A cat sitter takes over in your absence, often visiting once or twice a day, and everything they know about your cat is what you leave them. A verbal tour fades within hours; a written briefing, specific to your cat and your house, is what the sitter actually works from at seven in the morning on day four.
Feeding, water, and litter, written as instructions
State what your cat eats, how much at each visit, where the food is stored, and what to do with leftovers, including whether a second household cat must be fed separately to stop stealing. Cover water: which bowls or fountains, where they are refilled, and how often. For litter, give tray locations, the cleaning expected at each visit, where supplies and disposal bags live, and what normal use looks like, since a sitter who knows the usual pattern will notice an unused tray, which is exactly the kind of change worth reporting to you promptly.
Contacts and the authority to act
Leave your vet's number, an out-of-hours emergency clinic, your own contact details with realistic expectations about signal, and a local emergency contact who holds a key or can reach the house quickly. Be explicit about what the sitter may authorise if your cat becomes ill and you cannot be reached, and agree how and when you want updates, whether that is a photo at each visit or a message only if something changes. Include the microchip number in the briefing, because a cat who slips out during a sitter's visit needs identifying details in the sitter's hands, not only yours.
The cat-specific knowledge only you have
Record where your cat hides when frightened, so a sitter does not conclude she has escaped when she is behind the washing machine. Note handling truthfully: whether she can be picked up, where she likes contact, and what she objects to, plus behaviours to expect, such as shouting for meals, attempting doors, or hiding from visitors entirely. Add the house rules that protect her: doors and windows that stay shut, rooms that are out of bounds, plants or other pets to keep apart, and anything about alarms, heating, or access the sitter needs to operate the home itself.
Test the briefing with a short first booking
Where possible, book the sitter once for a single day or overnight while you are still reachable nearby, before trusting the briefing with a long trip. A trial exposes the gaps no document review catches: the cupboard the sitter could not find, the door that needs lifting as it closes, the cat who only emerges after the sitter sits down quietly. Ask directly what confused them, correct the written briefing that same week, and note the sitter's own observations about appetite, tray use, and mood as the first entry in an ongoing record.
Agree the briefing before you travel
Walk the sitter through the written notes at a short handover visit if possible, show rather than describe where things are, and leave the briefing somewhere obvious in the house as well as sharing it digitally. Afterwards, ask what was unclear and improve the document for the next trip. Sharing it through KinsLe's Care Pass hands your sitter that complete routine for the dates you are away, so the access, instructions, and key details arrive together and belong to the trip rather than lingering afterwards.