A boarding sheet succeeds or fails at midnight, when a member of staff who has never met your cat is working from it alone. Build it with exactly four sections, under the four headings below, and keep the whole document brief: long enough to carry every decision, short enough to be read fully rather than skimmed. Write in plain instructions, name quantities and times rather than habits, and hand the sheet over in person where you can, getting the cattery's own requirements confirmed in writing as part of that handover so their rules and your instructions sit in the same agreement.
Feeding
State what she eats, how much at each meal, at what times, and where meals are served, including whether food is measured, soaked, warmed or given exactly as it comes. Name the food precisely enough that a substitute is never guessed at, and say what counts as not eating in your judgement: a missed meal to be noted, a full day without food to be phoned through to you. Add her treats and their limits, any foods she must never be given, and where her food is stored if you have supplied your own for the stay. If she grazes rather than eating set meals, say so plainly, because a boarder expecting finished bowls will otherwise read a normal day as a problem.
Litter
Describe the tray arrangements as the cattery will actually run them: how many trays, where they stand, which litter she uses, and how often they should be scooped and fully changed. Say where spare litter and waste bags are kept if you have supplied them, and what her normal habits look like, since a change in tray use is often the earliest visible sign that a boarding cat is stressed or unwell. If she is particular, and many cats are, say what the particularity is: a tray she favours, a litter depth she expects, a covered or uncovered preference. Details like these read as fussiness on paper and as the difference between a settled cat and a protest at the time.
Behaviour
Give the boarder her normal, not an idealised version of it: where she hides when the pen feels strange, how much handling she welcomes, what she dislikes, and the signs that she wants to be left alone. Name her settling habits, the blanket or item from home that travels with her, and any behaviour the staff should expect in the first day or two, such as silence, hiding or refusing the tray, so normal adjustment is not mistaken for illness. Note anything she must not be allowed to do, doors she darts for, heights she attempts, and how she behaves at the vet if a visit becomes necessary. Honest behaviour notes protect staff as much as the cat, since a warned handler is a gentle one.
Emergency Authorisation and Spending Limit
Close the sheet with the decisions only you can make. The emergency authorisation names your vet, gives the out-of-hours route the practice uses, lists your contact order, and states in writing that the cattery may authorise urgent treatment on your behalf up to a spending limit you have set yourself. Write the actual figure you have chosen, since a limit described vaguely helps nobody at a treatment desk; the figure is yours to pick, and it should be one you could genuinely cover. Add her microchip details and any ongoing medication routine she is on, described exactly as her vet's label describes it. Through a Care Pass, KinsLe lets your chosen cattery open the sheet just for the booked stay, with nothing left accessible once those dates pass.