Going abroad for 1 month - leave cat or bring him?

[2014423]

I am hoping some of you have experience traveling with a cat or leaving them for an extended period of time.

I am trying to decide whether to leave my cat with a sitter visiting once every other day for a month, or bringing my cat on a 10 hour plane ride with me while I travel to a different country. When you factor in transportation to and from the airport it will all be about 15-20 hours total. Both seem like highly stressful situations.

He has been in his crate for an extended period (15 hour drive) but he doesn't like it very much at all. So if he flies on the plane with me I know it will be bad, but after we get there he will be with me.

He does not do well with strangers. It takes him weeks to even come out if someone new is living with me. If I leave him with a pet sitter siting he will basically have 0 social interaction and no play time unless he plays with his toys on his own which he does rarely. He is a quite active cat and very social - but only with me or those he knows very well.. So I worry about how well he will do psychologically if he is left alone basically for 4 weeks. Right now there are only 2 other people that he is comfortable around and neither of them are able to watch him.

And I know he gets a little crazy if I am gone. I've left him with one of the people he is comfortable with for a week before and they said he was acting really weird the entire time. Walking around seeming to be lost, acting very restless, and meowing a lot.

I would be bringing him as a carry on item, not in cargo. And there is no quarantine in the country I am traveling to. Everything is already set up should I bring him or decide to leave him. I've never left him with this or any pet sitter before, but the pet sitter I have set up is well reviewed.

Neither situation is ideal I'm just not sure what is best for him.

 

[jennyr]

It is a very difficult decision - every cat is different and only you can really decide what is best for him. Personally I would probably veer towards leaving him at home, but do everything I could to increase the number of visits. Once every 2 days is not often enough for that length of time. Even having people he does not know well would be better than leaving him alone, IMO, and if they are able to stay and play with him for a while, then he will get to know them and wait for their visits. But most cats do prefer to be in their own familiar surroundings.

 

[tonica]

It's only you who can choose between two options, because it's very personal for each cat. My cats are too attrcted to me, too, but I prefer to leave them at home with a visitor to feed them and clean the toilets. Because the travelling itself is very stressful and the new place takes much time and nerve to accomodate. Imo.

 

[furmonster mom]

The longest trip I've taken was about 2 1/2 weeks.  We left all the animals home with sitters, because we knew that they would fare much better in their home environment as opposed to the stress of travel.

We had our sitters come in twice a day.   We had a few people doing it, so they rotated to fit work schedules and such.

Honestly, I think every other day is too long.  That's 48 hours for them to get bored, get lonely, get stressed, and wreak havoc.