Emergencies Are the Worst Moment to Go Searching
Most sitter instructions get read calmly, in advance, in good light. Emergency contacts get used at the opposite moment: late at night, with a cat who has been sick repeatedly, is struggling to breathe, or has eaten something she should not have, while the sitter is trying to find a carrier and a phone number at the same time. A printed sheet with your daytime vet at the top, the separate out-of-hours clinic beneath it, and your own number underlined can be read off a fridge door in seconds. The digital copy then does what paper cannot — it dials with a tap, opens the clinic address as directions, and stays with the sitter in the car and the waiting room.
Daytime Vet and Night Clinic Are Often Two Different Places
The detail sitters most often lack is that out-of-hours care is frequently provided by a different practice, sometimes across town, under a different name. Write both entries in full: practice name, address, and phone number for your usual vet, and the same for the emergency clinic, with a plain note saying which one to call after your normal practice closes and on weekends. Add how long the drive to each takes from your home, because that shapes a frightened sitter's decision about whether to call ahead or simply go. If your cat is registered at a practice with its own night service, say that too, so nobody drives to the wrong building on a guess.
Add the Permission and Payment Details Clinics Ask For
A clinic treating a cat whose owner is away will ask who can authorise care and how treatment will be paid for. Leave a short written note, on both copies, saying your sitter may bring your cat in and that you should be contacted immediately, plus whatever arrangement you have made for payment or insurance details. Note any ongoing condition the emergency vet would not know from looking at your cat, and where her records summary lives, so the sitter can hand over the essentials instead of trying to recall your cat's history under pressure. Keep this to one clear block at the top of the sheet; a wall of text will not be read at midnight.
Make Your Own Reachability Part of the Plan
Your number belongs on the sheet, but so does a backup: a family member or neighbour who can get to the house or the clinic if you are on a flight or out of signal. Tell the sitter the order to try — you first, then the backup, then the clinic for advice while they keep trying you. Agree that for breathing difficulty, collapse, repeated vomiting, a blocked or straining cat, or a known toxin, the sitter goes to the emergency clinic and calls on the way rather than waiting for your reply. Writing that permission down in advance removes the hesitation that costs the most time.
Check the Numbers Like You Check Your Passport
Phone numbers and clinic arrangements change quietly, so verify both copies before each trip: ring or look up each number, confirm the out-of-hours provider is still the same, and replace the printed sheet rather than crossing out old digits. KinsLe's Care Pass keeps your cat's vet and emergency clinic contacts within the temporary care routine your sitter holds for the stay, so the number on the fridge and the number on their phone are the same checked, current one.