To take semi-feral cat on vacation or not?

Please help!  My partner and I have a semi-feral cat living in our garden.  Over the last year, we've spayed her, fed her regularly, and have made some progress in petting her.  She is very friendly and timid.  We have tried acclimating her to be an indoor/outdoor cat, but found she was pretty miserable indoors.  Now we are about to go on vacation for the summer. The question is, do we take her with us or do we leave her outside with a pet sitter to feed her 2-3 x a week?

Which would be more traumatic to the cat:

A lengthy car trip (more than one day) and relocation to a new, indoor, temporary home, and a lengthy car trip back, worse case scenario being she might harm herself trying to escape in an alien environment? 

or

Leaving the cat here, with regular food and water, but no human contact?  We can't afford to pay a pet sitter more than 2-3 times a week.

I guess the tricky part is that the cat seems to be on the borderline of being domesticated, but just isn't far enough along to make me feel optimistic about taking her.

Thanks in advance for any insights you might have!

My guess is it would be best to leave her, with access to food etc.

there is some risk she will wander away.

Anyway, this is the easy solution and feasible.  I dont say it is very good, but feasible.

Taking her with you is interesting as you say, new indoor home.  If you really do it, it could be a nice occasion to make her a pure indoor cat, starting there anew in this house.

But you must work on it. Have you the time and possiblility?

Lets hope you will get reactions form others too.

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

I have a 3 ferals/semi ferals that I have trapped and neutered.  All of them live on or around my deck and come to eat 2x a day.  I was on vacation in mid March and was so freaked to leave them.  I had someone come 2x a day, but I am sure once would be just fine.  I have a problem if I leave the cat food outside during the nights.  We have issues here with raccoons, skunks and opposums.  They all LOVE the cat food.  So I needed someone to come in the late evening and pick up any remaining food.  They all did quite well. 

I would never consider taking my semi feral with me.  I have one that comes inside the house, loves to be pet and is social with myself, Dh an DS.  Yet, he runs when he sees new people.  He too does not want to live inside the house.  On occasion, I can coax him inside when it is bitter cold or a bad rain storm is coming, but even then he prefers to be outside.

I love to get away and have a nice vacation, but caring for outdoor ferals is hard work.  It's also hard to find reliable people.  Yet, it can be done!
 

A critical question, how long will your vacation be?  

Thank you Stefan Z for your advice.  You are right; it is not ideal, but feasible.  As for Shadowsrescue, we too have an issue with other critters (raccoons, etc.) but 2x a day visitor just isn't an option due to cost.

To the question posed by bast friend: I'll be away for 2 months.  That is the kicker.

It's been a few days.....since your vacation is so lovely and long I'd say go for it bring your feral kitty with you and start socialization.   Without daily feeding, the cat may be quite likely to wander off if you leave her.   Any chance a friend or neighbor could put the food out every day?  Another option would be if you knew of someone or somewhere that had a backyard that would be willing to do a relocation of her for long-term, the whole outdoor cage acclimatization thing.