The instruction “everything is in the kitchen” can leave a sitter searching through three cupboards for the right food scoop. A useful handover connects each task with the exact supplies and directions needed to complete it.
Prepare one page for everyday care, then keep detailed veterinary instructions and contact information alongside it. Use the guide below to organize the handover before your next trip.
Write the routine for each pet
Start with a separate name and description for every dog or cat, especially if they eat different foods. The RSPCA's pet-sitting checklist calls for the usual routine, feeding guidance, exercise needs, behavior information, and essential supplies.
Turn that information into tasks the sitter can follow. Record the normal meal times and measured portions, water checks, walks or toilet breaks, litter-box care, and familiar play activities. Agree on a care schedule that meets your pets' individual needs; a checklist does not decide how often someone should visit.
Replace “one scoop” with the actual amount and measuring tool. Label each pet's food and explain the feeding arrangements, following the AKC's advice on portions and identifying supplies. The sitter should not need to guess which bowl goes with which animal.
Make a map of the supplies
The AKC's home-preparation checklist recommends making supplies easy to locate and identifying the carrier or crate. Keep the supplies accessible to the sitter while following their normal storage rules.
Walk through a normal morning and list the items you reach for. Add a precise location beside each one:
- Food: exact recipe, measuring tool, package directions, and where the backup supply is stored.
- Walking gear: the correct leash and harness, plus waste bags and the usual route instructions.
- Cat supplies: litter boxes, scoop, clean litter, and waste disposal, as covered in Zoetis' cat-care handover advice.
- Play and rest: familiar toys, their supervision rules, and preferred resting places. Zoetis emphasizes explaining which toys need supervision.
- Transport: carrier location and the instructions for securing it.
Keep product labels available. Our treat-storage guide can help you label opened packages without losing their original directions. Check supplies before departure so the sitter knows what is available.
Keep medical directions exact and current
Provide the veterinary team's current written care instructions and the original labeled products. Zoetis recommends clear directions and a demonstration of medical tasks. Confirm that the sitter can provide the established care, and resolve questions with the clinic before leaving.
Include the clinic's directions for a missed treatment or another problem. The sitter should contact the veterinary team when unsure, rather than infer a dose, substitute a product, or improvise.
Agree on the emergency plan
List your contact number, a local backup contact, your regular veterinary clinic, and an emergency clinic, including addresses and phone numbers. Confirm the details directly with the clinics before your trip.
Ask each clinic what authorization and payment arrangements it needs when someone else brings in your pet. Pet Sitters International explains why veterinary release arrangements matter and why a signed form may not satisfy every clinic's policy. Arrange this with the sitter and clinic rather than relying on a generic note to cover every situation.
Make the emergency page easy to locate. Agree that urgent veterinary care should not wait for a routine photo update or a reply in a group chat.
Walk through the house together
Test the entry method and explain which doors and gates must stay closed. The AKC recommends leaving clear house-access directions. Share those details privately with the sitter, and explain known behavior concerns.
Agree on routine updates and urgent calls. Zoetis recommends discussing communication frequency, time zones, and any pet cameras before leaving.
Use a short handover check
Ask the sitter to use your notes to find one meal's supplies, locate the carrier, and identify the emergency contact page. Answer questions and revise the unclear parts while you are together.
Finish the everyday page with these blanks: pet; task and time; exact supplies; location; care instructions; completed by. Add a date to the top and remove older copies. If more than one person shares care, agree how they will record completed tasks so a meal or medication is not repeated.
Our new-pet checklist offers another room-by-room supply check. Before you leave, make sure your sitter has one current set of instructions and knows whom to contact when something changes.
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