Original Guest post by Lexi Carr; updated by Lauren Mieli on 2/8/2022

The bottom line:

  • Service Animal vs. ESA: Service animals can only be dogs where ESAs can exist whatsoever pet. Additionally service animals need to meet a certain standard of training whereas an emotional back up animal does not.
  • How To Qualify For An ESA: A licensed mental health professional person in your country needs to evaluate you lot and recommend an ESA for yous to qualify.
  • Can Cats Be Emotional Back up Animals: Yes they can.
  • How To Make My Cat An Emotional Back up Animal: Connect with a licensed mental health professional in your state to meet if you qualify. We recommend using a reputable telehealth service so you can connect with one rapidly and from the comfort of your own home.
  • Best Emotional Support Animal Service
    • OUR Top Pick – Pettable: But service offering a satisfaction guarantee, pregnant your letter works or your money back.
    • Runner Upwards – Certapet
    • Alternative – US Service Animals

Check out our top option

There are many reasons that a person may choose to speak to their medico or mental health provider almost owning an emotional support animal. Whatsoever the reason may be, the procedure to talk over your needs for an ESA doesn't have to be long and backbreaking. If you accept considered speaking to your provider nigh an emotional support animal, here are some things to proceed in mind.

What is an emotional back up animal?

An emotional support animal (ESA), or a support animal, is a pet whose presence is accounted by a professional to provide benefits for people who suffer from mental illnesses. Those who qualify have mental health conditions that can disrupt one'southward day-to-day life activities and include conditions similar feet disorder, panic attacks, and clinical depression.

An emotional back up brute can be a great asset to anyone who lives with these conditions. An ESA tin offering condolement and support to its possessor among stressful situations. If you have talked to a medical professional and find that an emotional support pet is correct for you, don't feel express past the type of pet you own. If you already own a pet, your pet doesn't need to exist a specific type of animal to be an ESA.

Can cats be emotional support animals?

When you imagine an emotional support animate being, y'all might motion picture a service dog. But ESAs are non limited to simply emotional support dogs. The procedure to obtain an ESA letter for an emotional support dog is the same for whatsoever animal. Ordinarily, any domesticated animal can serve you lot equally an emotional back up pet. You lot might be surprised by the types of animals that brand the all-time ESAs. While emotional support dogs make cracking ESAs, so exercise rabbits, mini pigs, miniature horses, and cats. Cats can certainly make first-class emotional support animals for several reasons. Cats may have a mind of their own at times, but they can also be affectionate and perceptive to their owner's emotions.

If you think some dogs are also rambunctious, cats make a groovy alternative to someone who wants their pet to serve them every bit an emotional support cat. Cats are smaller than dogs and can manage their free energy levels better than some dogs. Cats typically create a calming presence in their owners' homes by bonding with their owners and developing a sense of companionship. Cats can be an excellent form of emotional support for individuals that live with anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions. If you have a cat and want your cat to serve you every bit an ESA, y'all first need to qualify for an emotional support cat.

How to qualify for an emotional support cat?

At that place is a very simple requirement to qualify for an emotional support cat. If yous experience debilitated by a mental health event, you may do good from your pet serving yous every bit an ESA. If you lot discover that things similar anxiety, depression, PTSD, or other mental health struggles bear upon your daily life, you may qualify for an emotional back up cat. Outset, you will need to discuss your concerns with a medical professional to determine whether your cat can serve you as an emotional back up animal. Considering the requirements to authorize for an ESA are emotional challenges, you volition demand to discuss your concerns with a licensed mental health professional.

Once you discuss your needs with a medical professional, you will need to complete the necessary steps to get an official ESA letter. When you lot take documentation from a medical professional person stating that you demand an ESA, you lot so authorize for your cat to be an emotional support true cat. The process to authorize for an emotional support true cat is a uncomplicated ane, and at that place are endless benefits for your cat to be an emotional support animal.

Benefits of Having an Emotional Support True cat

The benefits to an ESA are as personal equally the bond you share with your pet. But at that place are some benefits that all ESA owners will experience when they speak to a medical professional about owning an emotional support cat.

They Offering Emotional Support

Just as the name states, an emotional support animate being supports yous emotionally, whether you struggle with PTSD, anxiety , low, emotional disabilities, or other mental wellness struggles. ESAs are companions for their owners through hard times that otherwise take the potential to derail an entire twenty-four hour period. With an ESA, you're given emotional condolement in difficult times.

ESAs Ease Travel Anxiety

Traveling is a stressful ordeal for most people. When y'all travel with an ESA, your pet can help calm some of those traveling nerves. When you choose to travel with your pet, some airlines will award the ESA letter you have for your pet. This will permit you to travel with your emotional support pet, which can ease the anxiety that comes with traveling. Yous will accept to check with individual airlines because the rules often change, but it's worth checking if your ESA tin can at-home your travel feet.

Avoid Pet Deposit Fees

When you have an ESA, you make it clear that yous have a medical demand to own your pet. Because your pet supports your mental health, you tin bear witness your official ESA alphabetic character to your landlord so that your pet deposit fees are waived. This will let yous to live with your pet without whatsoever worry or fees.

These are only a few of the benefits that come with having an ESA cat. If you already own a cat, the procedure to make your true cat an emotional back up cat is unproblematic.

How to make my true cat an emotional support creature?

If you already own a true cat, you tin can discuss your needs to have your true cat serve you as an ESA cat. You can start by asking yourself if your cat offers you emotional back up in your daily life. If your cat gives you emotional support, and then there isn't much else you demand to exercise to brand your cat an ESA. Your true cat doesn't need to go through whatsoever special grooming to be an emotional support cat for you. Your cat may exist doing the chore of an ESA for you because your true cat is already a companion to you.

Considering an emotional support beast doesn't need special training to go an ESA, your cat can serve you lot every bit an ESA because information technology is already a part of your family. When you speak to a medical professional and discuss your demand for an ESA, y'all won't need to do annihilation else to brand your cat an emotional support beast. One time you determine that your true cat is a proficient fit as an ESA for yous, there are several ways to get your ESA letter of the alphabet .

All-time Emotional Support Animal Letter Services

The emotional back up beast qualification process does not need to be difficult. Hither are some reputable establishments that can assist y'all go your official ESA letter.

Pettable

Pettable Website

Pros:

  • Fast turnaround time
  • Quick and easy online process
  • Offers an online prequalification quiz
  • Official letters that are compliant with federal laws
  • Full money-dorsum guarantee
  • Excellent customer service

Cons:

  • Pre-screening quiz requires your email accost and phone number
  • Information about pricing is not provided upfront
  • Consultations with a medical professional are only done by phone

When you pursue an official ESA letter through Pettable , there are some upsides and downsides to consider. When you apply Pettable to speak to a medical professional virtually an ESA alphabetic character, Pettable offers a quick turnaround fourth dimension. After you lot consummate the necessary steps, you will receive your recommendation to have an ESA from a licensed medical professional within 24 hours. This is a benefit to anyone that needs their official ESA letter inside a specific fourth dimension frame. Another do good of Pettable is its quick and easy online process.

Pettable online process

Pettable'southward process for an ESA letter is quick, like shooting fish in a barrel, and online, so you tin can consummate the necessary steps from your home. That way, you tin avoid waiting in long lines to discuss your need for an ESA with a medical professional person. First, you'll take a quiz to match yourself with a mental wellness provider. Then you'll have a consultation with this medical professional. Pettable also provides you lot with an official ESA letter of the alphabet that is compliant with federal laws. Yous tin easily download your official ESA letter of the alphabet to your phone. This gives you easy access to your ESA letter of the alphabet and can greatly benefit you when you need your letter quickly and on hand. You tin can also print a copy of your letter of the alphabet to share with your landlord. Pettable is an fantabulous site to consider when you decide you may do good from an emotional support fauna. There are many benefits that Pettable offers that you may non receive with other establishments.

While Pettable'due south process is online, the consultation you'll need to have with a medical professional is only offered over the telephone. This is a necessary step to receive your ESA recommendation. Once you complete the consultation with a medical professional, they will decide if you lot could benefit from an emotional back up animate being. If the medical professional person decides that you qualify, yous will receive your ESA letter in only 24 hours. Pettable is simply i of several options to hash out your needs for an emotional support creature.

CertaPet

CertaPet

Pros:

  • Fast turnaround procedure
  • Consultation with a licensed medical professional
  • Official letters that are compliant with state and federal laws
  • Offers both ESA and PSD (psychiatric service canis familiaris) consultations, for abode and travel purposes.
  • Over 7,500 5-Star Reviews
  • Serves U.S. and Canadian residents

Cons:

  • Your consultation fee is non-refundable
  • Multiple support animals and boosted add together-ons are charged extra
  • Requires letter fee payment before evaluation
  • Customers volition receive a full refund if they are not approved, less a $35 fee .

CertaPet is another example of a reputable establishment that can assist y'all determine if yous need an emotional support pet. CertaPet offers several benefits to individuals seeking a quick, easy process to hash out their needs for an ESA. First, CertaPet has a fast turnaround procedure, just equally Pettable does. The process that CertaPet offers to determine your needs for an ESA is quite simple.

First, you only demand to take v minutes out of your day to participate in a gratis screening on CertaPet'south website. This screening will give you an thought of whether yous are a expert candidate for an ESA or non. After the screening, you will have a consultation with a licensed medical professional via a telehealth appointment. Lastly, if the medical professional person feels that you lot would do good from having an emotional support animal, you will receive a copy of an official ESA letter.

And so, you can impress your letter, or CertaPet can mail an official letter of the alphabet to you. The official letter that you receive through CertaPet is recognized by federal and state laws. The process to obtain your ESA letter through CertaPet is quick and uncomplicated. While CertaPet has many benefits, at that place is only one significant drawback to Cert Pet'due south process.

When you lot complete the consultation with CertaPet, you volition need to pay a minor, non-refundable fee of $35. This is one downside among many benefits that CertaPet offers. CertaPet is defended to providing a streamlined, easy-to-apply process to all individuals seeking an emotional support pet. While you may feel that an ESA is right for you, CertaPet tin can help y'all know for sure subsequently y'all speak to 1 of their licensed medical professionals. Pettable and CertaPet are first-class options to determine if y'all would benefit from an ESA, and United states Service Animals is another option.

US Service Animals

US Service Animals

Pros:

  • Lifetime acknowledgement for pets
  • E'er available for follow up questions
  • Offers multilingual customer support

Cons:

  • Charges money for unnecessary registration services
  • Does not offer separate housing and travel ESA letters
  • Not all pets authorize as United states Service Animals

At that place are several things to consider when deciding on which service to use to discuss your needs for an emotional back up animal. If you decide your pet would serve you all-time as a US Service Brute, the process to do so is quick and easy. Simply keep in mind, not all pets will easily authorize as a US service pet. First, yous need to enter your pet's data into the Usa Service Brute official website.

Later on you enter your pet's data, speak to a medical professional, and put your pet in the US Service Animals arrangement, you will receive your service letter and ID card. The states Service Animals will transport your card to you in the mail and digitally. There are several benefits once yous successfully discuss your needs for your pet to serve y'all equally a US service pet. Your pet will have a lifetime acknowledgement as a US service pet once information technology's officially a Us service pet.

You volition too have access to the U.s.a. Service Animals helpline if yous have any questions or need any further aid with your service pet. In one case you discuss your needs for a service pet with a medical professional person and authorize, you will also have access to the US Service Animal legal squad. This can be benign if y'all feel your rights have been violated every bit an ESA owner. These are all benefits to continue in mind if you make up one's mind that your pet volition serve you as an emotional support animal.

The master downside of pursuing a US Service Animals letter for your pet is that not all pets volition easily qualify as U.s. service pets. At that place are several things to proceed in mind if you make up one's mind that your pet volition best serve you lot as either a service pet or an emotional support pet. You demand to consider the wait time for an official letter of the alphabet, whether you will have a consultation with a licensed medical professional, and the ease of the process to discuss your mental health needs. Another important consideration is whether or not your creature qualifies as an ESA or a service pet.

Knowing the difference between an Emotional Support Animal and a Service Creature

An emotional back up brute (ESA), or a support animal, is a pet whose presence is accounted by a professional person to provide benefits for people who suffer from mental illnesses. Those who qualify accept mental health conditions that can disrupt one's day-to-day life activities and include atmospheric condition similar feet disorder, panic attacks, and clinical depression.

ESAs differ from service animals in that service animals are specifically trained to perform a variety of tasks (i.due east., notice seizures before they strike, provide deep pressure therapy, bring medication to their handler.) While it is typical for a dog to be registered as an ESA, that doesn't necessarily mean that other animals cannot, as there are no rules that specify what an ESA animal should be. This ways that, if you take a cat, and you lot are deemed qualified by a mental health professional —you can register your feline companion every bit an ESA. Withal, at that place are quite a few things that yous have to consider earlier registering your true cat as an emotional service animal.

In that location isn't an "official" registration for an Emotional Back up cat

The only kind of registration that yous volition demand is your ESA letter from a therapist. There is no official register that you lot are legally required to sign your cat up for. Additionally, an emotional support true cat doesn't accept to wear a special vest or tag of any sort, declaring your companion'southward condition every bit a support animal.

Beware of scammers

Because the procedure for registering your true cat every bit an ESA is adequately uncomplicated and straightforward and non at all as stringent as registering a service brute, there are many companies taking reward of this fact and claim that they can "officially certify" your ESA. Without whatever prior knowledge of ESAs, a pet possessor could stop upwards paying money for an illegitimate document or phony certification. Unlike support animals, an ESA is not guaranteed into any venue.

Your ESA is covered nether the Fair Housing Act

This deed states that your landlord must provide reasonable accommodations to you and your ESA; still, if it imposes any fiscal or authoritative strain on your landlord, your landlord can also reject your ESA through legal proceedings. This is also possible if y'all have an ESA that is very large (i.east., a equus caballus.)

Housing that isn't covered by FHA

Rental spaces of four units or less (where the owner is actually living in one of the units), unmarried family homes that are sold/rented past the owner without the use of a banker, and housing that is operated past private clubs and religious organizations that restrict occupancy to their members are not covered past FHA.

Emotional Support Animals and the Air Carrier Admission Act (ACAA)

Your emotional service animal may be able to travel with you within the airplane cabin but due to pregnant corruption of this regulation , it is currently nether scrutiny and the rules may modify. Obtaining a letter from a licensed professional person is crucial in having your companion fly with you lot. Brand sure you accept the letter dated no afterwards than 1 year earlier yous utilise it. Contact your airline a few days before your scheduled flight to make proper arrangements.

Emotional Support Animals and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Under the Americans with Disabilities Human activity, emotional support animals are not considered service animals. This is a really important distinction because support animals practice not bask the aforementioned type of access as service animals. Services animals are specifically trained to perform a specific task for their possessor and they are not viewed every bit pets, but workers. Service animals assist blind people get around, help those with epilepsy know when a seizure will strike and and so much more. Today, the ADA will only consider dogs as service animals and they must undergo the appropriate certification. Cats were previously allowed to be service animals, provided they were trained. Those who have a service true cat that was previously certified are ordinarily grandfathered into the program… but cats are no longer immune to be considered service animals.

Oft Asked Questions About Support Cats

Are cats good for emotional support?

Cats are affectionate and can hands bail with their caregivers. Cats are minor, quiet, clean, and can oftentimes be compassionate animals. Because of this, cats provide emotional support to their owners and make excellent emotional support animals.

How to register a cat as an emotional support animate being?

While yous don't need to take an ESA pet, the process is simple if you lot decide to discuss your medical needs for an ESA pet with a physician.  You volition need to complete a short screening and have a consultation with a licensed medical professional who will determine if you qualify for an ESA cat letter today.

Can a landlord refuse an emotional support cat?

No. If your emotional support cat does not pose a threat to others, your landlord cannot refuse your emotional support beast. Under the Fair Housing Human activity, a landlord cannot pass up a tenant because they have a pet if that pet is an ESA.

How much does an emotional cat price?

When yous seek out an emotional back up cat, you will usually demand to pay the fees for your screening and your consultation with a medical professional. This cost ranges depending on which establishment you utilize to get your ESA letter.

Are emotional support cats required to accept a pet eolith?

No. Pet deposit fees are waived one time you accept your official ESA letter and y'all share your letter with your landlord. Information technology is unlawful for your landlord to accuse you a pet eolith when your pet is an emotional support true cat.

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