Registering your Emotional Support Animal.

Do you really need to register your emotional support animal? What makes an Emotional Support Animal an “ESA” by law is having a licensed mental health professional state in a letter of prescription that you have an emotional disability that qualifies you under the Fair Housing Act and Air Carrier Access Act for a reasonable accomodation. In other words, by getting your dog or cat prescribed to you medically, you are protected under Federal law and therefore pet-restrictions will not apply to you.

Emotional Support Animals are not service animals. They do not need to be registered because ESA’s are not trained to perform specific tasks. The mere presense of an ESA is enough to mitigate your symptoms and provide you with emotional support. On the other hand, service animals must be registered to show that they have had formal training to perform a specific task to help your disability. SErvice animals are seeing eye-dogs or seizure alert dogs. ESA’s are for depression, anxiety, ptsd, and stress, just to name a few.

ESA’s DO NOT need vests, ID tags, or registration. Do not waste your money on this if you need to make your pet an emotional support animal. Service Dog registries are simply capitalizing on the ignorance of people who do not know what they need to make their pet an emotional support animal. As stated earlier, the only thing that makes your dog or cat an emotional support animal is a prescription from a licensed mental health professional, which can be obtained on this website.