Reviewed by: Dr. David Tittle, BVetMed, CertVA, GPCert (WVA&CPM), MRCVS
All pet parents understand that there is something inherently soothing and comforting about being around beloved pets. That said, for certain people with mental and emotional conditions, emotional support animals are necessary to ensure their day-to-day well-being.
In this guide, you’ll learn all the most important information about emotional support animals, including what they are, how they differ from other types of support animals, what you need to qualify for one, and where ESA animals are allowed.
What Is an Emotional Support Animal (ESA)?
Simply put, emotional support animals (ESAs) are animals prescribed by a licensed mental health professional to a person with a mental disability or mental illness to provide a therapeutic benefit. Unlike other types of service and support animals, ESAs are not required to perform specific tasks. Instead, their presence can be calming and relieve distressing symptoms.
The mental health professionals who can prescribe ESAs include therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. There are several emotional conditions that can warrant the prescription of an ESA. Some of the most common include PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), anxiety, depression, and phobias.
What Animals Can Be ESAs?
Any type of domesticated animal can be an ESA. The most common ESAs are dogs and cats; however, mice, rabbits, hedgehogs, rats, minipigs, ferrets, birds, and other species that are manageable in public can also be prescribed ESAs.
Is There a Size Limit for ESAs?
There are no restrictions when it comes to an ESA’s size. If your ESA is a dog, it can be any weight and breed unless you live in an area that prohibits certain dog breeds. That said, remember that if you plan to travel with your ESA, certain airlines have size and breed restrictions in place.
How Is an ESA Different from a Service Animal, Therapy Animal, or Pet?
Nowadays, there are many types of assistance animals. In this section, we’ll break down what separates ESAs from service animals, therapy animals, and pets. If you’re considering seeking out an assistance animal, it’s important to know these differences because each classification provides a different type of support and has different rights in public spaces.
Service Animal
According to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), dogs are the only species of animal fully recognized as service animals at the time of writing this blog. A service dog is a dog that has undergone extensive training to perform specific tasks for people with disabilities.
What’s more, the tasks they perform have to be specifically related to the person’s disability. Service dogs help their owners go about their daily lives and provide assistance to compensate for a disability-related impairment.
Service dogs offer assistance for major life activities, which is why they’re afforded the widest range of rights and privileges under federal law. Some of the activities that service dogs help people with include opening doors, turning on lights, getting around, setting off alarms, alerting someone to low blood sugar levels, etc.
There are many different types of service dogs. The most common examples are:
- Guide Dogs: Help people who are blind or have severe visual impairments
- Seizure Response Dog: Assists someone with a seizure disorder
- Hearing Dog: Support people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
Another type of service dog that is often confused with emotional support dogs is a psychiatric service dog. These dogs are specially trained to help a person with the emotional struggles brought about by their disability.
For example, a psychiatric service dog might be trained to wake someone up during a night terror or provide deep pressure therapy to someone experiencing a panic attack. Psychiatric service dogs might also remind someone to take their medication (the U.S. Department of Justice considers this a Medical Reminder task).
Therapy Animal
Therapy animals don’t receive any specific training or rights but improve the well-being of the people they interact with by being sources of comfort. You might find therapy animals making rounds at nursing homes, hospitals, college campuses, or on-site after tragedies. While both ESAs and Service Animals are trained to help one specific person, therapy animals provide comfort, attention, and affection to several different people.
Pet
Although pets are undoubtedly comfort animals, they aren’t specifically trained to provide therapeutic benefits to their families. Another way of thinking about this is that pets don’t do a specific “job.” That said, they absolutely improve the quality of life of their pet parents. The main difference is that they’re not trained or prescribed to do any specific task.
Where Can You Get an ESA?
Unlike service animals, who undergo months and sometimes years of rigorous training and need to be specifically sought out, ESAs can come from anywhere you would get a pet. This means that ESAs can be bought from breeders, pet stores, or adoption shelters.
Remember, ESAs don’t need to receive any specific training to be considered an ESA, so your current pet can serve as your ESA if you receive the proper documentation.
How Do You Know If You Need an ESA?
No strict set of qualifications determines who needs and is eligible for an ESA. That said, if you feel like your pet is a source of comfort and you feel they’re a positive presence in your life when you’re struggling, then you may want to consider going through the process of making them a certified ESA.
Another benefit of ESAs is that they help people stick to routines and get outside regularly. If you feel like your dog or pet sometimes provides you with motivation to get out of bed and take them out, that might be another sign that they could qualify as an ESA.
What Do You Need to Qualify for an ESA?
If you think you would benefit from an ESA or want to get a pet you already have certified as an ESA, there are a few steps you have to take. First things first, you need to talk with a mental health professional. They will need to determine that you have a mental disability or mental illness that’s classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
Once the determination has been made, the licensed mental health provider will need to write you an ESA letter. An ESA letter is a letter that’s printed on official letterhead and is signed and dated by the prescribing professional. Essentially, this letter will say that you (the patient) have a confirmed disability and that they believe an ESA would be beneficial to you.
Do You Need To Register Your ESA or Identify Them in Public?
There’s no official registry process for ESAs. Unfortunately, lots of misinformation surrounding ESAs gets circulated online, and lots of sources will claim that you need to officially register your ESA and receive a registration number. Always keep in mind that no such process exists, and once you have an official recommendation letter from a licensed mental health professional, your pet is legally considered an ESA.
There’s also no law mandating that your ESA wears a certain vest or identification item in public. However, many people with ESAs choose to put them in vests or carry an ESA identification card to clearly denote that they are not just a regular pet and are “on duty.” This may help prove to landlords, flight attendants, and other people you encounter in public that your dog is providing you with therapeutic assistance.
Where Can You Bring an ESA?
Once you have an official letter of recommendation that says you qualify for an ESA, you may start to wonder about where exactly you can bring your ESA. As was earlier discussed, ESAs don’t have the same rights in public places as service animals.
This section is going to take a close look into the laws concerning ESAs in the following areas: rented homes, flights, college campuses, and restaurants.
Are You Allowed to Have an ESA in Your Home if You’re Renting?
You may be able to have an ESA in your rented room, apartment, or house if your ESA does not pose undue hardship for the landlord, according to the Fair Housing Act. This act clearly states that it is a violation of federal law for a housing provider to discriminate against a person with a mental illness or mental disability by prohibiting them from having their ESA, unless the ESA poses undue hardship for the landlord.
This applies to no-pet housing and states that landlords are not allowed to charge you pet-related fees if your pet is an official ESA. The Fair Housing Act applies to ESAs because, according to this act, ESAs are legally classified as assistance animals.
Can You Bring an ESA on a Flight?
The Department of Transportation released the final revisions to the Air Carrier Access Act in December 2020. Under the ACAA, airlines must allow all service animals on flights to perform the tasks for their handler with a disability unless the service animal poses undue hardship for the airline like aggressive behavior. Also, the ACAA limits the number of service animals per person. Their revisions specifically clarified that ESAs are not considered service animals and are not guaranteed air travel.
This means that it’s up to each airline to determine their own rules and regulations for ESAs. Pet-friendly airlines tend to allow ESAs on board but require people pay the usual rate for taking a pet on board. If you have a certified ESA and are planning to travel with them, make sure you get in contact with the airline first to guarantee that your ESA will be allowed on the flight.
How Do You Bring an ESA to College?
Again, according to the Fair Housing Act (FHA), housing providers have to provide reasonable accommodations to allow people with disabilities to use and enjoy an accommodation, unless the accommodation will result in undue hardship for the landlord. This means that colleges who provide accommodation have to allow their students with ESAs to live in those accommodations with their ESAs, even if students are not allowed to have pets, unless the ESA would cause undue hardship for the college.
That said, the school may ask to see your ESAs record of vaccinations, vet visits, and proof that generally speaking, they are healthy and well-cared for. If you are planning on living on a college campus, it’s always a good idea to talk with the school beforehand so that you know everything you need to about their ESA policy and how to ensure a seamless move-in.
Are ESAs Allowed in Restaurants?
The same logic applies to ESAs in restaurants as it does on airlines. This means that if pets are allowed in the restaurant, then your ESA will be allowed. However, if there is a strict no-pets policy in place in the restaurant, then your ESA will likely be denied entry.
Wrapping Up the ESA Conversation
It’s important to understand the differences between ESAs, service animals, therapy animals, and pets, if you are thinking about getting an ESA.
If you do decide that you think an ESA would be beneficial, you need to speak with a licensed mental health care provider so that they can provide you with an official letter stating that you qualify for an ESA. Remember, you can have your current pet registered as an ESA.
Once you have an ESA, you are legally allowed to have them in an apartment, house, room (including a college dorm) unless your ESA poses undue hardship for the landlord, thanks to the Fair Housing Act. Whether or not your ESA is allowed in airplanes and restaurants is up to the discretion of the business. Even if they are not allowed everywhere, having an ESA at your side can be an invaluable source of comfort in your life.
Sources:
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Symptoms and causes | Mayo Clinic
ADA.gov
About the Air Carrier Access Act | US Department of Transportation
The Fair Housing Act – Civil Rights Division | Justice.gov
Any health or medical information in ElleVet blogs is from a variety of public and reputable sources. This information is intended as an educational resource only and is not a substitute for expert professional care.