Emotional support animals help their owners deal with their mental health disability by offering comfort and support through companionship, a focus in life, affection, and positive regard.
An emotional support animal can be any domesticated animal such as a cat, dog, guinea pig, hedgehog, rat, horse, miniature pig, bird, etc. The most important thing is that the animal is domesticated and does not pose a threat to people, other pets, or the housing facility.
What’s equally important is that an ESA needs to be recommended to the owner by a licensed health professional or therapist. If the therapist has determined that the person needs an emotional support animal, the animal needs to be able to help alleviate some of the symptoms of the owner’s mental illness.
Are you ready to make your cat an emotional support cat now? Complete the questionnaire in the link below to qualify your cat as an official emotional support cat.
Can Cats Be Emotional Support Animals?
Cats make wonderful emotional support animals. Emotional support cats can travel or live with their owners without additional pet fees.
Yes, cats can be emotional support animals. In fact, they make great emotional support animals. Cats are very affectionate and playful. They create strong bonds with their owners, regardless of the general belief that they are pesky little creatures that hate socializing.
In addition, emotional support cats are easier to house and maintain than emotional support dogs. They are generally smaller than canines and are very agile. They will find enough space and activities for themselves most of the time. You will still need to take care of their food and water supplies and clean the litter box. Other than that, all you need to do is ensure some quality play time.
Emotional support cats are fun to play with and fun to watch, which can help boost your mood. Purring can also have therapeutic effects on people. There’s no doubt that your cat’s calm personality can also calm you down. Felines are also very good at reading people’s emotions and will respond to them appropriately.
How to Register an Emotional Support Cat
The only emotional support cat registration you need is an ESA letter.
Step 1. Connect with a licensed mental health professional online or in real life.
If you think you could qualify for an emotional support cat, you need to talk to a licensed health professional. If you’re already in therapy, you can ask your therapist about making a cat an emotional support animal. To qualify, you need to have a mental health disability. If your doctor/therapist finds that the animal can be beneficial to you, they can write you an ESA letter. If you do not have access to a licensed mental health professional in real life, you can connect with one online. To connect with a LMHP online, complete the ESA Questionnaire by clicking the image link above.
Step 2. Qualify for an ESA letter from a licensed mental health professional.
In order to qualify for the ESA letter, you must demonstrate your need for an emotional support animal in your life. If you suffer from a mental disability (i.e. depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc.) and it limits your daily life, you may qualify for an ESA letter. The ESA letter must be written on the official letterhead of a licensed health professional and include the license number, the date it was issued, and expiration date.
Step 3. Make sure your cat does not pose a threat to others.
If you already have a pet cat that you want to make an emotional support cat, you will need to provide some information about the animal, too. There is no age limit and there are no special training requirements. Whether you want a kitten or an adult cat to be your ESA, you can make it happen.
As long as your animal provides support for your disability and doesn’t pose a threat or a nuisance to people and property, your kitty is good to go. Your emotional support cat doesn’t need to perform any tricks or tasks to qualify. However, good behavior is mandatory, or you can be excluded from no-pets housing or airplanes.
Step 4. Notify your landlord or airline about your emotional support cat.
You can submit your ESA letter to your landlord or airline via email. This will provide a record that you have submitted your paperwork. Most airlines require that you submit your paperwork 48 hours in advance of your flight date. This is not always strictly enforced, but make sure to submit it early so that you do not run into any issues at the airport.
Step 5. You can if you want to register your emotional support cat.
Keep in mind that no special tags or vests are required for any emotional support animal. Unless you really want these products, it is not required by law. ESA cat registration is also not required. Registering your cat as an emotional support animal will not make it a true ESA. The only “Emotional Support Cat Registration” you will ever need is your ESA letter.
Legal Rights for Emotional Support Cats
Emotional support cats have specific legal rights to live and/or travel with their owners. Even if your apartment has a no-pets policy.
Emotional support cats have the same rights as all the other emotional support animals.
Under the Fair Housing Act, you can live in a no-pets housing with your emotional support cat. The building manager or the landlord must make reasonable accommodations to house you and your pet. In addition, they cannot charge any additional pet deposits or fees for your emotional support cat. Also, you shouldn’t let anyone review your confidential medical information. This goes for apartment managers and landlords.
If you are rejected or your rights are compromised in any way, you can file a complaint with the HUD for discrimination. Note that there are instances when you can be denied access with your ESA. Most commonly, this can happen if your animal is too big for the housing or if the animal poses a danger to other residents.
Flying with an Emotional Support Cat
The ACAA allows emotional support cats to fly with their owners without having to pay additional unfair pet fees.
Other than the Fair Housing Act that works in your favor, there’s also the Air Carrier Access Act. This act allows you to fly with your emotional support cat in the airplane cabin.Most airplanes will allow this (and they have to), but contact them in advance to avoid any possible inconvenience.
You will need to provide your ESA letter to the airlines in advance by submitting via email. Please note that some airlines (i.e. Alaska, Delta, United, etc.) will require an airline document in addition to your ESA letter. ESA Doctors will be able to assist you with your ESA letter and airline documents online.
You will need an appropriate pet carrier for the flight, so contact the airline to get the most accurate information.
Qualify for your ESA letter today.
How do I get an ESA letter and does it matter where my cat is registered, also once they are certified does that mean they can go anywhere with you, like stores and movie theaters?
We recommend visiting this link for some basics on how ESA letters work: https://esadoctors.com/how-it-works/
We recently got a cat/kitten we are training as an ESA, but we already had two cats in the household. Our apartments have a limitation of two pets per apartment. While ESA bypasses “no pet” rules, I’m worried that the third cat who is the ESA will cause an issue. In most cases, would my ESA count against my total number of animals? I’ve had the other two cats for 13 years, so it isn’t an option to rehome.
One of the original two cats functions as an ESA for my spouse. We could potantially register this animal as well, but I’m still concerned the apartments will try to make us abandon one of the cats.
There is no technical limit to how many ESAs a tenant can have. However, each ESA must be covered by a recommendation letter from a licensed healthcare professional, and all of the animals must be kept safely and humanely in the living space.
My wife and I both have letters from our own Mental Health Physician stating the medical necessity for our cats. In addition to these letters, my landlord is ‘requiring/requesting’ more information, and I quote, ” All specific animals and names and breeds that are assistance animals in the home”. Each letter specifically states multiple cats, plus what does the “breed” of specific domestic house cats have to do with anything… can they really need this information or is there some hidden agenda, ulterior motive behind their request?
We’re not sure why your landlord is asking for that information, perhaps just to be able to identify the animals that belong to you? Prohibiting an ESA based on breed is certainly not allowed, but we’re not sure a landlord is prohibited from simply asking what breed the animal is.
wondering if emotional support animal- cat- has to pay to fly with you ? or is this fee removed? thank you
Airlines are not allowed to charge fees for ESAs to fly with their owners. You may find this article helpful: https://esadoctors.com/airline-requirements-for-traveling-with-an-emotional-support-dog/
What type of training does and ESA cat need?
ESAs do not need any special training. They are different from service animals which require training to perform specific tasks to help with a disability.
Hopefully, you would not ever consider declawing your cat given the lifelong damage it is known to cause. An organization called citythekitty.org is fighting landlords in your state requiring this procedure. Check them out for needed ammo to oppose this regulation. Good luck & God bless you for being a great cat mom & unwilling to amputate your cat’s toe bones.
I have a motor tic disorder since I was thirteen years old. After several years, symptoms are reduced but whenever I’m in stress, I still have no stopping twitching. Am I able to get ESA letter for tic disorder?
We recommend that you speak to a licensed health care professional about your disorder and whether an ESA could potentially help.
I have an ESA..my cat. My landlord is requiring he be neutered and I give her all vet records. Can they require this?
The landlord can take steps to ensure your ESA is not posing a health hazard to others. It seems excessive however to require that an ESA be neutered. ESA owners are responsible for ensuring their ESAs are under proper veterinary care.