Watch the journey closely and it usually explains itself. She dips her head, selects a single piece of dry food, carries it a short distance with purpose, sets it down on the rug, eats it there, and returns for another. Nothing about that sequence is random or spiteful. Solitary hunters eat where they feel unobserved and unchallenged, because a catch in the open is a catch another animal might contest. Dry food is the one meal in a modern kitchen light and solid enough to be relocated piece by piece, so an ancient piece of programming gets an outing every dinnertime.
Read the bowl's location before blaming the cat
Often the behaviour is a review of the feeding station. A bowl placed in a thoroughfare means feet passing behind her while she eats with her head down. A bowl beside a washing machine or dishwasher means sudden noise and vibration arriving mid-meal. In a multi-cat home, a bowl positioned so another cat can approach unseen, or simply too close to a companion she tolerates rather than trusts, gives her a reason to take each mouthful somewhere her back is to a wall. Carrying food to a quiet corner is how a cat edits a location she cannot move.
The bowl can be the problem on its own. Deep, narrow dishes press against sensitive whiskers as she reaches for the last pieces, an irritation many cats avoid by fishing food out or lifting it clear entirely. A wide, shallow dish removes the crowding, and some cats stop relocating food the day the bowl changes, which tells you the rug was never the attraction.
Work with the preference, not against it
Move the feeding station before you try to train the traveller. A quiet corner, away from appliances and passing feet, with her back protected, suits the instinct that produced the behaviour. In a multi-cat home, give each cat a separate station far enough apart that nobody eats under supervision, and feed at the same time so there is no audience of the already-finished.
If she still ferries a few pieces to one favourite spot after the move, accept the eccentricity and civilise it: put a washable mat exactly where she chooses to dine. A mat under the destination catches the crumbs, protects the rug, and turns an annoying habit into a harmless routine with a defined place. She has told you where she feels safe eating; meeting her there costs almost nothing.
The version that deserves a vet visit
Relocation is only reassuring while eating itself looks easy. A cat who drops pieces repeatedly, tilts her head to chew on one side, paws at her mouth, dribbles, or has newly begun struggling with dry food she used to manage is showing you something different, and her mouth needs examining. Dental pain, a sore gum or a loose tooth are among the possibilities a vet would investigate, and they hide easily behind behaviour that looks, at a glance, like the same old rug routine with a few extra pauses.
Piece size plays a quiet part as well. Small, light kibble is easy to lift and transport, while larger or awkwardly shaped pieces are more often eaten where they fall, which is why the same cat may relocate one brand's worth of dinners and eat another's at the bowl. If the travelling stops when the recipe changes shape, you have learned it was partly about portability all along, and there was never a problem to solve beyond choosing the form she settles for.
You can place the washable mat beside her chosen corner, then confirm tonight's serving was handed over by checking KinsLe and its Care Teams list after supper.