Write for a stressed reader, not a relaxed one
An emergency contact card is read in the worst ten minutes of a carer's week, so it should be built for shaking hands and a racing mind. Put the most urgent information at the top in large, plain order: who the cat is, who owns her, and who to call first. Everything else on the card supports those opening lines.
Start with yourself — full name, mobile number, and where you will be, with the best way to reach you if your usual number fails. Follow immediately with a second person: a partner, family member, or nearby friend who knows the cat, can get to your home, and is willing to make decisions with the vet if you are unreachable. Tell that person they are on the card; a backup contact who does not know they are the backup is only half a backup.
The veterinary contacts, in calling order
Next, list the veterinary contacts in the order the carer should use them. Your cat's regular clinic comes first, with its name, address, and phone number, because that clinic holds her history and knows her. Add the out-of-hours or emergency option your clinic directs clients to, clearly labelled as the number for nights and weekends, so the carer is not hunting for it mid-crisis.
Note your cat's name exactly as the clinic has it registered, plus her microchip details if you have them to hand. A carer who can quote the registered name and chip information shortens every conversation they have on your behalf.
The cat herself, in a few honest lines
Give the carer a compact portrait of the cat they are protecting: age, temperament with strangers, where she hides when frightened, and how she can be coaxed into her carrier without a fight. Add feeding basics — what, how much in the terms you actually use at home, and when — and describe any ongoing care she needs in plain steps, exactly as you perform them, with the times attached.
Honesty matters here. A cat who bolts for an open door, hates being picked up, or must not be given certain foods needs those facts on the card in clear language, not softened into hints. The card is a safety document, not a sales pitch for your pet.
Before you travel, read the finished card aloud once as if you were the carer arriving to an unfamiliar house and an unsettled cat. Any line you stumble over, any number you have to squint at, and any instruction that assumes knowledge only you have should be rewritten on the spot — the rehearsal is cheap, and the real reading will not offer a second draft.
Where things live, and where the card lives
Finish with a short where-things-are list: carrier, food, litter supplies, and her fuller care notes. Then place the finished card where a carer will actually find it — handed to them directly before you leave, with a copy kept at home in the agreed spot, rather than buried in a drawer they would never open.
That handover moment is where a KinsLe Care Pass does the same job in shared form: it gives a trusted sitter temporary, clear access to your cat's routine and key details for the time you are away, so the emergency picture travels with the arrangement instead of depending on one card staying put.