Emotional Support Cat

An emotional support cat is a person’s pet that has been prescribed by a licensed therapist or psychiatrist. The animal becomes part of the treatment program for this person. A cat is among the animals that provide therapeutic benefits. It attenuates symptoms of disability to an individual suffering from a mental or psychiatric disability. Health professionals identify a cat as a companion that can assist both physically and emotionally physically challenged individuals.

The greatest problem of having a cat as a pet for emotional support comes in when the landlord has a policy of ‘no pets allowed’ on the premises. However, there are government laws that help bend these policies to allow physically impaired persons to have an emotional support animal. All domesticated animals may qualify as an emotional support animal. The cat being an emotional specialized animal requires that the cat has proper training, but given that it’s a domestic animal the training might not be necessary. It is viewed by many as a reasonable accommodation.

An emotional support cat provides the opportunity to live independently. There are certain requirements needed to certify cat as emotional support animal. Jotted below are the two elaborated qualifications deemed necessary to certify cat as emotional support animal.

1. Public Management

The greatest requirement needed from different cat owners is proper management in public. The animal should not become a nuisance in your home or even around its environment.

2. Acquire an emotional support cat letter

The emotional support animal must be formally registered by use of this letter to confirm that a person has an emotional or psychological disability. The letter acts as a legal document indicating registration of the animal as an emotional support animal.

The support cat letter

The emotional support cat letter is the properly formatted prescription, given by a licensed therapist or psychiatrist. The letter also acts as the legal evidence showing that a person is emotionally or psychologically disabled. The cat letter should include some specific clauses in it. The four main statements that a mental health professional (be it a therapist, a psychologist or even a psychiatrist) should incorporate in this letter are;
1. The letter should first indicate that ‘you are currently a patient’ to the therapist, psychiatrist.

2. It should also show that you fall under the professional’s care of the specialist, for mental disability treatment. The specialist can also indicate that the patient has been diagnosed with a mental disorder.

3. The emotional support cat letter should indicate that in a way the patient’s disability limits him/her from participating in major life activities.

4. Also, the letter has to indicate that the professional has prescribed a cat for the patient to act as an emotional support animal for him/her.

5. Finally, the letter must be dated and should include the license the mental professional.

Housing rights for your emotional support cat

Under the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1998, it requires all landlords to make reasonable accommodation for the animal to live with the tenant. This Act should be adhered to by all landlords, regardless of their house rules. However, there are exceptional cases where they are not required to make these service animal accommodations.

1. If the landlord owns a building with four or fewer units with him or herself residing there, then the landlord is not required to make accommodation for the service animal.

2. If the landlord’s premises if rented out without a real estate broker, then the landlord is also not required to make accommodation for the service animal.

3. If the premise is a private club, then the landlord is not required to make this accommodation.

4. Finally, when the premise is a hotel or a motel, the landlord is also not required to make this accommodation.

Airline recommendation for passengers with service animals

Airlines companies have come up with ways, which a passenger can travel together with his/her service animal. They have made certain recommendations for this to promote proper comfort for their extinguished customers. The companies are required to make these travel accommodations for service animals by the Air Carrier Access Act. The recommended basics from airline companies are;
1. One should able to explain that in this case, your cat is an emotional support animal.

2. It is also recommended that you put an identification patch on your animal.

3. Also, one should have a formal document, which certifies that the animal is a service animal. An example of a document is a letter from a mental medical specialist.

4. Lastly, one should also have an identity card photo of the animal.

Service Cat

A service cat is one that has been trained to perform specific tasks. The task does much be directly related to the person’s disability. This type of cat may also be used to offer company to persons with disabilities especially in public places such as government buildings, open public businesses, public transportations and non-profit making organizations open to the public. The Americans Disabilities Act is the amendment law that allows people with disabilities to be accompanied by service animals.

The notion of whether a properly trained cat can be a service animal

Unlike other animals, cats can only be trained to a certain degree. Training them is not easy. Some even suggest that it’s likely impossible to train them. Although, teaching them to change their behavior to ensure a happy and healthy relationship with the owner is enough training. Therefore, human-animal interaction is the best training for a cat. When a cat is trained on how to co-exist with humans, it does a lot for people with disabilities. For example, it helps calm down people with post-traumatic stress disorders, lowers blood pressure for patients when cuddling and striking them, it also provides company too to patients, and it causes feelings of positivity and happiness in patients, which promote the speedy healing of patients.

Service cats also provide affection and comfort to people in nursing homes, hospices, and other human service care facilities. Following this advantages, it’s definite that trained cat can as well be a service animal since it can perform tasks for someone with a disability.