Pet sitter information checklist
A short, current handoff gives a pet sitter confidence and helps your pet keep familiar routines while you are away.
The essential daily picture
- Feeding times, food, portions and treats
- Walk, litter, play and sleep routines
- Medication instructions exactly as prescribed
- Where food, medicine, carrier, leash and cleaning supplies are stored
Contacts and boundaries
Share your preferred contact method, your veterinarian’s details, an emergency contact and any instructions the clinic has already given you. Explain what behavior is normal for your pet and which changes should prompt the sitter to contact you or a veterinarian.
Keep it short enough to use
A one-page PDF summary can be easier to scan than a long chat thread. Review it before each trip, remove old details, and make sure the person caring for your pet knows how to reach you.
PetCare Offline can create shareable pet summaries from the records you choose to keep.
A one-page template you can copy
- Pet: name, photo, age, microchip number, anything they must not eat.
- Feeding: food, amount, times, where the food is kept, treats allowed.
- Medication: name, dose, time, how to give it (in food, pill pocket), where it is stored.
- Walks or litter: when, how long, which leash or harness, what to avoid (other dogs, off-leash areas).
- Normal behaviour: where they sleep, what they are afraid of, hiding spots, signs they are unwell.
- House: doors and gates that must stay closed, heating, where cleaning supplies are.
- Contacts: your phone, a backup person, your vet, the nearest 24-hour clinic.
- Authorisation: what treatment the sitter may approve and up to what cost, and how the vet can reach you.
Agree on check-ins
Decide how you want updates — a photo each evening, a message after walks — and what counts as "call me straight away". Clear expectations stop a sitter from worrying about whether to disturb you, and stop you from worrying about silence. Tell your vet in writing that a sitter is caring for your pet, especially if the sitter may need to bring them in.
Rehearse the handoff before you leave
Ask the sitter to read the routine back to you: when the pet eats, where the supplies are, which doors stay closed, and who to call if something changes. This rehearsal exposes missing units, vague timing, or instructions that depend on your memory.
Leave the normal plan first and exceptions second. Include identification, clinic details, medication instructions, emergency permission, and the pet’s signs of stress, but keep the sheet short enough to use during a busy visit.
Run a trial handoff before the trip: let the sitter find the food, read the emergency number, and describe the first visit back to you. Correcting a missing key or an unclear unit at home is easier than solving the same ambiguity after the owner has left.
Include the normal signs that the pet is comfortable and the changes that should trigger a call. A sitter should not have to diagnose anything; they need a clear boundary for when to follow the routine, when to contact you, and when to call the clinic.
Keep one printed or offline copy if the trip may involve poor reception. The best handoff is not the longest one; it is the version a tired person can follow without asking you to translate a vague instruction.
How this article was created
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Also from our sister app GoodBoy: Build focus and check-ins on walks.