You may have met an emotional aid animal or service animal before, but if you don’t know the difference between the two, you’re not alone. It is rare for emotional – supportive – animals to be prescribed only for mental health or disability treatment.
An emotional companion dog (also known as an emotional companion dog (ESA)) has the same rights as a dog, cat or rabbit, which are accepted for the ESA. Since dogs provide an emotional connection to their owners and dogs are legally considered to be emotional support animals, an ESA letter (sometimes called “emotional support – animal recipe”) must be written by a licensed mental health professional (LMHP) to prescribe the animal to a person with a disabling mental illness. This documentation is similar to an individual emotional letter written by a zookeeper or other qualified person, not by a licensed psychologist.
As mentioned above, a letter with an emotional support animal can only be issued by an LMHP (physician) and should be recognized as a being in the care of the patient to treat a mental or emotional disability. [Sources: 10]
If you feel you have a legitimate need for an emotional companion, talk to the doctor or therapist who is treating you. It can be helpful to talk to the person you are hoping to get permission to have the animal you want and to discuss what kind of animal is suitable for your needs. Talk to your therapist about the possibility that a mental or emotional disability and whether an emotional companion dog, cat or other animal might have been helpful to the individual in your situation.
Providers of emotional animal documentation must take into account the needs of their customers in order to protect them and any other animals they may come into contact with. This type of documentation may be required for a travelling person, the owner of the animal or for an animal in the care of the caretaker. [Sources: 1, 17]
Any service or emotional support that is mishandled or mistreated by the owner or others should be reported to the DPS. [Sources: 7]
It is important not to confuse an emotional support animal with a service animal or that support animals are service animals. Emotional assistance dogs and other pets with disabilities are not accommodated and cannot enter an establishment where dogs or other pets are not allowed. Importantly, do not confuse emotionally supportive animals with service horses, dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, horses or other animals that are presented as “support animals” or service animals. An emotionally supportive animal has different rights and requirements than a service animal; it is not a trained service dog or pet. Although emotionally supported animals are never trained farm animals, the rights of people with other disabilities should always be respected. [Sources: 0, 10]
An emotional companion may not accompany its owner to work unless the owner has provided similar accommodations to dogs, such as a leash, harness, leash holder or leash. [Sources: 12]
In both housing and air travel, people with disabilities are likely to need to obtain a licence documenting their need for an emotional companion from a licensed psychological professional, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist. Airlines cannot require passengers travelling with a service animal to help physically disabled people or provide written documentation that the animal is a ‘service animal’, but they can require it to be the same. The animal must travel with the Traveller and the Traveller as an “emotional assistance dog” or “emotional support dog” may need the specific documentation provided to establish that he or she has a disability and his / her ability to travel. Farm animals are subject to the requirements of the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US government, but not the federal government. [Sources: 8, 16, 17]
Exceptions usually require a letter of acknowledgement from a mental health patient stating the individual’s need for an emotional support animal, but remember that you only need an ESA letter or LMHP. Many websites, as well as some people, claim to sell official Emotional Support Dog certificates or offer legitimate Em emotional support animal registrations. Some websites offer information to help you determine your status as an “emotional support animal” to the public. [Sources: 4, 10, 15]
You can expand this content, but only dogs can be accepted as service animals, and you cannot accept any kind of emotional support animals. Emotional Support Animal (ESA) has no restrictions on species, unlike therapy or service animals, which are most commonly dogs. Assistance animals (also called “emotional support animals”) are not limited to the types of “service animals” defined in the American with Disabilities Act. Farm animals are dogs, cats, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, rabbits, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish or birds of prey. [Sources: 5, 6, 9, 16]
An emotional support animal (ESA) is a pet prescribed for a specific condition such as depression, anxiety or other mental health problems. Emotional Support Animals (ESA) are pets of people who have been diagnosed with a particular mental illness, such as depression, anxiety or other mental illness. An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) or ESA is the prescribed person or pet of a person with a particular mental illness or mental health condition. [Sources: 2, 3]