{"product_id":"the-spare-key","title":"The Spare Key — What to Leave Behind When Somebody Else Has Your Pet","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt is the night before. The bag is half packed, the sitter arrives at nine, and you are writing a note on the back of an envelope that says \u003cem\u003efood 2x a day, litter in the bathroom, vet number on the fridge\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat note is not wrong. It is just written for the version of the week where nothing happens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThink about what you actually know about your animal that is nowhere in writing. That she will not eat if the bowl is in the wrong place. That he goes quiet and flat \u003cem\u003ebefore\u003c\/em\u003e he is sick, and that the quiet is the signal, not the vomiting. That the back gate does not latch properly and has to be pushed. That your vet has two numbers and the one on the website is the daytime one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNone of that is exotic. All of it lives in your head, and your head is about to be in another time zone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Spare Key is the file you fill in once and hand over with the key.\u003c\/strong\u003e Eight worksheets: who the animal is and how a stranger would describe them to a shelter, the day by the clock with amounts somebody else can measure, where everything lives including the carrier nobody can ever find, the vet page with the question most handover notes stop before, what normal looks like for this animal, who to call in what order, the log your sitter keeps while you are away, and the five minutes when you get home that make the next trip easier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlmost none of it changes between trips. Fill it in properly once and the next ten handovers are a five-minute update and a photocopy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat is inside\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e24 pages, US Letter, print at home or fill in on screen\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eEight fill-in worksheets, plus a one-page handover for the fridge\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eA daily log with room for twenty-five days, written by the sitter rather than by you\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003eTroubleshooting, and an honest page on when a folder is \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e the right arrangement\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWho it is for\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnyone leaving a cat or a dog with a neighbor, a friend, a family member or a paid sitter, in their own home, for a few days to a couple of weeks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWho it is not for\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn animal on a complicated or unstable medical regimen, a very recent rescue nobody can read yet, or a stay longer than about three weeks. Those are not folder problems — they need a boarding facility or a professional sitter with veterinary backup, and no amount of paperwork substitutes for it. The book says so on its own troubleshooting page.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHandbook House guides are educational materials for organizing your own records. This one is not veterinary advice, it does not tell you what to give your animal or what a symptom means, and it is not a substitute for asking your own vet what your animal needs while you are away.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Handbook House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":68124313059560,"sku":null,"price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0812\/2181\/2456\/files\/0-listing.png?v=1793906985","url":"https:\/\/handbookhouse.com\/products\/the-spare-key","provider":"Handbook House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}