The Finding Page: Ranked Spots and Exact Locations
A sitter's first anxiety is a cat they cannot find, so make the first page answer it. List her hiding places in the order she actually uses them, starting with the everyday favourite and ending with the deep refuge she saves for real alarm. Describe each one as if guiding someone over the phone: the room, the furniture, the side to approach from, and whether a torch helps. 'In the spare room' fails; 'inside the bottom drawer of the spare-room dresser, which she opens from underneath' succeeds.
Photograph the least obvious spot — the gap behind the boiler, the shelf inside the wardrobe — because a sitter who has seen the photo recognises the place instead of dismissing it as impossible. Beside each spot, note whether she may be checked on visually and left in peace, which is the right move for most hiding cats.
Add the Sounds and Signals That Bring Her Out
Record how she is called in your house: her name in the tone you use, the treat packet shake, the specific call at feeding time. Note honestly whether she responds to unfamiliar voices — many cats will emerge for a household voice and stay hidden for a stranger's, in which case the sitter's instruction is patience plus a treat trail, not repeated calling that confirms the house contains someone new.
Write down the emergence pattern too: how long she typically hides when a new person arrives, the first place she appears when she decides the coast is clear, and the behaviour that means she has accepted the sitter — eating in the open, using the tray normally, the first headbutt. A sitter who knows the normal timeline does not phone you in worry at hour two of a perfectly ordinary three-hour hide.
The Quirks Page: Translate Her Language
Quirks are instructions in disguise. The cat who sits in the bathroom doorway every morning is not random — she is keeping a routine the sitter should expect and not trip over. The chirp by the cupboard is a request, the flop-and-roll by the hall is an invitation with limits, and the sudden sprint at dusk is a need for a play session, not madness. Write each quirk with its translation and the right response, in plain terms a first-time sitter can act on.
Handling quirks deserve their own lines: chin scratches welcome, belly contact a trap, being picked up tolerated only briefly or not at all, brushing loved or loathed. Note the warning signs in her personal order — the stilling, the tail flick, the ears — and state the rule simply: when the signs start, stop, and let her leave. A sitter armed with that page builds trust in two visits; one without it can undo your cat's confidence in an afternoon.
Note the Worries and the Workarounds
Record what unsettles her and what your household does about it: the neighbour's dog barking through the fence means she skips the garden room for an hour; delivery drivers mean the hallway is empty until the door has closed; storms mean she wants the covered bed and a quiet house, not cuddles. Workarounds learned over years are gold for a sitter — the wand toy that resets a restless evening, the cardboard box that outperforms every bought bed.
Include escape artistry if she has any: the window latch she studies, the door she times. Sitters relax once warned, and warned sitters shut those doors without being reminded.
Leave It Where the Sitter Will Actually Use It
Give the sitter these pages before the booking — to read at home, not on your doorstep as you leave — and keep the printed copy by the feeding station for mid-visit checks. Update it after each sit with anything the sitter reports: a new hiding place discovered, a quirk you never knew she performed for guests. Each sit should make the document smarter.
Sending those pages through a KinsLe Care Pass hands the sitter temporary, clear access to her quirks, hiding places and routine in one view, so the first visit starts with understanding rather than searching.