The core records every cattery will ask for
Start with the documents no boarding arrangement works without. Vaccination proof comes first, because reputable catteries check it at the door and can refuse a cat whose cover has lapsed, so include the record card showing the most recent boosters rather than assuming the cattery can ring your vet to confirm. Add the microchip number and the registry it sits with, your vet practice's name, address, and out-of-hours number, and a signed note authorising emergency treatment in your absence with a clear statement of who covers the cost. If your cat takes any ongoing medication or is on a prescription diet, write the routine in plain words — what is given, when, and what a missed dose should trigger — and note any past reactions the treating vet should know about before acting.
The page specific to this flat: height and access
A folder for a ninth-floor cat needs a section a ground-floor owner never writes. State the balcony rule in its own line, impossible to skim past: the balcony door stays locked for the entire stay, windows are opened only on secure latches, and the cat is shut in a bedroom before the front door is opened for deliveries. Then cover how anyone actually reaches the flat. Note the entry code or concierge hours, which lift serves your floor, where a sitter may park or lock a bike, and whether the building requires visitors to sign in. If a cattery is collecting or you are dropping off, record the loading or drop-off point, because carrying a yowling cat through a long lobby and lift ride is the most likely moment for a carrier escape in the whole trip.
Contacts arranged for a high-rise emergency
Order your contacts by who can act fastest in this building. Your own mobile heads the list, followed by a neighbour in the block who holds a spare key and could reach the flat in minutes if a sitter is locked out or a pipe bursts — in a tower, the person three floors down is worth more than a relative across the city. Add the building management or concierge number for access problems, then your vet, then the cattery or sitter themselves so anyone holding the folder can reach every party. Note your return date and what should happen if travel disruption delays you: who feeds the cat for an extra two days, and who is authorised to collect the cat from the cattery if you cannot.
The routine sheet, written for your cat's flat life
Records tell a carer what your cat is; the routine sheet tells them how your cat lives. Write down feeding times and exact amounts, where food and litter are stored in the flat, how often the tray is cleaned, and the small geography that matters to an apartment cat: the windowsill it watches pigeons from, the wardrobe it hides in during storms, the scratching post by the sofa. Mention temperament honestly — whether the cat greets visitors or vanishes until the flat is quiet — so a sitter does not waste visits searching for a cat who is simply behind the curtains, as it always is when strangers arrive.
One packet instead of a scavenger hunt
The failure mode in a small flat is not missing paperwork but scattered paperwork: vaccination card in a kitchen drawer, chip number on an old vet invoice, spare key with a neighbour who is never told the plan. KinsLe's Pet Passport keeps the pet's records together in one portable packet, ready for a cattery check-in, a sitter handover, or an unexpected vet visit — so the folder you pack for this trip is assembled from one place, balcony rule and building contacts included, rather than reconstructed under time pressure.