In a multi-cat home, the sitter's real task is telling individuals apart under pressure: which lookalike cat ate, which one hides, which one must not get the other's food. Separate sheets, written to one identical pattern, turn that from memory into a system.
Write One Page Per Cat, With Nothing Blended
Use exactly the same six fields on every cat's one-page sheet, in this order: photo, feeding, litter, medication, temperament and hiding places. Keeping the field set identical matters because a sitter scanning three or four sheets at feeding time should find the same kind of information in the same position on each page, with only the cat changing.
A worked example shows the level of detail each field needs. Photo: a clear front photograph showing a white chin patch and a torn left ear tip. Feeding: her usual wet food in the blue bowl by the window, morning and evening, with biscuits left down afterwards. Litter: uses the covered tray in the utility room and will not use a tray another cat has just used. Medication: joint tablets with breakfast, exactly as directed by her vet. Temperament: shy with visitors, approaches slowly if ignored, dislikes being picked up. Hiding places: under the spare bed and inside the wardrobe in the back bedroom.
Write every other cat's sheet to that same pattern and depth. Feeding notes should make clear where that cat eats and why the place matters, because shared bowls hide the individual who has stopped eating. Medication notes name what is given and when in the day, and say what the sitter should do if that cat refuses it, rather than leaving them to improvise. Temperament notes should describe how that cat actually behaves with a stranger in the first ten minutes, not a general claim that all cats are friendly.
Add the Master Sheet and Label the Home
Alongside the per-cat sheets, leave a single master sheet carrying the house-level information: vet details, owner contacts and a daily visit checklist. Those three items appear only on the master sheet, so a sitter never has to guess which page holds the practice number during an urgent moment. The daily visit checklist should walk the visit in order: count every cat, feed each one in their own place, refresh water, clean trays, give any medication listed, play briefly, and note anything unusual per cat before leaving.
Label the home to match the sheets. Put each cat's name on their food container, bowl and any prescribed items, keep different foods in clearly separate places, and show the sitter where litter, spare litter, bags, carriers and cleaning supplies live. If two cats look alike, say so on both sheets and point out the distinguishing marks in the photo field, in person, during the handover.
If the sitter is paid, get the agreed visit schedule, rates and any overnight arrangement confirmed in writing before the trip, alongside the sheets.
Walk the Sitter Through Every Cat
Hold a handover visit where the sitter meets all the cats, watches a feeding round in the usual separate places and finds each cat's hiding places without pulling anyone out. Talk through what a normal report looks like: per cat, each visit, saying who ate, who used a tray, who took medication and who was not seen at all. A missing cat should trigger a calm search of the hiding places listed on that cat's sheet, a check that doors and windows are as they should be, and a call to you, not an assumption that the cat is sulking.
Leave spare food, a spare set of keys with a trusted neighbour if you have one, and instructions for what to do if a cat becomes unwell: which practice to call, who can authorise care if you cannot be reached and how the sitter will be repaid for any agreed costs. For the visit period alone, a sitter opens Care Pass via KinsLe and finds each one-page sheet there, with access ending once the final booked visit is done.