Why Do Cats Cover Their Waste?

"Oh No She Isn't!" Ohhhhhhhh yes I am! I'm going down that road. I'm cranky, slap-happy and tired and was having a miserable time trying to come up with an idea for my "Why Do Cats........?" blog  that I feature on Wednesdays.....soooooooo I was flipping through some info and call it being sleep deprived (YES, Cody is STILL scratching the carpet and door of the bedroom at night, I thought the dilemma was solved but I obviously thought wrong, more on that another time).....to those that have absolutely no idea what I am referring to in reference to Cody scratching the carpet and door, please refer to my previous blogs.

Ok, back to the pressing question about poo-poo and pee-pee, number 1 and 2, doo-doos, wee-wee or whatever you want to call it, we as cat owners think our cats are superior to dogs on many issues but one that we have always been particularly proud of is the diligence with which they work that litter box! After your cat does his business, if you are nearby.......watch!!! He will scratch, push, kick, and work those paws in an attempt to not leave any trace of his most recent deposit clearly visible in the litter box and often he will not even think of exiting the litterbox until it is "just so".

I always read (and thought), that cats did this because they are fastidious by nature, I just found out today in "Pawprints and Purrs" that that is not necessarily the case!

It appears that when a cat is in the wild only "secondary cats bury their waste to protect their trail from predators. The dominant feline will actually display his or her feces prominently. This sends a strong message of dominance."

But, in the world of house cats it is an entirely different story. The cat views YOU as the "dominant animal" and being the polite and sensitive little creatures that our kitties can be they choose to not offend us by leaving their "gifts" exposed for our viewing pleasure. They make it a point to carefully bury their waste so as not to interfere with "what they perceive as the natural order."

One can't help but wonder for those of us who have dogs what THEIR opinion of us must be........