At 7am on day two, your sitter is standing in your kitchen holding a note that says a scoop, morning and night. There are two scoops in the drawer and three tubs in the pantry, and you are on a plane. Preparation is what stops that moment happening, and it is about two hours of work before you go: the pet care sheet, the house notes, a one page emergency sheet, then your own sweep for hazards and a decision about keys and codes. The walkthrough is not part of the two hours. That happens on handover day, on foot, with your sitter next to you, and it goes better when the writing is already done.
- Three documents cover it: the pets, the house, and emergencies.
- Print the emergency sheet. Nobody wants to search a message thread at 2am.
- Hand keys over in person if you can, and change alarm codes before the sit and after.
- Securing valuables is standard practice, not a statement about your sitter.
- Leave money only for pet costs you have agreed, in writing. There is nothing to tip.
- Cover the Australian hazards: snail and rat bait, paralysis ticks, summer heat, the pool gate.
The two hour plan
- 40 minutes writing the pet care sheet.
- 20 minutes writing the house notes.
- 15 minutes writing the emergency sheet and printing two copies.
- 30 minutes walking the house and garden and clearing hazards.
- 15 minutes sorting keys, alarm codes and access.
Write first, walk second. The writing reminds you which cupboard you forgot about.
Document one: the pet care sheet
Write it for someone who has never met your animal and cannot ask you a question for eight hours.
Feeding, in amounts not adjectives
"A scoop morning and night" means nothing to a stranger. "One level metric cup from the blue tub, 7am and 5.30pm" means one thing only. Add where the food is kept, the brand to buy if it runs out, and whether the animals eat apart.
Medication
Name, dose, time, how it is given, and what to do if a dose is missed or spat out. Note the clinic holding the repeat script, and demonstrate it once at the handover. Raise complicated regimes while you are still working out whether the sitter is the right fit.
What normal looks like
People skip this and sitters need it most. Without a baseline, nobody can tell ordinary from alarming. Write the unremarkable down: sleeps most of the day, will not eat until mid morning, hides from the rubbish truck, stiff on cold mornings.
What a bad sign looks like
Animal Emergency Service publishes an Australian list of situations that warrant an emergency vet visit. Put the relevant ones on your sheet: repeated vomiting, difficult or noisy breathing, straining to urinate, a hard swollen abdomen, collapse, seizures, and any suspected snake bite or poisoning.
Add two more where they apply. Paralysis ticks run from north Queensland down to Victoria, and the RSPCA explains the daily tick search and the early signs. For summer it lists panting, drooling, weakness and confusion as signs of heatstroke.
Write the action next to the symptom
A symptom list is only half an instruction. Next to each one, write what you want done: ring the vet first and me second, without waiting for my reply. Sitters hesitate because they do not want to overreact and leave you with a bill.
Document two: the house notes
Twenty minutes as a plain list. You are not writing a manual, you are preventing five text messages from another time zone.
- Power and water: the meter box, which switch is which, the mains tap, and where the torch lives.
- Hot water and climate: how the system is switched on, and anything temperamental about it.
- Wifi: network name and password on paper, and how to restart the modem.
- Bins: which night, which bin, which week for recycling, and where they go afterwards.
- The quirks: the door that sticks, the window that will not lock, the gate that needs latching twice.
- Outside and parking: watering, pool pump timers, which plants matter, your spot and any permit.
Quirks are what people forget, because you stopped noticing them. Walk an ordinary day through your head, alarm to lights out, and write down what you do without thinking.
Document three: the one page emergency sheet
One page, printed, on the fridge, with a second copy in the pet food cupboard. Photograph it into your message thread for a dated record.
- You: mobile, travel dates, the hours you will genuinely be unreachable, and a second contact number.
- A local backup who can reach the house within the hour, asked in advance.
- Your vet: clinic name, address, phone, hours, and the name your pet's file is under.
- The after hours emergency vet: address, phone, and how long the drive takes.
- Animal Poisons Helpline, a 24/7 Australian advice line on 1300 869 738. Consultations are charged, so note the fee and who pays it.
- 000 for fire, ambulance and police emergencies, and 131 444 for non urgent police.
- Two neighbours, with numbers, and which one holds a spare key.
- Identification and authority: microchip number and registry for each pet, and what treatment you authorise, up to what amount, and how it will be paid.
Treatment authority deserves more than a bullet point, so we have covered it in emergency vet consent and who pays. Ring your clinic before you go and say who can bring your animal in, and to what limit.
Check the microchip record too. PetAddress finds which registry holds a number, so you can update your mobile before you leave. The RSPCA's advice on preparing pets for an emergency also recommends a nominated person who can access your home and written authorisation for veterinary decisions. Anyone with custody, care or control of an animal is a person in charge of it under state animal welfare law, so your sitter carries duties of their own.
Keys, alarm codes and access
This part worries homeowners most, and ordinary precautions handle it.
Handing over keys
- In person at the handover is simplest and best, and the walkthrough happens at the same time.
- A neighbour or family member can hold them if your sitter arrives after you leave.
- A key lock box is fine if it is out of sight, the code is unique, and you change it afterwards.
- Count the keys you hand over, gate and shed included, and count them back.
- Nothing identifying on the keyring, and no spare left under the mat.
Alarm codes
Change the code before the sit and again when you get home, as you would after any tradesperson had it. A temporary user code you delete afterwards is tidier still. Put the arming sequence in the house notes with the monitoring company's number, and test it with the sitter at the panel.
Smart locks, cameras and deliveries
Issue a time limited guest code rather than sharing your account login, and revoke it at the end. Leave a physical key as backup, because batteries flatten. If you have indoor cameras, say so before the sit is confirmed and say where they are. Pause deliveries where you can, and ask for the mail to be brought in daily.
Do not put everything in one message
Your street address, your alarm code and your travel dates are harmless apart and useful to the wrong person together. Share the address once the sit is agreed, then give the alarm or lock box code at the handover.
The walkthrough
Thirty minutes on foot. Clear the hazards yourself the day before, and walk the property with your sitter on the day.
Pet proofing and Australian household hazards
The RSPCA's list of common household dangers for pets names chocolate, onions and garlic, grapes and sultanas, macadamias, xylitol, human medicines such as paracetamol, and lilies, where a small amount of plant or pollen can be life threatening to a cat. It also recommends avoiding rat bait in favour of more humane control.
Put those things behind a door. Move medicines off the bedside table, and lift snail bait and rat bait out of the laundry and the garden beds. Then think about what a guest might do that you never do: leave the pantry open, or a handbag on the floor.
Garden, fences and pool
Walk the fence line and point out the gap your dog knows about. Check the pool gate closes and latches by itself, and have it repaired if it does not. Say whether the dog is allowed near the pool and whether it can get itself out. Lock the shed: fertiliser, pool chemicals, fuel.
In warmer months add the seasonal briefing. Snake country or not, your sitter deserves to know which it is. Show them the shade, and be explicit that pets are not left outside in the heat. Summer sits have their own rhythm, covered in planning pet care over the Australian summer.
Securing valuables and personal documents
Lock away passports, birth certificates, spare car keys, jewellery, prescription medicines and cash. This is standard practice before any guest, tenant or tradesperson, and not an insult to your sitter. Say the cupboard is locked before they arrive rather than leaving them to find it. Ring your insurer too, because policies differ on who counts as an occupant, and our notes on home insurance when a house sitter is staying set out the questions.
What to leave out for your sitter
- Enough pet food for the full stay plus three days, in a labelled container.
- Litter and liners, poo bags, and medication with a couple of spare doses.
- The three documents, printed, on the kitchen bench.
- Clean linen and towels, and cleared wardrobe, fridge and pantry space.
- The wifi password on paper, a torch, spare batteries and a first aid kit.
- Bin liners, cleaning basics and spare toilet paper.
- A short local list: the 24 hour chemist, the vet, and where visitors park.
- Something that smells like you, near where an anxious pet sleeps.
Is it normal to leave cash?
Leave money for pet costs you have already agreed, and put the arrangement in writing. Do not leave cash as a tip. In a non-monetary exchange the sitter is not being paid for the sit and is not expecting to be, so an unexplained envelope only muddies what was agreed. Agreed costs usually mean an unplanned vet visit, a top up of food, or litter.
- A labelled envelope, with the opening amount on the front and a note asking for receipts and the balance back.
- An arrangement with your vet clinic, set up by phone, naming who can authorise treatment and to what limit.
- Reimbursement on receipts, transferred when the sitter sends the photo, which suits shorter sits.
Whichever you choose, write it down and ask for receipts to be photographed into the message thread. Who pays for what, utilities included, belongs in a written house sitting agreement rather than a conversation halfway through the sit.
The gaps sitters find after you have left
- Leaving all the instructions in a message thread instead of printing them.
- Adjectives instead of amounts. A handful of biscuits is a different meal depending on the hand.
- Describing emergencies but never describing normal, which leaves the sitter nothing to judge against.
- Writing "find a vet if needed" instead of an address and a drive time.
- Doing the walkthrough at the front door with a taxi in the driveway.
- Not telling the neighbours someone will be staying.
Your pre-departure checklist
- Two weeks out: confirm dates, arrival and departure times, and who is bringing what, in writing.
- Two weeks out: book any vet check or repeat script, and tell the clinic who can bring your pet in.
- One week out: check your microchip registry details, and buy food, litter and medication for the stay plus three days.
- Three days out: write the three documents, print two copies of the emergency sheet, and tell two neighbours.
- Day before: secure valuables, then sweep for hazards inside and out, baits and gates included.
- Day before: clean linen, clear wardrobe and fridge space, top up bin liners.
- Day of: walkthrough with the sitter, demonstrating feeding and medication once each.
- Day of: hand over and count the keys, and test the temporary alarm code together.
- Day of: photograph the emergency sheet into the message thread, and text when you land.
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should I start preparing?
About two weeks for anything involving other people: vet appointments, repeat scripts and telling the neighbours. The pack itself is a two hour job in the last few days, and you can reuse it next time.
Should I do the walkthrough before the sitter arrives, or with them?
Both, because they are different jobs. The hazard sweep is yours alone the day before, when you are moving baits and checking gates. The walkthrough is a conversation on the day. Doing only the second means clearing hazards while explaining the hot water.
What if I cannot be there when the sitter arrives?
It is workable, but it takes more preparation rather than less. Ask a neighbour to hand over the keys, do a video walkthrough beforehand, and leave the documents on the bench.
Is it rude to lock a room or a cupboard?
No, and most experienced sitters expect it. What causes friction is the surprise, not the locked door. Mention it before you confirm, and again at the walkthrough.
The short version
Two hours, three documents and a walk around the house. Feeding in amounts, normal as well as abnormal, emergency numbers on one printed page, the alarm code changed before and after, and valuables locked away.
Preparation also changes who applies. Sitters read listings closely, and a homeowner who mentions a handover pack and a proper walkthrough reads as someone who has thought it through. When you are ready, create your free homeowner listing, and our guide to writing a listing that attracts the right applicants covers the rest.
This article is general information for Australian homeowners and is not veterinary, legal or insurance advice. For advice about your own animal speak to your veterinarian, and about your policy speak to your insurer. In an emergency, contact your nearest emergency veterinary hospital, or call 000.
