A poison card is not a medical record. It is 4 fields that somebody half-awake can read aloud into a phone at 02:00 without searching a single app. Print it at 18 pt on A5, laminate it, and put up 2 copies. The whole build takes 25 minutes once and 10 minutes a year.
Four fields, one side of A5
Anything longer than 4 fields stops being read under stress. The 4 that change the outcome: the clinic that answers at night, the poison line, the cat's current numbers, and the person allowed to authorise spending. Everything else, insurance policy, microchip, breeder contact, goes on the back at 10 pt where it is available but never in the way.
Field 1: the number that answers at 02:00
Most clinics list a daytime line and a separate after-hours line, and the daytime line rings out after 18:00. Write both, label them by hours, and test the night one before you need it: call at 21:30 on a weekday and ask a single question, whether a cat that ate a lily at 02:00 reaches a vet on that number or a recording. A 24-hour hospital 40 minutes away beats a 10-minute clinic that closes at 19:00. Put the drive time in brackets after the address, because at 02:00 the question is minutes, not kilometres.
Field 2: the poison line is not the clinic
Two national lines exist in the US and both run around the clock, 365 days a year. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center is (888) 426-4435. Pet Poison Helpline is (855) 764-7661. Both charge a per-case consultation fee, the helpline reported at about 89 USD, and both will ask for the same 5 things: species, weight, the product name, the amount, and the time of exposure. Write both numbers, not 1, because a single line can hold you for 12 minutes at peak hours. Note the fee on the card too, so nobody hesitates over a card number while the cat is drooling.
Field 3: the cat's numbers, dated
Weight is the field that gets skipped and the one every vet asks for first. Write it to 1 decimal in kilograms and in pounds, with the date you weighed it, because a 4.6 kg cat and a 5.2 kg cat get different answers on the same packet. Add age, any diagnosis in 3 words or fewer, and every medication with the dose exactly as printed on the label, not from memory. A cat on 2 long-term drugs needs both names on the card; a sitter who cannot read the labels will read the card.
Field 4: who is allowed to say yes
The fourth field is authorisation, and it is the one that saves the most time. Name the owner, 1 backup who can approve treatment, and a spend ceiling in round figures, for example 1500 USD before a second call is required. Add the phrase that treatment may start before payment is arranged. Clinics commonly wait on a deposit when nobody can be reached, and a 20-minute wait on a blocked cat is worth more than the deposit. Keep this field to 3 lines so it can be read out in 15 seconds.
2 places: 1.5 m on the fridge, and the glovebox
Post copy 1 on the fridge door at about 1.5 m, eye level for an adult, not on a corkboard behind 3 takeaway menus. Copy 2 goes in the glovebox, because a cat that ate something in the garden is often already in the car. A third copy inside the first aid kit is optional and often useless: the kit lives in a cupboard, and the cupboard is not where you are standing when you make the call. If a sitter or a neighbour feeds the cat, add a copy on the inside of the front door at 1.2 m, where it is seen on the way out with the carrier.
Twelve months, and 5 triggers to rewrite sooner
Rewrite the card every 12 months even if nothing has changed, because ink fades on a fridge door and a laminated card in a glovebox goes brittle at 60 C. Five events override the 12-month rule: a weight change over 10%, any new long-term medication, a change of clinic, a move of more than 20 minutes drive, or a new phone number for the owner or the backup. Each one is a 10-minute rewrite, and each one is exactly the sort of stale detail that turns a 4-minute call into a 40-minute one.
What goes where
| Field | Print size (mm) | Digits to check | Rewrite (months) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinic, day and night numbers | 5 | 22 | 12 |
| Poison lines, 2 numbers | 5 | 20 | 12 |
| Weight, age, conditions, drugs | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Owner, backup, spend ceiling | 4 | 21 | 12 |
| Microchip and policy number | 3.5 | 24 | 12 |
| Print date and initials | 3 | 6 | 3 |
Check the digits, not the words. A transposed digit in a phone number is invisible at a glance and fatal at 02:00, so read each number back against the source and tick the digits column as you go. The print date in the last row is the only proof the card is current, and it takes 6 digits to write.
Build it in 5 steps
- Open a blank A5 document, set 4 headings at 18 pt, body at 10 pt, and keep the front to 1 page.
- Fill the clinic field from the discharge sheet, not from a search result, and confirm both numbers by calling them once.
- Weigh the cat on the same scale each time, write 1 decimal in kg and lb, and date it.
- Print 3 copies, laminate 2, and write the print date in the corner by hand.
- Set a 12-month reminder in the phone on the same day as the vaccine reminder, so the two renewals happen together.
If the exposure has already happened, the card is a lookup, not a plan: the poison line and the clinic decide what to do, and household plants and the toxin list are what you read while the phone rings. A cat that is seizing, breathing with the mouth open, or unconscious skips the card entirely and goes in the car.
Terms mentioned in this article
Frequently asked
What exactly belongs on a cat poison contacts card?
Four fields on one side of A5: the clinic numbers including the after-hours line, 2 poison hotline numbers, the cat's weight in kg and lb with the date weighed plus current medications, and the owner, a backup, and a spend ceiling. Everything else fits on the back at 10 pt.
Where should the card be posted?
Two copies at minimum. One on the fridge door at about 1.5 m, adult eye level, and one in the car glovebox, since a cat that ate something outdoors is usually already being driven somewhere. A copy inside the first aid kit helps less because the kit sits in a cupboard.
How often does the card need updating?
Every 12 months even when nothing changes, because ink fades and laminated cards go brittle in a hot car. Rewrite sooner after a weight change over 10%, a new long-term medication, a clinic change, a move that adds 20 minutes of driving, or any new phone number.