Service animals are deliberately disciplined to assist disabled people and facilitate their life. The majority of doctors and other health professionals agree that emotional support animals should be thought of as groups of assistance animals.
The distinction between kinds of assistance animals
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is in no hurry to admit ESAs’ status and freedoms. That’s why emotional support animals are not as familiar as service animals or therapy animals. For comparison, service dogs have been successfully helping humans with diverse impairments for several decades. While for emotional support cats, there is not even an established registration in a legal way.
Despite this injustice, mental health problems are just as important as physical ones. Ignoring them can lead to irreparable outcomes. Therefore, doctors strongly recommend that their patients pay attention to an emotional support animal, for example, a dog or a cat.
It has been proven that pets have a beneficial effect on the recovery of patients; in addition, service animals significantly facilitate the performance of everyday assignments for men and women with inabilities.
What mental illnesses do emotional support animals cope with?
There are plenty of mental illnesses, the symptoms of which can be alleviated by ESA. Any mental health professional or doctor would recommend emotional support dogs or cats for individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), bipolar disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic attacks, and depression. This is far from the complete list of psychical illnesses that an emotional support cat can cope with.
For example, during a panic attack, an ESA cat can calm its handler, stabilize the heart rate and blood pressure, and avoid possible negative consequences. Moreover, ESA helps its owner to fight phobias and fears.
Cats can also relieve the handler of loneliness, obsessive thought, overthinking, signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorder, and other personality disorders that spoil a man’s life.
More benefits from emotional support animals
Also, if you have an oppressed psychic state, all you need is an ESA says myserviceanimal.org. For some illnesses in which ESA is involved, doctors gradually reduce the patient’s drug medication and even totally remove it over time. Thus, emotional support animals completely replace the medical intervention in the recovery and adaptation of the individual.
Besides, the ESA cat cheers the handler up, making them more sociable, outgoing, and extroverted. Emotional support cats and dogs promote making new friends and speed up the socialization of an individual with a disability.
Furthermore, these animals can make people more organized and self-collected, forcing them to keep a healthy lifestyle, including healthy sleep and daily walks.
ESAs’ rights
An emotional support animal has much fewer freedoms than a service animal. Although ESA can reside or fly without extra charge, there are some bounds that the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and Fair Housing Act impose on emotional support animals. In fact, an ESA has more rights than pets but much less than a service animal.
For example, free-flying for emotional support animals with their handlers is permitted only if there is a certification and other necessary documents. That’s why in some cases, it’s more convenient for people to choose pet-friendly airlines to avoid hassle and controversy.
If we talk about the field of housing, a landlord can ask a tenant the deposit because of the harm that an animal can do. Nevertheless, a landlord cannot evict a tenant with a service dog by himself. It can be done only by government decision.
Emotional support cat
Despite the opinion that dogs most often act as assistance animals, cats can also be excellent partners. Recent studies have proved that cats can be as good at helping people cope with mental dysfunctions as other animals. And sometimes even better.
A cat can diminish stress and lower the level of blood pressure. An emotional support cat also promotes healthy and restful sleep, which will speed up the recovery and positively affect a person’s welfare.
Cats can also be therapy and companion animal, which can be used as an individualized treatment for the patients. Mental health professionals also use emotional support cats at the receptions to relieve tension and help a man to relax.
How to register my cat as an emotional support animal
If you have any of the diseases mentioned above or feel lonely and depressed, you can ask your therapist to provide you with an ESA. To get an emotional support animal, you must have a licensed mental health professional letter, for example, a psychologist or psychiatrist. This note is titled an emotional support animal letter or ESA letter. You may also get an ESA letter online. You may take a specifically trained cat from a qualified coach when you have it.
Official registration for an ESA
Also, if your pet has taken training courses, it can be registered as an emotional support animal.
To register your cat as an ESA, you should, in all, have an ESA letter.
The registration process is quite simple and doesn’t have clear rules or time frames.