking territory? I don't really know...

I've had plenty of dogs in the past that will practically stick their entire faces down under the water when drinking... why? Couldn't say... Huck has huge bulldog lips, and he drinks so daintily it's not funny, like he doesn't want to get them wet, or something... it's funny to watch!

Animals do the darnedest things... people tend to be a little strange, too!

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