Cats adjust to being in a crate and they can get out when you are in the hotel room, you will feed them and let them use their litter box.
My grandmother had show cats, Siamese and drove with them. They slept with her ( 2 of them) and ate and roamed the room and behaved very nicely. Then everyone got back in their crate and into the car-they napped and looked out the windows and when they got home, they were just fine.
They don't think about it, while they are traveling-that is their new life. When they get home, that is the new life again, but familiar lol.
My worries about traveling with Pup are that he gets lost, let loose, stolen, or dies from the pressure/non-pressure in the area they fly in. They are not that climate controlled, because animals die in these things all the time.
We are considering a long flight for a long trip and Pup is my biggest worry. If I could drive or take a ship, it would be eaiser for him.
So my advice, if you are worried about the cats, drive with them. If you are that worried about yourself and something happening to you, fly.

Are you sure you can;t take a ship with Pup? A friend of mine moved to europe with her dog and refused to put him in an unsafe semi=pressurized cabin. She took a freighter - took only a couple of days longer than a cruise - and they are usually happy to take animals as long as you're responsible for them.

Here's another vote to drive and take the cats.

My two cats travel well in a carrier together in the car.

I keep the water bowl dry but add a little at a time and the litter box lined with paper only.

Out of curiousity, where were your friends when they were attacked?

The interstates are pretty safe and the rest stops are continuously patroled.

We moved cross country many times, and quite a few of those were with 2 cats. They did better out of their carrier, but when we stopped, before we opened a door they were put back in the carrier. We did not want to take any chances. The litterbox was kept in an old drawstring laundry bag that was tied closed when not in use. You do not want cat litter flying around if you make a sudden stop, lol! In the hotel rooms, we kept the cats in the bathroom. That way they could not crawl up under the beds or anywhere else that would be hard to pry them out of.

I can understand your concern about rest areas and such. When you stop, anywhere, just always take a good look around and if you have a bad gut feeling, leave. Sort of like day to day living, always be aware of your surroundings.

Wishing you a fun and safe trip

nyt, yes, we can take a ship ( I think) .. I would rather be the one sick ( seasick) than have Pup die or be injured..I cannot imagine that flight, not being able to see if he is ok until they unload him...shudder!
Remember the Whippet from the dogshow that was lost at the airport in NYC? That runs through my mind every time I consider traveling with Pup.
I figure when I win the Lottery-we can just charter jets and it won't be a problem anymore

For Barry, you take a small portable tray of cat litter that you either keep in the back of a large crate or on the floor of the car if the cat is loose.

For Kaleyna, Fortunately the cat I moved cross country with was extremely tame and social-able and answered to her name. She easily moved in and out of hotel rooms and walked on a leash.

That is very sad and scary that you had two friends murdered, whatever the situation. I can see your reluctance about the long drive, and in your situation I guess I might look into flying yourself and the cats, and shipping your car and furnishings, and/or selling and buying new at the other end.

I just had my car shipped 1/2 the country, Chicago to Portland. Make sure it's a trailer truck (not rail or a wacky driver) and you shld be fine. I think it was just over $1000 so maybe double it for your move. With gas prices the drive and time and hassle seem to be excessive.

Oops, my mistake, one attack and one murder, still really scary.

I don't mean to add to your confusion but a cross country move is a big undertaking, as I'm sure you realize.

I would try to step back and think creatively of all the possibilities. How much of your stuff do you really need to move and how much can you get rid of? Do you know where you'll be living at the other end yet? It might be a smaller place than you have now. Do you have a friend or relative you could talk into driving with you if you bought them a one-way ticket to get back home? Would you consider adopting out any or all of the cats and not moving them? Or leave them with friends, you drive back, then have the friends put the cats on a plane after you are settled?

These are tough questions but some creative thinking might give you more options than you had thought about.

I'm still debating. It is a hard decision.

One was one of my mom's best friend. I called her my 'aunt'. She was in a nice motel while driving through an inland northeast state. She put the dogs in her room and ran to her car for something and was grabbed, raped and murdered. The other was a friend from college who was traveling in the US for business. She was in a 4 or 5 star hotel and answered the door for someone who said they were with the hotel and was raped.

I know attacks are rare but I do have concerns being a woman traveling alone in a car especially through states like Montana where it is pretty desolate for long stretches.

I haven't seen any limits for flying domestic pets in the hold as 'baggage'. I’ll have to call the ones who fly direct nonstop to NY from Seattle.

http://www.animalfair.com/travel_flying.html

I was looking for the website that I got my info on what type of kennels etc for flying pets and came across this.

It sounds like your main issue with driving is safety. Don't you have a friend who'd like the adventure of a drive across country? Maybe if you offered to pay for a plane flight home, someone would join you on the trip to share driving and be company.

Most airlines will only allow 2 pets on 1 flight, so I doubt you could take all 3. We drove from San Diego to Atlanta in 4 days. Why not trailer your car ? Plus you have the added bonus of using your vehicle for storage!

We drove a U-Haul rental truck towing our Volvo wagon on a flat bed from the Lehigh Valley to Eugene, Oregon, in mid-summer. The Volvo was completed off the ground (rather than being dragged behind with the back wheels on the ground). Riding in the Volvo was our pet lop-eared rabbit and our two parrots (there was no room for them in the driving compartment of the truck). We stopped regularly to check on them and they did just fine. The only problem ;-) was in Montana, when we took our rabbit (in her traveling cage) into a diner with us and the patrons all stopped to admire her, then added: "we eat those around here, you know."

We kept the windows on the Volvo partly rolled down to give the pets fresh air. Whenever we had to park, we tried to find plenty of shade for them.

For a woman driving alone, my advice would be to make sure you do most of your driving only in daylight hours. If that means taking a bit longer to do the trip, I think it's worth it.

Pick decent motels (see the thread on La Quinta hotels) that allow pets and, if possible, will let you park close to your room. Before making your hotel reservation, check that the hotel isn't located in a dodgy area. Make sure you are checked into your hotel and have eaten dinner before dark. Also, keep a close eye on the weather forecast--if there are severe storms (thunderstorms or snowstorms, depending on when you plan to move), adjust your plans accordingly. Our first day, we knew there were very strong t-storms predicted for the Toledo, OH, area, so we pushed it and got ourselves and pets into the room literally 10 minutes before the big storm hit.

We were glad we towed our car behind us rather than having it driven across country by a stranger.

Our pets came through the trip absolutely fine. One of the highlights was staying in a Marriott outside Chicago. The hotel catered mostly to business travelers, so the staff enjoyed the novelty of our entourage.

Finally, if you haven't driven through Montana before and you're not traveling in winter (which I strongly recommend against), give yourself some extra time there. It's such a beautiful state.

When you call airlines, you must get your terminology correct - direct and non-stop are not the same thing.

You want a non-stop flight.

Direct merely means from point A to point B it has the same flight number - it usually means you do not get off plane, but the plane does stop someplace.

I have an idea! Have you looked into Amtrak? Can pets go? Could you get a sleeper cabin?

I have been thinking (sympathetically) about your situation since I first read this posting. I have only driven across the country once (when I moved to Seattle). I truly hated the drive, and would never do it again. It was LONG and BORING. I know some people love road trips but I'm not one of them. Plus I had a friend along for company and only 1 very tame cat.

With your complex background, health issues, two horror stories a little too close for comfort... I really would encourage you to find another way to make the move rather than drive solo.

Kind regards and best wishes, Suze

Only service animals are allowed on Amtrak.

darn, thanks GoTravel, i was afraid that might be the case.

Yeah. I checked Amtrak earlier. I thought that would be a blast but no pets.

I still have yet to find any notice on the airline websites about maximum number of animals that can checked as baggage. I have seen maximums for in cabin. I’ll have to call around to see what is what.

I know what direct is but just added it as an extra word to nonstop for emphasis.

I think there just isn't any easy answer. I'm not sure what I will do. No one I know can take time off work or away from family to make the drive. I've begged and pleased.

I forgot to add my own personal travel scare story but I wasn’t hurt and it happened a long time ago so it slipped my mind. A guy friend and I were driving together from the NY/NJ area back to college in Atlanta after freshman summer and one night we stopped in a motel (kind with doors to rooms outside) somewhere along the way. The room didn’t' have a phone which we thought very odd but we didn’t need to call anyone (these were the days before cell phones) so we shrugged it off and settled in. In the middle of the night some guys started banging and pounding on the door saying "You got a girl in there? Let us in." over and over. We locked ourselves in the bathroom and simply had to wait until they left which was a LONG time later. No one came to help. We weren't sure if hey were drunks looking for a girl (but why our room?) or if someone in check in told someone a brown guy had checked in with a white girl (my - platonic - friend was of Latin American descent.) It was scary as hell.

All these stories make it sound like I don’t like traveling! I love traveling.

http://bestfind.nm.ru

We plan to move with two cats and a small dog, so I am reading this post with interest. I certainly do not think my cats would happily go in a car for the two days's drive necessary for our new move , not to mention four or five days. So either we will find homes for one or both the cats or ship them. I imagine that we might fly with my husband having the dog- a Pomeranian under his seat and I would have the tamer of our two cats under mine. The other cat is a feral cat and while she is devoted to us from a safe distance, I am not sure I can even catch her to put her in a carrier. I am hoping that one of our neighbors will take care of the feral cat.

Moving animals is always difficult. When we moved here twelve years ago, we bought a cat, a large active German Shepherd and a large Cocker-poo.It was only a three hour drive. Both of the dogs were given tranquilizers at our vet's suggestion. I will never do that again because the Cocker-poo died the day after our move.