A month changes the maths of packing completely. A weekend bag can rely on goodwill and improvisation, but four weeks will find every gap: the food runs out and a near match replaces it, the litter changes because the usual one was never written down, or a prescription empties with no plan for replacing it. Pack and write for the full month from the start, and treat your relative as a capable carer who deserves proper materials rather than a memory test.
Food, Tray and Litter for the Full Month
Send a month of her usual food, or exact buying instructions for the identical diet where sending it is impractical. Exact means the full product name, the flavour or variety she eats, the pack size and where your relative can buy it locally, written down rather than described on the phone. A similar-looking substitute is a diet change, and a diet change mid-stay is the most common cause of a cat going off her food in a new home. Include a small margin beyond the month in case your return slips by a few days.
Her tray and litter travel with her for the same reason. Take her own tray, or an identical one, and a starting supply of her usual litter plus buying instructions for more of the same. Tray familiarity prevents most toilet problems in a strange house, and the first week is when accidents happen if they are going to. Add her bedding, a scratcher and the toys she actually uses, so the room she settles in smells and feels like hers from the first evening rather than gradually across the month.
Records and a Medication Refill Plan That Covers the Stay
Her records should sit in one folder or one shared place: vaccination record, microchip details, your usual vet's contact information, and the name and number of a vet near your relative, identified before you leave rather than searched for during an emergency. Write her full routine out as well, including feeding times and amounts, tray cleaning, and the quirks your relative would otherwise discover alone, such as a door she must never be allowed through or a hiding place she uses when the doorbell rings.
Medication deserves a plan, not just a supply. Pack enough for the month plus a margin, and write a medication refill plan that says who can order a refill, which vet or pharmacy holds her prescription details, and what your relative should do if a delivery fails or your return is delayed. Agree in advance who can authorise vet treatment while you are abroad and how you will be contacted, because time differences make slow decisions out of simple ones.
The Weekly Check-In That Keeps a Month on Track
Before you leave, agree a weekly check-in call with your relative and put it in both diaries. A month is long enough for appetite, weight, tray habits and behaviour to drift gradually, and a weekly call compares notes while changes are still small: is she eating her full meals, using her tray as usual, and settling into the household's rhythm? The call also protects your relative, who gets a regular chance to raise small worries instead of storing them up or feeling solely responsible for judging them.
Settle your cat in person if you possibly can, stay for her first exploration of the room she will live in, and leave only once she has eaten or settled somewhere of her own choosing. For the whole trip, digital access should match that same time limit, and KinsLe provides it when you create her Care Pass, giving your named relative scoped access to her routine and records only until the date you come home.