Expert: Karen Craft - 11/23/2009

Question
Hi Karen,
I have three separate questions for you.
The first is about something interesting my cat does and I was wondering if you could tell me why he does it. After he is done eating (this generally only happens after he eats his wet food) he starts kind of cleaning around his food dish, like pawing dirt from the floor onto his food. Then after a while he began to do that then add to it by cleaning, touch his tag on his collar, cleaning, pawing his tag. It is really quite interesting and I just wanted to see if you could tell me why he does it.
My second question is, I just got a new kitten and he eats different food from my other cat. My other cat eats food for urinary track health. But the kitten always wants to eat his food. I know an answer could be putting them in separate rooms while I feed them but maybe there is something else I could do? Also, what is the best food to buy a kitten from a store like PetCo or PetSmart. he is on science diet now and some friskeys wet food. I don't have much money for expensive food, and I already have to buy expensive food for my cat with the urinary track infection.
Third question is, my boy cat, Sunny, year and 1/2, neutered, continuously bites my and my fiance's feet at night time and we can get him to stop. Do you have any suggestions for that?
Thanks so much.
-Karen

Answer
Hi Karen,

The pawing at the food area is a throwback behavior. This is from the days when cats buried their leftover food so no other predators could get their leftovers. The cleaning is to remove any scents of the food.

You can feed both the cats the same food. Here is a link that will give you very good info on cat nutrition. http://catinfo.org/index.htm
Feed them regular Purina One. Just amke sure the one gets lots of water. Add extra water to his wet food.

For the biter try a spray water bottle. Squirt him every time he does it. And also give him a treat when he just lays down and doesn't bite. This will do the trick. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen