Service animals have been steadily gaining popularity, with many individuals with disabilities acquiring them to support them in their day-to-day lives. Given how important they are to their owners, the government grants service animals certain rights, such as access to public spaces that typically don’t allow pets and the ability to bypass no-pet policies in housing.
These protections granted by law to service animals are also very attractive to many cat owners who find comfort in their animals’ presence. This shared experience among many cat owners led to asking questions about service cats. After all, there are countless service dogs, and what’s the reason for a cat not to be a service cat?
In this article, we will explore service cats and examine what the law says about them. Continue reading to the end as we cover everything you need to know.
Service Animal Definition Under the ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the federal law that governs service animals. It provides a wide range of resources to educate the public about service animals and to protect their rights.
According to the ADA’s legal definition of a service animal, a service animal is a:
- Dog
- Any breed, size, or age
- Trained to carry out a task directly related to a person’s disability
Therefore, for an animal to be a service animal, they must be a dog that received proper training to perform a disability-related task.
Can a Cat Become a Service Cat?
Given that service animals must be dogs, and cats obviously aren’t, they don’t fit the description of a service animal under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Therefore, cats cannot be service animals under the guidelines set by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
However, this doesn’t mean that your cat can only be a pet. Although it is not possible for cats to become service animals, they can help their owners in other ways and gain legal recognition.
Exploring Emotional Support Cats
The only way for a cat to gain legal recognition beyond being a pet is through becoming an emotional support cat. Similar to service animals, emotional support cats have legal recognition, though not under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but by the Fair Housing Act (FHA).
The FHA is also a federal legislation that grants protection to these animals. However, the nature of these protections is different from service animals, which is a must for those who were at one point interested in service cats but now know that cats aren’t eligible to understand. Below, we cover everything you need to know about emotional support cats.
What to Know Before Having an Emotional Support Cat
Emotional support animals and service animals are different in many regards. Consequently, many of the things that people know about service animals don’t apply to ESAs. So, if you were thinking about getting a “service cat” to get the protections of service animals, you will need to know where they differ in order to set realistic expectations.
First and foremost, emotional support cats, because they aren’t protected under the ADA, don’t have the same public access rights as service animals. By having an emotional support cat, you won’t be allowed to take them to places that don’t allow pets. Emotional support animals are only protected under the Fair Housing Act, which doesn’t grant protections beyond housing.It is essential to understand this distinction, as it can make or break your desire to follow up with the process of having a legally valid emotional support cat.
For a cat to have recognition as an emotional support animal, however, the owner needs to obtain an ESA letter from a mental health professional licensed in their state. We cover how cat owners can obtain an ESA letter below.
How You Can Get an ESA Letter
The process of obtaining an ESA letter is fairly straightforward, but not every cat owner has what is required to get one. An ESA letter for a cat can only be written by a licensed mental health professional to help with the symptoms of a mental disability.
Individuals who want to get an ESA letter must have a qualifying mental disability. Generally, any mental disability that’s listed under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or shortly known as the DSM, qualifies for an emotional support animal. These mental disibilities include anxiety, depression, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorders, and more.
Therefore, only those with a mental disability qualify for an emotional support animal. If you don’t have a mental disability, you won’t be able to get an ESA letter. Those who have a qualifying mental disability and those who suspect that they have one can start the process by scheduling an appointment with a mental health professional in their area.
However, there’s a much more convenient alternative to the traditional approach of visiting a therapist in person to issue you an ESA letter. We cover everything you need to know below.
Get an ESA Letter With EmotionalSupportAnimal.com
At EmotionalSupportAnimal.com, we can connect you with a mental health professional licensed in your state to write you an ESA letter. That’s, of course, if you qualify for it, as the mental health professional will need to evaluate your symptoms and decide that an emotional support animal is ideal for your treatment plan.
Get your official ESA letter by completing a pre-assessment first. This pre-assessment helps you determine whether or not you would qualify for an emotional support animal, which will ensure you don’t pay for a session with a therapist in case you don’t qualify. It is essentially a risk-free evaluation, as the pre-assessment is completely free of charge.
Once you’re approved for an emotional support animal, your therapist will write an ESA letter, which you will receive via email. You can then use this document for housing situations, such as when you need to request accommodation for your emotional support cat when living in no-pet housing.
Your ESA letter can also be verified on our website using the “Order Number” or your state and email address associated with the letter. This helps landlords verify ESA letters issued through our website, leaving no doubts about the legitimacy of your ESA letter.
FAQs About Service Cats
Even though cats can’t become service cats, there are many questions about cats being used for certain disabilities. Here are answers to some of these questions.
Why Can’t Cats Be Service Animals?
Cats can’t become service animals because they don’t fit the description of one under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Only dogs trained for a disability-related task can become a service animal. Although some animals other than dogs were recognized as service animals in the past, cats have never been included in this list. They can only be emotional support animals, a title that many cats hold today.
What Cat Is Best for Depression and Anxiety?
The best cat for depression and anxiety tends to be the ones that have a more affectionate or calming nature. Some cat breeds are well-known for the companionship that they provide, which can have therapeutic benefits. These include breeds like the Ragdoll, Russian blue, Maine Coon, Balinese, Manx, and the Turkish Van.
Do Cats Need Registration to Become an ESA?
By law, emotional support animals don’t require registration. As long as the owner has a valid ESA letter issued by a licensed mental health professional, it means the owner has everything needed for their animal. However, registration can be helpful even though it isn’t a requirement, such as providing you with additional documentation to prove the status of your animal.
Can a Landlord Deny an Emotional Support Cat?
A landlord cannot deny an emotional support cat simply because they don’t want cats in the property. This is particularly a problem with furnished apartments, as many landlords have no-pet policies specifically for cats. However, simply having a no-pet policy isn’t a legal basis for a landlord to deny an emotional support cat. Therefore, it is unlawful for landlords to treat emotional support cats as pets. Learn more about the instances where a landlord can deny an ESA.
Life With an ESA as an Alternative to a Service Cat
If you have a mental disability and wanted your cat to become your service cat initially, you now know that isn’t possible, given that cats can’t be service animals. Your only option to protect your cat is to obtain an ESA letter, which, considering that cats typically can’t be trained for disability-related tasks, having them as an emotional support animal instead of a “service cat” won’t really change your day-to-day life as a cat owner.