A neighbour feeding a cat for a weekend is doing more than filling a bowl. They are the only person who will see her tray, her water and your house for two days, and small misses compound: an unscooped tray, stale water or a window left ajar can turn a simple favour into a problem. A clear briefing, walked through once in person, turns goodwill into reliable care.
Brief Your Neighbour Before the Weekend Starts
Go through the briefing together in her home before you leave, not by text from the airport. Show your neighbour where her food is kept and how it is measured, where cleaning things live, where litter waste goes, which rooms she uses and where she hides when a stranger enters. A neighbour who has stood in the kitchen and opened the right cupboard once will not improvise under pressure later.
Leave the briefing in writing as well as in person, in the order a visit runs, and include the parts of her routine a stranger would not guess. Note that she may not appear at all during a visit, where to look without pulling furniture apart, and how long to sit quietly before concluding she is simply keeping out of the way.
Hand over the key in person and agree where it lives during the weekend and how it returns to you. A key under a mat or through a letterbox is a security hole dressed as convenience. If your neighbour loses the key or locks themselves out, they should phone you at once rather than trying windows, because a forced entry can let an indoor cat out.
The Visit Itself: Feeding, Water, Litter and Checks
At each visit, work in a steady order. Come in, close the door behind you at once, feed her the stated amount at her usual time, refresh her water, scoop her tray, then check the house before leaving. The visit briefing covers how much to feed her and when, water refreshed daily, the tray scooped on every visit, checks of doors, windows and keys, plus a route for contacting you and a number for her vet.
Refresh her water daily, washing the bowl rather than merely topping it up, because a filmed bowl puts cats off drinking. Scoop the tray at every visit, morning and evening alike, and look at what you scoop: a tray unused since the last visit, or one used far more than usual, is information to pass to you, not merely waste to bag.
Feeding amounts and times protect her routine and her waistline. Measure as you demonstrated, resist the pleading of a cat who claims nobody fed her, and remove uneaten wet food at the next visit rather than leaving it to spoil. If she has not eaten at all across a full day, that is a reason to use the contact route the same day.
Doors, Windows, Keys and Knowing When to Call
Checks of doors, windows and the key close each visit. Confirm windows she could push are shut and latched, internal doors that must stay open for her tray and food access are open, doors that must stay shut are shut, and the house is locked with the key accounted for as the neighbour leaves. In warm weather a window opened for air during a visit must be shut again before departure, however short the visit felt.
Your contact route should be a method you will actually see while away, with a back-up way to reach you if signal is poor. The vet's number belongs beside it, with her usual practice named, so the neighbour is not searching the internet during an urgent moment with a cat who is vomiting repeatedly, straining in her tray or suddenly unable to settle.
Thank your neighbour with specifics on your return: what they noticed, what they kept steady, what you would adjust next time. For her weekend care, that neighbour alone receives access by Care Pass through KinsLe, set to end when you are home again.