A sitter cannot spot a change in a cat they have just met unless normal has been written down first. Litter habits are where change often shows earliest and speaks plainest, but only against a baseline. This note gives the sitter her baseline in numbers, pictures in words, and places, plus a clear line between report it tonight and call the vet now.
Write Her Normal in Counts, Size, and Consistency
State how often each day she passes urine and how often each day she passes a stool, using her real pattern across an ordinary week rather than a best day. If her pattern differs between a workday and a quiet weekend at home, say so, because the sitter's days with her will look more like the quiet version and the comparison should match.
Describe what normal looks like once the tray is used: the usual size of a urine clump or wet patch for her, the usual amount in a stool, and a stool's normal consistency and color in plain words. List each tray's place, room by room, and which tray she favors for what, if she has a preference. A sitter who knows she favors the hallway tray for urine reads an empty hallway tray very differently from a sitter working blind.
Describe Her Habits Around the Tray
Write down her routine as the sitter will witness it: whether she digs before, covers thoroughly afterward, covers nothing at all, scratches at the wall or floor beside the tray, or announces herself loudly on the way in or out. Note when she usually goes in relation to meals, waking, and play, and whether she minds being watched or prefers the room empty.
Record the setup itself with the same care: the litter you use, how deep you fill it, whether a liner is used, how often you scoop, and where spare litter, bags, and cleaning supplies live. A sitter who tops up with a different litter, or fills the tray deeper out of kindness, can change her habits for reasons that have nothing to do with her health, and the note should prevent that confusion before it starts.
Open the finished note with her ordinary day in one short block at the top, before any detail: her usual counts, her usual times, her favored tray, in a few lines the sitter can reread in seconds each morning. Detail belongs below, where it supports that summary rather than replacing it. A sitter in a hurry reads the block; a sitter puzzling over something reads the whole note; a vet, if one is needed, reads both and gets a baseline and a timeline in under a minute. That order, summary first and evidence second, is what makes the note usable under pressure.
Name the Changes Worth Reporting, and to Whom
Tell the sitter to message you the same day about a clear change from the written normal: far more visits than usual, far fewer, much smaller or larger amounts, a stool far looser or far harder than her normal, accidents outside the tray, or a sudden change in her digging, covering, or announcing habits. Ask the sitter to write what was seen and when, and to photograph the tray before cleaning if the change is striking, because your description to a vet is only as good as the sitter's record.
Reserve a separate, unmistakable instruction for the signs that must reach a veterinarian at once, without waiting for you: repeated straining with little or nothing passed, crying at the tray, blood in the urine or stool, or no urine at all. Put your number, her vet's number, and the emergency number at the foot of the note, and if the sitter is paid, confirm the agreed sitting terms in writing alongside it. Her litter baseline rests as a written handoff in a Pet Passport note, ready to give the next sitter unchanged, which is how KinsLe keeps her normal on record between stays.