Should I take kitty home for Thanksgiving?

We talked about leaving a cat alone for more than a week and agreed that it was best to have someone stay in her home with her for long trips.  What about for shorter leaves, like an overnight Thanksgiving trip?  I am of the mindset that it is better to leave her in her surroundings and be without company for 36 hours or so instead of taking her into a new home that she does not know because cats are so territorial.

What do you all think?  Can I take her with me overnight or is it better to leave her in her home?

If it was me, I'd be leaving my fur baby at home.  Strange people, strange house, strange noises and strange smells equal terrified cat.  Plus, with all the people coming and going there is a possibility of her escaping out the door.  Leave her plenty of water, dry food and a couple of litter boxes so that you don't come home an overflowing litterbox.  You'll feel better knowing that she's home safe and sound.

I'd leave her at home. I've already been thinking about this with my baby and think it's best to just leave her alone with her three litter boxes, two bowls of food out, two bowls of water, her cat water dispenser + cheap water flowing bowl for extra water. That's only if it's for 2-3 days. Maybe 4...

I can't help but be very sensitive to certain needs of my cat and I notice when I come home late, she seems to have been sitting in one of her cat beds in the living room just waiting for me. She's just sitting there...almost sad-looking versus when I get home early or on time and she's somewhere else and comes to greet me. It makes me feel terrible when I'm "late". I don't even want to socialize after around 6pm because I'm thinking of her just waiting for me to come home to give her some fresh wet food and also for me to just come home, but the poor thing only has me although she seems happy about that...

Before daylight savings time happened this month, I bought one of those timer control plug-ins for my lamp so that the light turns on for her when it's all dark already at ~5pm. (I also leave fans on all day for her since my apartment gets warm/hot and the AC is set to turn on ~79 degrees).

I think about trips sometimes...but I don't know if I can bear to leave her alone and I don't trust my family that's close by with her. She'd be scared of them and might escape if I asked them to check on her. She's ran and hid under my bed when I had some of my family over before. I lost some of her trust that first time. She went around the living room marking things after they left and needed petting reassurance from me and to sit in my lap and sat with her back to me like she did when I first brought her home and she came out of hiding. It took over an hour for her to feel okay again after my first visitors left. There's only been one more after that because my sister needed a place to sleep overnight. I even told my brother last week when he wanted to stop by with his family that he couldn't because my cat gets scared and hides and I don't want her to feel bothered. Sorry for my overlong post...  

Leave her at home she'll be a lot happier.

We occasionally go visit family for a weekend, so we'll leave the Saturday morning and come back the Sunday night, though if we were gone till the Monday, it wouldn't be a huge concern for the cats. Leave out multiple food and water sources and a bunch of their toys, maybe some white noise if you feel so inclined.

Since we feed wet, we know we're going to miss serving them at least one or two meals so I get their wet food ready by getting their serving sizes in ice cube trays, so that'll be the next immediate meal, and then double that in a bigger container in the freezer for the subsequent meals we may or may not be home to serve. It also helps that if it all thaws and they eat it early, they won't go hungry if we run late.

I also fill their treat ball with dry so they can supplement on their own. All water bowls are cleaned and refilled, all litter boxes are scooped within the hour we plan to leave, and they're good to go.

Some cats are okay with exploring a new place for a short period of time. Our older cat moved a lot throughout his life, but our younger cat is shyer and needs more stability. If I had no choice, I would take them, but if I had the choice and was only going away for 1-2 days, leaving them is easier on everyone. Bear in mind the bulk of that time will be spent sleeping at home anyway.

Thanks everyone for your replies and stories. She will be staying home!

You only want the best for them.

It always makes me wonder why people take their cats to a strange place for a day or two, especially when there is a cat living at the place they take them.  I have mentioned to them that cats don't really like that but they payed no heed/

Most everyone (who doesn't own a cat) seems to think it's ok to bring them I'm not sure why they are so perplexed that cats like their homes.

People can feel conflicted since the better understood pet - dogs - are very social and outwardly curious. They get much more exposure outside of the home that they really enjoy, and there are also cats who enjoy that adventure whether it's part of an indoor/outdoor lifestyle or on harness/with supervision. If a cat seems very adaptable, owners can be more open to taking them to new places even for short periods of time.

When we had a last-minute notice bed bug spraying, we had to arrange for all of the pets and the only one I couldn't leave with my family was our (only, at the time) cat. My boyfriend took him to his sister's place and he LOVED it - sniffed around, got lots of love from all these new people, got to ham it all up. We take him to the vet and he hops out and explores, marks everything and everyone, and purrs up a storm being manhandled by strangers.

Kismet, on the other hand, would be stressed beyond belief. Owners know their cats best, and if they've had experiences where a cat has been away from their home and still enjoyed the adventure, it can make sense to want to bring them along. My general advice is to leave them in the comfort of their own home, but there's nothing inherently wrong with wanting them to come with you if you think they'll enjoy the trip.

My neices both have taken their cats to visit over the weekend to a home with cats.  The cats that live there were very uneasy the whole time too.  I guess It would depend on the cats involved but if it is clear none of them are liking it I say leave them home the next time.  It just stresses them all out.