Most handovers cover food and a vet's phone number, and stop there. A sitter looking after a pet with any kind of routine, medication, a health condition, or just particular habits, needs a lot more than that to actually manage a few days well.
The non-negotiables
- Every medication, name, dose, exact time, and what to do if a dose gets missed
- Vet details, practice name, address and phone number, plus a separate emergency or out-of-hours vet if that's a different practice
- What "normal" looks like for this specific pet, quirks, favourite hiding spots, eating habits
- Feeding schedule, including portion sizes and anything they can't have
- Your own contact details, plus a backup emergency contact in case you're genuinely unreachable
Write it down, don't rely on a phone call
A rushed conversation the morning you leave feels thorough in the moment and evaporates fast under real pressure. If a sitter notices something off, they need a document to check against, not a half-remembered instruction from someone who's now on a plane.
"Normal" matters as much as the medical facts
Sitters often panic over things that are completely normal for that particular pet: hiding for a few hours, being picky about food, a routine that looks odd without context. Writing down what's typical saves everyone an anxious, unnecessary phone call.
How we do it now
This used to take an evening to put together properly, and still missed things. Halo's Carer's Pack builds the whole thing automatically, every medication, vet contact, and the daily routine, into one shareable PDF, generated in a single tap and sent over text or email before you've finished packing. The same system that keeps the day-to-day medication routine on track is what makes the handover possible without starting from scratch every time.