The identification pages that matter most
The front of the folder should identify your cat to a stranger in under a minute. Print two or three recent colour photographs — a full side view, a face-on shot, and one showing any distinctive marking such as a torn ear, a kinked tail, or a white patch that only shows on her belly. Underneath, write her name, breed or type, age, sex, weight, and coat description in plain words, plus her microchip number written out in full and the registry it sits with. Add the colour and type of collar she wears and what is written on any tag. In an evacuation, cats are often carried out in a rush by someone other than their owner, and this single page is what lets a shelter reunite her with you instead of logging her as an unnamed stray.
Contacts a stranger can actually use
List your mobile number first, then a second number for someone outside your immediate area — a relative or friend in another town who will still answer if local networks are down or you are being moved between shelters. Add your usual veterinary practice with its address, and the nearest emergency or out-of-hours clinic you know of. Write down a neighbour who holds a spare key and knows your cat, because that person may be the one who can tell rescuers where she hides in the house. Keep these numbers handwritten as well as printed if you can, and check the page whenever a number changes; an evacuation folder with an old mobile number on it fails at the exact moment it is needed.
Care and behaviour notes for whoever holds the carrier
On a second page, record what a temporary carer needs for the first day or two: what she eats, how much and how often, any ongoing treatment described in general terms with a note to confirm details with the vet, and anything she must not be given. Note her temperament honestly — whether she is friendly with strangers or likely to bite when cornered, whether she tolerates dogs or other cats, and her favourite hiding places at home, such as the airing cupboard or under a particular bed, because those habits predict where she will hide in a strange building too. Add whether she is an indoor-only cat, since that changes how far a search team should look if she slips a carrier during the move.
Keeping the folder ready by the door
Store the folder in a waterproof wallet with the cat carrier, a spare lead or harness, and a small torch, all by the exit you would actually use. Paper is the point: it works when a phone battery is flat, when there is no signal, and when the person who needs it is not you. Review the contents whenever her appearance, weight, vet, or your contact details change, and replace the photographs at least when she ages from kitten to adult or her coat changes noticeably. Tell everyone in the household where the folder lives, and practise picking it up with the carrier so the motion is automatic rather than one more decision in a frightening moment.
A backup that travels on the cat herself
A folder helps only if it leaves the house with you, and an evacuation is precisely when things get left behind. A collar tag from KinsLe Verified QR ID Pet Profiles travels with your cat wherever she is carried, so a finder at a shelter, a rest stop, or a neighbour's house can scan her unique code and reach her profile and your contact details even if the paper folder never made it out.