We would love to get away to a warmer clime in the winter, but we have two cats.
Has anyone successfully traveled from the Northeast to a reliably warm place (US Virgin Islands, for example) with cats?
The cats are indoor cats and one especially is shy and high strung.
Are you asking about flying with cats? Not a long car trip?
I have a friend who retired to Belize, and in order to move their dogs they had to get a private charter. Have no idea whether that applies to cats but thought I’d throw that our there.
We don’t travel with our cats as it would be much too stressful for them. We get long term cat sitters to stay with them when we travel.
How long is your trip? If it is a short vacation, a cat sitter at your home would probably be easier.
If you end up flying with cats,
Also make sure you know your airline pet travel policy. Some do not allow than a certain number of cabin pets per plane. Some will kick you off if there is a person with severe allergies or if your seat mate complains. Also, make sure you know your destination policy regarding importing pets (vaccines, tigers, microchip, etc. ).
We imported cats into the US after kid’s stint abroad finished, and it was an ordeal with so many plane changes. I would not recommend traveling with cats.
I’d add don’t fly on the last flight of the day. A friend’s daughter did, had to change at Chicago Midway and got booted because of someone with an allergy and well, just not fun as no more flights that day. Many hotels also don’t take cats/pets. The airline took care of her but it was a long 2 days of flying. My brother is really allergic to cats and wouldn’t do well on a long plane ride if they were anywhere near him, or had been on the flight before him.
I’d also only do mainland US places, not Virgin Islands, even the US islands. You may not find a rental that allows cats.
Our cats are sometimes VERY loud when we travel with them in the car (and I’m just talking to the vet, for example). I’m guessing they’d be similar on a plane, and that people around us would NOT be happy. I don’t think I’m brave enough to try and fly with them, especially on a long flight.
Not ours. The fastest way to get cats to disappear is to bring out the cat carrier! 
I’ve seen videos of cats travelling through airports, even out of the carrier. There is zero chance ours could do that. If you do get them in the cat carrier, they meow so loudly and pitifully until you get them out. Kind of like my kids in car seats way back when…
If I absolutely HAD to travel on a plane with cats, I would talk to our vet about the possibilities of sedation. Also good points about checking the airline travel policies.
We imported one cat from abroad.
Your cat will be traveling as an accompanied pet. There might still be a charge for having the cat on the plane with you. Our cat was also accompanied, but was not allowed in the main cabin of the plane for their international flight. There is a pressurized and temp controlled area where the cat was…in an airline approved carrier.
You will need documentation of all immunizations, and your cats will need to be microchipped.
In the U.S. cats do not need to be quarantined when arriving in this country (dogs do). So…you need to check your destination to see what they require.
Also, if you are renting, you may find that having a cat won’t be allowed by some owners…so do check that also.
A lot of cats will be really noisy if they are shut in a carrier at home, and quite a few will also cry in the car. Once in flight, most I’ve transported will just crouch miserably in the carrier, and only occasionally let out a pitiful wail.
There is a high probability that there will be a charge and it may be more than the seat it DOESN’T get to sit in. My friend has to pay $250 or $350 for her 10 pound dog to fit under her seat, not under the middle seat, dog doesn’t get free checked luggage, a meal, or anything else.
I was on a plane recently where someone with a tiny dog got on close to last. She had a center seat. There was no room for her to put anything overhead. Her dog had to go under her seat. The flight attendants took pity, found another aisle seat for the guy on the aisle so the woman could sit in the aisle seat, put her dog under the center and her carryon under her feet. She told me the fee for the dog was more than her ticket.
Our cat was on an international flight in 2012. Accompanied by a passenger. Cost then was about $300 one way. This included a layover in the airline “pet hotel” for six hours. And transport to the next flight. It was well worth the cost.
For a flight to Belize, I doubt there would be too many layovers. There are direct flights from Florida, I think. But you need to check to see if the cats will be allowed IN the cabin on an international flight. Contact the airline and ask.
To mitigate risk of a situation where there is no overhead space and you have a carryon plus a pet carrier, you can purchase early boarding to assure yourself of overhead space (I do this when I travel on United), or check your usual carryon and only bring onboard a small bag that fits under the seat next to the pet carrier (I have done this as well).
Yes, it is frustrating that it costs SO much for an in-cabin pet and also reduces your ability to bring a carryon.
And yes, sometimes unforeseen things happen, such as the time the airline staff told me that I had to wait to board until EVERYONE else had boarded the plane, and then they went onboard and asked everyone, including the pilots, if they were allergic to cats, before I was allowed to board. (This was on an airline and route that I had flown before without incident.)
I’m very allergic to cats so you wouldn’t have gotten on if I was on your flight.
If you are allergic enough to react to a cat that is inside of a carrier and not located near you on the plane, I expect that you would also react to a cat owner’s clothing and belongings, even if they were not transporting a cat. I’m sincerely sorry if your allergy is that severe!
Maybe so. Dh had two cats when we were dating, and it was a problem when I was at his place but I didn’t seem to have a problem when he was at mine. 
Of course, if you visit a cat owner’s house you can expect to have much higher exposure to allergens, because the allergens are everywhere in their house.
Most people with cat allergy are reacting to proteins found in a cat’s skin cells and saliva. A cat owner’s home is full of shed skin cells from cats (and humans) living there, as well as shed hairs that cats have licked while grooming themselves. Even if the home has been cleaned normally, and the cat isn’t in the home when you visit, you could expect to react to skin cells and hairs that remain in the environment.
A cat owner outside of their home will also carry allergens on their clothing and belongings, but you wouldn’t expect to be exposed to as much of it as you would if you visited their home.
The same goes for a cat being transported inside of a closed carrier; it’s not the same as visiting the cat’s home. The cat will shed a bit of hair and skin cells during the trip, and a small amount of that might escape the mesh of its closed carrier, but your actual exposure is more likely to come from the hair and skin cells that are already on the outside of the carrier and on the owner’s clothing and other belongings (even if the owner has done their best to remove cat hair).
It seems that a flight would be involved, as driving in the winter from the Northeast to a reliably warm place would take multiple days, whereas it should be possible to get a nonstop flight and reach a warm destination the same day to minimize cat stress.
So far it sounds like no one has attempted this. 