What feeding instructions should I leave a pet sitter?

A good handoff removes the need to guess

‘Give the usual scoop’ depends on knowledge that may leave the house with you. Which scoop, which food, and does ‘twice’ describe the daily amount or two full servings? The useful test is whether another person can perform the task without interpreting your habits.

AAHA’s sitter guidance recommends recording meal times and amounts, dietary restrictions, feeding locations and useful contacts. The worksheet below is PetCheck’s practical way to organize that information. It is a household communication aid, not a clinically validated form.

Use one current copy with a revision date. If you change an instruction by message, update the copy the sitter will actually read. An accurate new message does little good if an older note remains beside the food.

Sources: AAHA: Preparing for the Unexpected—Essential Pet Sitter Instructions (2025)

Write the plan with its units still attached

Fill these fields from the plan you already follow. Keep separate rows for different pets or different foods. A shared bag does not imply that every animal receives the same amount.

Sources: AAHA: Preparing for the Unexpected—Essential Pet Sitter Instructions (2025)

Fix the ambiguity before calculating supplies

The following quantities and food name are invented. They illustrate how to rewrite instructions, not how much any dog should eat. Imagine an existing plan for Milo using 180 g of ‘Example Recipe A dry food’ per day, split equally between two meals.

The weak note says ‘90 twice, food in cupboard.’ The revised note says ‘Milo only; Example Recipe A from the labelled bag; 180 g per day total: 90 g at 07:30 and 90 g at 18:30. Use grams and tare the empty bowl.’ The second note preserves the same plan while making the daily-versus-meal distinction visible.

For four complete days, 180 × 4 = 720 g from that bag. If the owner has already given the first morning meal, the sitter is responsible for seven remaining 90 g meals: 630 g. Count the handoff boundary rather than automatically multiplying every date on the calendar by a full day.

Keep the instruction separate from the meal record

A schedule says what should happen. A completion record says what did happen. A tick next to ‘breakfast’ is only useful if everyone knows which pet and date it refers to. Record promptly after the event, not in advance.

Offering a meal is also different from watching it all being eaten. Write what you observed: ‘offered’, ‘some left’, or ‘not observed’. Do not turn an empty shared bowl into a precise intake measurement for one pet. If the pet will not eat or seems unwell, use the agreed clinic instructions and seek veterinary advice rather than improvising an extra portion or medication change.

Rehearse one ordinary meal together

Walk through finding the bag, identifying the pet, measuring, serving and recording. Ask the sitter where a used bowl goes and where a clean one waits. If two pets eat separately, show the arrangement rather than relying on ‘they usually know their bowls’.

Medicines need their own veterinarian-provided directions, with the current label and a separate completion record. This food worksheet must not be used to calculate doses, replace a prescription or decide what to do after a missed dose. Clarify those questions with the clinic before the trip.

For the separate shopping task, the bag calculator uses an existing daily amount to estimate days of supply. It does not know which meals the owner already gave and does not monitor the sitter. Keep the trip’s actual meal count in your handoff note.

• The sitter can explain the daily total and each meal without prompting.
• Food identity, measuring method and last completed meal are clear.
• There is a reachable backup contact and a plan for uncertainty.