A sitter who has never cared for her cannot guess her routine from goodwill alone, and a long chat the night before a trip fades fast once you have left. What survives is a single sheet she can follow at the bowl, at the tray and at the front door, backed by one unhurried walk through your home while she watches where everything lives. The sheet holds feeding, water, litter, any prescribed medication described in generic terms, what is normal and what is abnormal for her in particular, house rules, and the emergency layer. The walkthrough turns those lines into places, cupboards and habits she has actually seen.
One Sheet That Holds Her Whole Day
Start the sheet with food: what she eats, how much belongs in the bowl at each meal, and when those meals happen, written in the measures your kitchen uses rather than vague handfuls. Add fresh water, where her bowl or fountain sits, and how often you refresh it. Litter comes next, covering which tray she uses, how you scoop and top it up, and where bags and spare litter are stored. If she takes prescribed medication, describe it in generic terms only: what the vet prescribed it for in plain words, when she has it, how she usually accepts it, and a firm line that doses are never doubled or skipped on guesswork, with any missed dose reported to you the same day.
The second half of the sheet describes her herself. Write what a normal day looks like for her: where she sleeps, when she is active, how much she usually eats, and how she asks for attention or refuses it. Then write what abnormal looks like for her specifically, such as a full bowl untouched, hiding in a place she never uses, straining at the tray, or crying at night when she is usually silent. A sitter who knows her baseline can spot a change early.
Walking Her Sitter Through the House
Do the walkthrough at feeding time if you can, so the sitter watches a real meal from cupboard to bowl and sees how she behaves around food. Open the cupboards where her food, treats and medication live, show the scoop or measure you actually use, and point out anything she must never reach, including cleaning products and plants she might chew. Show her hiding places and ask the sitter not to drag her out of them, and demonstrate how she prefers to be approached, picked up or left alone. Finish at the doors and windows, naming which ones stay shut, which rooms are out of bounds, and where her carrier waits in case a vet trip becomes necessary.
House rules belong in this walk as much as on paper. If she is never fed from your plate, never let outside, or never woken once settled, say so while standing in the room where the rule applies. Agree how the sitter reports back each visit, and what counts as urgent enough for an immediate phone call.
Terms in Writing and the Emergency Layer
Treat the booking like the small contract it is. Before the trip, have the terms you agreed with the sitter set down in writing: the dates and visit times, the duties covered, the fee, and the plan if the sitter cannot attend one day. Written terms protect the sitter as much as you, because nobody is reconstructing a doorstep conversation from memory mid-trip. The emergency layer closes the sheet: your mobile and a second way to reach you, a nearby person who can get into your home, her usual vet, the out-of-hours service, and what the sitter should do first in the opening minutes of a problem.
Leave the sheet on the kitchen counter, and keep a photograph of it on your phone to resend if questions arise. When you return, ask what confused her, and correct the sheet while the trip is fresh. Care Pass in KinsLe handles the digital side of this handover, giving one chosen carer time-limited, narrowly scoped access to her details that closes when the trip closes.