Pet Sitter Information Sheet

Who this is for

Everything a sitter needs, in the order they will need it. The top has you, a backup and the vet, the habits box says what the pet does and does not do, and the routine table goes through the day by time.

Owners leaving a dog, cat or small pet with a friend, a neighbour or a paid sitter for a night or a fortnight, and sitters who would rather have it written down than told at the door.

What this helps you track

• The daily routine, in order and with times, so nothing is forgotten by day three
• How much the pet is fed and when, as you write it, not as the sitter guesses
• Habits, fears, tricks and house rules that only you know
• Where the food, lead, litter, medicines and spare key are
• Who to ring — you, someone nearby and the vet — with the out-of-hours number

How to use it

1. Fill in the pet's details, where you will be and the dates, then the contacts: you, someone nearby with a key, the vet and the out-of-hours vet.
2. Write the habits box as if for a stranger: what the pet is scared of, whether it is allowed on the sofa, what it will try to steal.
3. Use the house box for the things a sitter trips over — the spare key, the alarm, bin day, deliveries, rooms that are off limits.
4. Walk through a normal day and put each thing in the routine table with its time: feeds, walks, litter, medicine, bedtime — and where the things for it are kept.
5. Print it and leave it with the food, or fill it in online, save it in your browser and send the sitter a PDF.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How detailed should the routine be?

More than feels necessary. A sitter has no way to know that the cat is fed before the dog, or that the walk is after breakfast and not before, unless it is written down with a time.

Where do feeding amounts come from?

From you, as you feed the animal now, or from your vet. The sheet has a blank for the amount and no figure of its own.

What about medicines?

Name them here and say where they are; put the doses, as on the label, on the pet medication log so the sitter can tick each one off.

Should the sitter have the emergency sheet as well?

Yes. This sheet is the routine; the emergency sheet is what to do if the pet is ill, lost or hurt. Leave both.