Your dog's emergency info sheet should list their name, breed, age, and weight, your name and phone number, a backup contact who can make decisions, your regular vet and nearest emergency vet, current medications, medical conditions, allergies, vaccine status, microchip number if you have it, and clear feeding and handling notes. Put the most time-critical facts — allergies and medications — near the top, so a stressed helper finds them in seconds, not after scrolling through a long document.
What belongs on the sheet, section by section
Start with identity: a recent photo, your dog's name and any nickname they actually answer to, color and markings, and whether they are spayed or neutered. Then add health basics: ongoing conditions such as arthritis, a heart murmur, seizures, or diabetes, plus anything a new clinic would need to know before treatment.
Next, medications. Write the name as it appears on the label, when it is given, and where you keep it at home. Avoid vague lines like "morning pill" — a neighbor helping during a power outage or a family emergency may not know which pill that is. Do the same for food: brand or recipe, amount per meal, feeding times, and foods that are strictly off-limits.
Finish with behavior notes that keep people safe: Is your dog fearful of men in hats, reactive on leash, likely to bolt through an open door, or nervous at the vet? One honest line here prevents a bite, an escape, or a panicked chase around the block.
Where to keep copies
One copy belongs where an emergency responder or pet sitter will actually look — on the fridge, inside the front door cabinet, or taped inside the leash cupboard. Give a second copy to your backup contact and a third to anyone who regularly watches your dog. If you board your dog or use a daycare, ask them to keep a copy on file and update it when you do.
Review the sheet every six months and immediately after any vet visit that changes medication, weight, or diet. An old sheet with a discontinued medication on it can be worse than no sheet at all, because people will trust it.
A simple format that works under stress
Keep it to one page if you can. Use short headings, large readable type, and plain language. Avoid burying phone numbers in paragraphs — list them as their own lines. Include:
- Your mobile number and a backup person's number
- Regular vet and 24-hour emergency vet, with addresses
- Allergies in bold, with what happens on exposure if you know it
- Medication names, timing, and location in the house
- Feeding amount, schedule, and one calming routine that helps
Test it once: hand the sheet to a friend who does not know your dog well and ask what they would do first in an emergency. If they hesitate, the sheet needs clearer ordering.
Sharing it instantly with KinsLe Care Pass
Paper on the fridge helps at home, but it does not travel with your dog to a sitter's house, a boarding facility, or a relative across town. KinsLe's Care Pass is a temporary, scoped link you can share so a sitter or boarder sees your dog's emergency information and care notes when it matters most — and the recipient needs no account or app to open it. You share it for the trip or emergency at hand, rather than handing over permanent access to everything.
Keeping that sheet current inside your dog's profile means you are not rebuilding it from memory during a stressful phone call. For the length of a trip or an emergency absence, the boarder or house sitter watching your dog can open the emergency information — allergies, medication names and timing, and both vet contacts — through the Care Pass file on KinsLe.