Emotional support animals help people to mitigate the negative symptoms of emotional or psychological disability by reducing emotional distress.
Emotional support animals don’t have rights of service animals. They have their reasons. Cats are one of the best candidates for people in need of an emotional support animal. For ESA cat can be any cat and should have an ESA Letter done by a licensed mental health professional.
In this article, you can find the difference between emotional support cat and service cat, how to register a cat as an emotional support animal, and all rules of emotional support cat registration.
Notice: There are affiliate links in the article – and if you buy something by using one of those links – I’ll get compensation. Thank you.
How To Register My Pet As An Emotional Support Animal?
Any domesticated animal such as a dog, guinea pig, cat, rat, hedgehog, miniature pig, bird, etc. can be an emotional support animal. Your animal shouldn’t pose a threat to people and housing facilities and other pets.
When you think about how to register my pet as an emotional support animal, you have to check your mental health. Because without mental health conditions, you can’t get an ESA letter from LMHP. A licensed health professional determines that a person needs an emotional support animal, and a pet may alleviate symptoms of the owner’s mental illness.
Emotional Support Cat – What is it?
If you have a cat, that’s an excellent idea to make it as emotional support cat. An Emotional Support Cat can travel with an owner and live with owners in rented houses without additional pet fees. Many airlines allow you to take your pet on the cabin if you prove that it helps you relieve your anxiousness or emotional worries during the flight.
People often ask veterinary – can cats be emotional support animals? Yes, they can be. They fit all requirements to distress and make people calmness. Most of the cats are not so active as dogs. Cats will find enough space and have fun for themselves most of the time. However, you should take care of their food and water supplies.
Benefits of having an emotional support cat are:
- Helps to relieve anxiety;
- Reduces depression;
- PTSD Reducing;
- ADD help;
- Lower cholesterol;
- Lower blood pressure;
- Increased activity;
The most valuable benefits of emotional support cats are reducing anxiety and depression. A lot of people struggle with stress every day. In the low moments, having an emotional support cat helps you through can be beneficial. You won’t feel loneliness, depressed, and nervous because of your emotional support cat around.
You can find how to register a cat as emotional support below in the article.
How To Register Your Cat As An Emotional Support Animal?
It’s easy to register a cat as an emotional support animal if you have mental health conditions. You should have any of these disorders:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Mood disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Separation anxiety
- Dissociative Disorders
- Factitious Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Impulse-Control Disorders
- Neurocognitive Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Psychotic Disorders
- Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders
- Sleep Disorders
- Somatoform Disorders
- Stress
- Substance-Related Disorders
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Separation anxiety
- Dissociative Disorders
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Separation anxiety
- Dissociative Disorders
- Factitious Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Impulse-Control Disorders
- Neurocognitive Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Psychotic Disorders
- Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders
- Sleep Disorders
- Somatoform Disorders
- Stress
- Substance-Related Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Impulse-Control Disorders
- Neurocognitive Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Psychotic Disorders
- Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders
- Sleep Disorders
- Somatoform Disorders
- Stress
- Fear/phobias
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Suicidal Thoughts/Tendencies
- Adjustment Disorders
The emotional support cat registration consists of getting an ESA Letter. You don’t need to fill specific registration on any website to register your cat. You should ask your mental health professional to write an ESA Letter offline or online.
The online option if you don’t have your therapist, you may contact a licensed health professional online. If a doctor/therapist finds that the animal can be beneficial to you, they can write you an ESA Letter.
- If you contact a LMHP online, you should complete the ESA Questionnaire where you should mention your mental health disorders symptoms.
- After that, a doctor may call you to clarify your diagnosis.
- You get approved in 48 hours
- Receive your ESA Letter by email, them an mail.
Be careful with some websites because the proper ESA Letter should be written on the official letterhead of a licensed health professional and include the license number, the issue, and the expiration date.
When you get an ESA letter, you may issue a unique ID for your ESA Cat. But it’s not required. This website provides all the necessary package to get a cat registration.
Emotional Support Cat Registration
The ideal candidate for emotional support cat registration understands the benefits of an ESA cat and should respect others. It’s too bad to lie to others that you have mental health conditions. You should have experienced a traumatic event, those who deal with daily stress and depression: anxiety and other mental health complications to register your cat as emotional support.
During filling an online form, you have to provide some information about your animal. There are no emotional support cat requirements needed as age limit or training. Your cat doesn’t need to do any particular tasks to qualify. The main thing is proper behavior for cats register.
Some landlords may ask you about specific registrations, but they are confused. You need only an ESA Letter to use the Federal Laws. Airlines require that if you have an ESA Cat, you should submit your paperwork before your flight. I recommend you always check the requirements of airlines when you travel.
Emotional Support Cat Certification
You can find an emotional support cat certification on Amazon. But I mentioned above that by the Federal Law, you should have an emotional support animal letter to use all rights. All ESA Certification doesn’t work for landlords and airline companies. If you look for an emotional support cat certification, it means that you need an ESA Letter.
You get a cat certified as an emotional support animal after getting approved on the ESA letter. Your ESA Cat can travel with you without specific fees and be in the flight cabin.
Free Emotional Support Cat Registration
The only way of free emotional support cat registration is you should contact your therapist to write an ESA Letter for you. He/she shouldn’t charge any fees from you because it’s a part of therapy.
If you found some websites that offered you emotional support cat registration free, it means a scam. Landlords and airlines don’t accept such of these registrations. Be careful!
How To Register A Cat As A Therapy Animal?
A cat can be a therapy animal. However, it doesn’t have the same meaning as an emotional support cat. A therapy cat means a cat trained to help ailing people in a medically beneficial way. People take advantage of animal interaction for purposes of relaxation and stress relieving.
Most of the therapy cats provide comfort to people and affection in nursing homes, schools, retirement homes, etc. It means that therapy cats have the same meaning to provide emotional support to people as emotional support cats but the key differences that it’s not only for their owners. Cats reduce loneliness, depression, and improve heart health. That’s why hospitals and nursing homes have programs with cats, dogs, and other comfort animals for patients.
If you want to register a cat as a therapy animal, you should keep in mind that your cat should take specific training. An emotional support cat doesn’t need any training.
So, how to register a therapy cat?
You can make your cat a therapy cat by taking specialized training. Pet Partners is one of the most well-known national organizations that promote animal-assisted therapy and offers registration for therapy animal teams.
So, after the training, your cat is certified as a therapy cat. If you want to have a therapy cat only for you, it’s an emotional support animal cat.
Can A Cat be A Service Cat?
Service animals are trained to help someone with disabilities in ways that help them function. Tasks may include physical, sensory, and mental duties. If you consider how to get a cat registered a service animal, it’s impossible right now. Only dogs and very miniature horses can be considered service animals under the ADA (the Americans with Disabilities).
If you found any info that you can get a cat certified as a service animal – it’s a scam. You can’t make a cat a service animal.
Cats can be only an emotional support animal or a therapy pet. Keep in mind!
Conclusion
Cats fit right for an emotional support animal. They understand people’s feelings and when they need support. Emotional support cats are with the same rights as other emotional support pets. You can live a no-pets housing and travel with you.
To make your cat as an emotional support animal, you should get an ESA Letter. It is one legal way to get an emotional support animal. The Federal Laws accept only ESA Letter from a licensed mental health professional. You have two options to get it: online or ask your therapist to write an ESA Letter.
I believe you found out more about the difference between emotional support cat, therapy cat, and service cat.
