You hand your sitter a sheet of paper with the vet's phone number on it and figure that covers the emergency plan. Then you land at your destination and realize: what if the vet is closed? What if the sitter can't reach you on the plane? What if your dog eats something toxic and the sitter doesn't know who to call about poison?

A single vet number isn't an emergency plan. It's one entry on a list that should have at least five — each one serving a different purpose, each one potentially the difference between a quick resolution and a full-blown crisis.

Your Phone Number (and When You're Unreachable)

This seems obvious, but most owners miss the nuance. Your sitter needs to know:

The best way to reach you. Call, text, WhatsApp, Signal — whatever you actually check. If you prefer texts for non-urgent questions but want a call for emergencies, say that explicitly.

When you'll be unreachable. Flights, time zone differences, a wedding ceremony, a hike without cell service. If your sitter knows you'll be off the grid from 2–8 PM on Saturday, they won't panic when you don't answer — and they'll know to escalate to your backup contact instead.

Your travel schedule. A rough itinerary helps the sitter gauge whether you're sleeping, in transit, or available. "Tuesday: flying 6 AM–2 PM, unreachable. Wednesday–Thursday: hotel in Denver, normal hours."

A Backup Emergency Contact

This is the person your sitter calls when they can't reach you. Most owners skip this one entirely, leaving the sitter with no fallback at 11 PM when you're asleep across three time zones.

Your backup should be someone who:

• Knows your pet. A friend, family member, or neighbor who has spent time with your pet and understands their personality, health conditions, and quirks.
• Can make decisions. If the sitter calls your backup because you're unreachable and the vet says your dog needs emergency surgery, can this person authorize treatment? You should discuss this with them before your trip.
• Is local (ideally). A backup who can physically come to your house in an emergency is far more useful than one three states away. But a distant backup who answers the phone is better than a local one who doesn't.

Give your sitter the backup's name, phone number, and relationship to you. Let the backup know they're on the list so they aren't blindsided by a call from a stranger at midnight.

Your Primary Veterinarian

The basics — clinic name, phone number, and address — are the minimum. But sitters often need more:

Office hours. "Monday–Friday, 8 AM–6 PM, Saturday 9 AM–1 PM, closed Sunday." A sitter who calls at 5:55 PM and gets voicemail needs to know whether the clinic just closed or whether they should try the emergency hospital instead.

After-hours protocol. Some vet clinics have an after-hours answering service that pages the on-call vet. Others redirect to a partner emergency hospital. If your vet has either, note it — otherwise your sitter will hear a voicemail greeting and assume nobody is available.

Your pet's file. Confirm that your pet's records are up to date at the clinic. If you recently switched vets, make sure the new clinic has your pet's history, medication list, and vaccination records.

Authorization to treat. This is the detail people forget until it matters. Some vet clinics won't treat a pet brought in by a non-owner without explicit authorization. Call your vet before your trip and let them know a sitter may bring your pet in. Ask what they need — a verbal note on file, a signed form, or a written statement.

Tip: If your vet has an online portal, show your sitter how to access your pet's profile. Some portals let you add authorized contacts directly.

The Nearest 24-Hour Emergency Animal Hospital

Your regular vet closes at 6 PM. Emergencies don't care. A dog who eats a sock at 10 PM, a cat who starts having seizures at 3 AM — these happen on the schedule that's least convenient.

Look up the nearest 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital and include:

• Name and phone number
• Address (with a note about parking if it's tricky to find)
• Approximate drive time from your house
• Any intake procedures — some emergency hospitals require a call before arrival

If there are two emergency hospitals within reasonable distance, list both. One might have a four-hour wait on a Saturday night.

Don't assume your sitter will Google this in the moment. When a pet is vomiting blood, nobody is calmly searching "emergency vet near me" and reading Yelp reviews. The number should be right there, ready to tap.

Poison Control

Most pet owners don't think about poison control until their dog eats half a bar of chocolate or their cat chews on a lily stem. Your sitter should have the number ready before it happens.

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: (888) 426-4435. This is the gold standard. They're available 24/7, 365 days a year. There is a consultation fee (around $75), which you should tell your sitter you'll reimburse — otherwise they might hesitate to call because they don't want to charge you.

Pet Poison Helpline: (855) 764-7661. An alternative, also 24/7, with a similar per-incident fee.

Include both numbers in your contact list with a note: "If my pet eats something they shouldn't, call poison control before going to the emergency vet. They'll tell you whether it's actually an emergency and what to do while you're on the way."

Additional Contacts Worth Including

Depending on your situation, a few more contacts can save your sitter from being stranded:

Your pet's pharmacy. If your pet takes ongoing medication, the sitter might need a refill. Include the pharmacy name, phone number, and prescription details. For more on medication handoffs, see our guide on how to share pet medication instructions with your sitter.

A trusted neighbor. Someone who has a spare key, knows your pet, and can come over quickly if the sitter needs backup. This is especially useful if the sitter is a professional who doesn't live nearby.

Your dog walker or daycare. If your pet normally goes to daycare or has a regular dog walker, your sitter might want to keep that routine. Include the contact info and schedule.

Your pet insurance provider. If your pet is insured, leave the policy number and the insurance company's claims phone line. Emergency vet bills can reach thousands of dollars, and a sitter shouldn't have to worry about whether you can afford the treatment.

Make Every Contact Tappable

Here's a detail that sounds minor until it matters: your sitter should be able to call any emergency contact with a single tap from their phone.

A phone number printed on paper requires reading the number, switching to the phone app, and typing ten digits while their hands are shaking because the dog just collapsed. A phone number buried in a text thread requires scrolling through dozens of messages to find it.

In an emergency, the difference between one tap and thirty seconds of fumbling can matter. This is one of the reasons we built CareSheet — every contact on a Care Sheet is tap-to-call. Your sitter hits the vet's name and the phone dials. No copying, no searching, no typing.

You can see how this works on a live Care Sheet example.

The Emergency Contact Checklist

Here's everything from this post in a scannable format:

Essential (every pet owner)

• Your phone number + best contact method + unreachable times
• Backup emergency contact (name, number, relationship)
• Primary vet (name, phone, address, hours, after-hours protocol)
• 24-hour emergency animal hospital (name, phone, address, drive time)
• ASPCA Poison Control: (888) 426-4435

Situational (add if relevant)

• Pet pharmacy (name, phone, prescription numbers)
• Trusted neighbor with spare key
• Dog walker or daycare contact
• Pet insurance provider and policy number

For a broader look at everything beyond emergency contacts — feeding, medications, daily routines, house rules — see our complete pet sitter instructions checklist.

Don't Leave Your Sitter Without a Safety Net

Every contact on this list serves a purpose. Your phone number is the first call. Your backup is the fallback. The vet handles routine concerns. The emergency hospital handles everything else. And poison control handles the thing nobody planned for.

Write them down. Put them where your sitter can find them instantly. And if you want to make it truly effortless — tap-to-call contacts, offline access, one shareable link — create your free Care Sheet. Five minutes of setup, and your sitter has a safety net that works even when the Wi-Fi doesn't.