A sitter cannot manage what she cannot count. Telling a sitter that there is plenty of food in the cupboard asks her to guess at quantities, rates of use, and the moment a shortage becomes urgent, and guesses fail quietly until the morning a bin is empty. An inventory removes the guessing entirely: it is a short, counted list, written before you leave, that tells the sitter what exists, how long it lasts, when to speak up, and where the spares live.
The Five Fields on Every Line
Every line of the inventory uses the same five fields, in the same order. First, the item, named plainly: her everyday food, her training treats, her prescribed medicine as recorded on its label, waste bags, or cleaning spray for accidents. Second, the quantity on hand, counted rather than estimated: cups in the bin, treats in the jar, rolls of bags in the drawer. Third, the days of supply: how long that quantity lasts at her normal rate of use, which is the field that turns a count into a plan. A bin holding fourteen cups means little until the line adds that she eats two cups a day, so the bin holds seven days of supply.
Fourth, the reorder threshold, written as an instruction the sitter can act on without interpretation: tell me when three days of supply remain. Fifth, where spares are stored, named by room and container, so a refill never becomes a search of the whole house.
The Inventory, Filled In
A working inventory for a week away might read: everyday food, fourteen cups on hand, seven days of supply, tell me when three days remain, spares in the sealed tub on the pantry floor. Training treats, one full jar on hand, roughly ten days of supply, tell me when the jar is a quarter full, spares in the top kitchen drawer. Waste bags, three rolls on hand, well over the stay, no message needed, spares in the hall cupboard. Prescribed medicine, counted servings for the whole stay plus two spare servings, tell me the same day if any serving is refused or spat out, spares in the labelled box beside the chart. Cleaning spray and paper towels, one full set on hand, tell me if the spray runs out, spares under the kitchen sink.
Notice what the filled-in version gives the sitter: a threshold she can check in seconds each morning, and permission to message you early, while a delivery or a neighbour with a spare key can still solve the problem calmly.
Keeping the Count Honest
Count the inventory on the day you write it, not from memory of last month's shopping. Open the bin, count the servings, and check expiry dates on medicine and treats while you are there. Update the page after every trip, because quantities drift: a new food changes the cups per day, a finished medicine should leave the list, and a threshold that triggered too late last time should move earlier. Leave the inventory where the supplies actually are, or hand it over during a walk-through of the cupboards, so the sitter connects each line to a real shelf before you leave. Walk one line aloud together as a rehearsal: if the food line says three days remain, the threshold is met, so ask the sitter to find the bin, judge it against that threshold, and show you where the spares wait, because a threshold understood in the kitchen will be applied correctly at seven in the morning when you are unreachable on a plane. Stored inside Pet Passport on KinsLe, the counted list travels with her records to any sitter, boarder, or family member who takes over her care.