A live-in sitter changes who an emergency list is for. Normally the document speaks to you, the person who knows the house, the cat and the vet already. While a sitter stays, the reader is a guest in your home who may need, at an awkward hour, to reach you, reach a vet, or reach someone who can get through your front door with a spare key and local knowledge. The list still holds five entries: your own mobile with a second number for you, a nearby trusted person able to enter your home, the practice you normally use, its overnight service, and the person currently caring for her. Two of those entries change jobs for the stay, and one gains the sitter's own details.
The Sitter Takes the Carer Entry
Whoever is currently caring for her, for these dates, is the sitter, so write her or his name and mobile number into that entry rather than leaving yourself listed as carer from a different city. The sitter's number matters to everyone else on the list: your nearby person may need to call the sitter, the vet may need to call back the person who brought her in, and you may need to reach the house quickly yourself. Note the stay dates beside the entry so anyone reading it later can see the arrangement was temporary, and revert the entry to yourself when you come home rather than letting a finished booking linger as if it were current.
Leave a printed copy of the whole list in the house, somewhere obvious like the kitchen counter, even if the sitter also holds it digitally. A flat phone battery or a locked screen should never stand between a worried sitter and a vet's number at midnight.
The Nearby Person Becomes the Backup
Your trusted nearby person who can get into your home keeps a place on the list but changes role. With a sitter in residence, that person is no longer the first pair of hands; she or he is the backup the sitter calls when the problem is the house itself, a lost key, a tripped fuse, a sitter taken ill, or a cat who has slipped into a locked room. Make sure the nearby person knows a sitter is staying, knows the dates, and has the sitter's number too, so a call in either direction reaches someone who understands the situation. Confirm the key arrangement still works: if the sitter holds your usual spare, the nearby person needs another route in, or the backup role is a fiction.
Your own entries deserve the same honesty. Your mobile plus a second number for you should reflect where you will actually be, perhaps a hotel number, a traveling companion's phone, or a line that works where you are staying. Say which number suits the small hours and which suits daytime, because a sitter deciding whether a worry can wait until morning is helped by knowing when you would rather be woken. Agree that pattern with the sitter before you leave, and have the agreed terms set down in writing at the same stage, covering the stay dates, duties, fee and what happens if the sitter has to leave unexpectedly.
The Vet Entries, Explained for a Stand-In
Your usual vet and the out-of-hours service usually stay identical, yet the sitter needs the distinction explained. Note which number is for practice hours and which takes over overnight, and add the practice address in case the sitter has to drive her there without you navigating by phone. Tell your practice a sitter may bring her in during the stay, so the person at the desk is expected. A short line on the list stating the order to call in, sitter to you, sitter to nearby person, sitter to vet, removes hesitation about who should act first, and the sitter can follow it without feeling she or he is overstepping. Pet Passport in KinsLe holds this stay version of all five entries as one record, so reverting afterwards means restoring the household version, not rebuilding it from memory.