Do You Have an Emotional Support Animal (ESA)

There are animals that are recognized, legally, as your Emotional Support Animals. Those animals can be cats, dogs, birds or any animal who is signed by your doctor or psychiatrist who helps you relieve emotional distress.

Right now the ADA is working on the laws regarding ESA's and their owners. Please see
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/1/prweb10377254.htm.

This means that they are considered a step above being your pets. They provide emotional support for you. That means that they are considered to be support animals.

When your animal is an ESA for your or your loved ones or both, landlords have to consider them when you move. That's by law. When they don't accept pets, they have to accept an ESA just like a service animal.

ESA's also get to ride for free with you, on the plane, in the cabin section, underneath your seat. Not in the cargo section where they can get injured, killed or lost.

My cat is the love of my life and a legal ESA, for me. How many of you share this with me or would like to learn more about this?

PS: This in no way means that your pets can not do this for you. They certainly can and will do it.

I could see people abusing this law though and bringing animals into places that are inappropriate for them though. While I'm sure many of us would all love to have our pets around us at all times, are we ready to deal with these pets possibly harming other people, biting them, biting other people's pet, biting people's kids? We could possibly wind up with people bringing their pets into restaurants and other places they probably shouldn't be.

There are cases going on with Service Animals and ESA Animals for abuse. It's very hard to prove.

For an ESA, my cat stays with me and she travels on the plane, in the cabin section for free if we move out of state. I keep her in her own environment. That is hers. She in turn, is sensitive and takes very good care of me. :-)

Susan, I think that this is an exceptional idea ! I am a senior lady, and my little Chipper is certainly a lot of emotional support for me, and I think that my doctor would certainly sign whatever paperwork is necessary.
I doubt that this I s abused a lot, since most people that have a pet declared an ESA would usually be considerate of other people, and of taking the animal in an inappropriate place.
I certainly understand that restaurants don't want dogs and cats in the establishment, and unless it were necessary, I would never try to bring Chipper inside.
But I do occasionally take trips on an airplane with my daughter, and would like to be able to bring Chipper along with me, and certainly would not want the little fellow stuck in with the luggage somewhere.

I understand. I wouldn't take my cat with me in a restaurant either. Even when they are ESA's such as mine is, we still have to be responsible animal owners. I think that most of us are. It's that in renting, some landlords don't want animals. This is our ticket to keep us together no matter what. The ADA law says that Landlords must allow ESA's at no cost as well. Not all the establishments abide by the no pet fees especially when they didn't want animals there to begin with and now have to allow them because they are signed ESA's. There is the good and the bad with that. As long as she gets to stay with me, that's all that matters...These same places charge the disabled for their service dogs too and they could be fined for that. A service dog is not a pet, they are a trained working animal with the harness on. You never touvh them to pet them with harness on, because they are on duty.

(09-27-2013 02:28 PM)Happyflowerlady Wrote:  Susan, I think that this is an exceptional idea ! I am a senior lady, and my little Chipper is certainly a lot of emotional support for me, and I think that my doctor would certainly sign whatever paperwork is necessary.
I doubt that this I s abused a lot, since most people that have a pet declared an ESA would usually be considerate of other people, and of taking the animal in an inappropriate place.
I certainly understand that restaurants don't want dogs and cats in the establishment, and unless it were necessary, I would never try to bring Chipper inside.
But I do occasionally take trips on an airplane with my daughter, and would like to be able to bring Chipper along with me, and certainly would not want the little fellow stuck in with the luggage somewhere.

Susan, thank you for all of the good information about registering a pet as an ESA animal ! I don't have any problem with my landlord, but I definitely would want something like this, if for some reason I was traveling and needed to take Chipper along. I wonder if they let you take ESA animals on a train or bus, since neither of those allow pets at all ?
Do you have to take paperwork along with you so that you can show someone to prove that this animal is a registered ESA animal ? I think that this information is great for older people like I am to know, since many of the senior citizens really depend on our little pets for companionship.