A relief feeder — a neighbour, friend or sitter covering your absence — does not need your cat's biography. They need to open one page and serve dinner exactly as your cat expects it, then notice and report anything unusual. Cats refuse meals for texture as readily as for flavour, eat different amounts at different hours, and hide appetite changes that matter. A record built from five honest fields captures all of that without becoming a diary nobody maintains.
The Five Fields and Why Each Earns Its Place
Keep exactly five fields for every food you log. Food names the exact product and variety and whether it is served wet, dry or mixed, because the same flavour in a different form is a different meal to a cat. Texture records the form your cat accepts — smooth pâté, chunks in gravy, shredded pieces, small kibble — since a sudden switch from chunks to pâté, or the reverse, is a classic cause of a refused bowl. Amount eaten records what actually disappeared, not what you served, because intake is the number that reveals change. Time records when the meal happened, in your cat's real routine rather than a theoretical schedule. Reaction records how the cat responded — eager, hesitant, walked away, returned later — which turns a single refused meal from a mystery into readable information.
A Worked Example, Filled In Properly
A real page holds entries like these, written in the same five fields every time. Morning entry — Food: salmon wet food. Texture: smooth pâté. Amount eaten: 60 grams of the 85 grams served. Time: half past seven in the morning. Reaction: ate eagerly and returned to the bowl twice. Evening entry — Food: chicken dry food. Texture: small crunchy kibble pieces. Amount eaten: 25 grams of the 30 grams served. Time: half past five in the evening. Reaction: ate steadily once the bowl was moved to the quiet corner. Notice what the pair quietly proves: this cat eats roughly double in the morning, prefers pâté to kibble, and is unsettled by a bowl in the busy spot — three facts a relief feeder could never guess, now available at a glance.
How the Relief Feeder Uses the Page
Brief the feeder to work the page in order: serve the food named, in the texture named, at the time named; then complete the line afterwards with amount eaten and reaction, in the same five fields, so your record stays continuous while you are away. Agree the refusal protocol in advance and write it at the foot of the page: check the bowl is in its usual place, confirm the texture matches the entry, leave the meal down for the cat's usual grazing window, and never substitute a different food silently. If a full day passes with almost nothing eaten, or the reaction column suddenly reads listless where it usually reads eager, the feeder phones you — that instruction, with your number beside it, belongs on the page too.
Keeping the Record Alive
Update the page the day a preference changes, not from memory weeks later: cats drift — a flavour adored for months gets dropped, a texture once refused becomes acceptable, morning appetite grows in cooler weather. Cross out nothing; add the new entry with its five fields filled in, so the history of amount eaten and reaction stays visible and a slow decline cannot disguise itself as a sudden one. Review the page before every handover and after every return, and replace it wholesale once entries contradict each other. Because the same five fields travel with the cat, KinsLe keeps them inside Pet Passport records that a relief feeder can open at mealtime without phoning you.