An emotional support animal can be the difference between feeling alone, anxious, or depressed. While medications can help with these conditions, so can having an emotional support animal (ESA) by your side. Plus, you don’t have to worry about having a specific type of training or a specific animal because an ESA can be any type of animal as long as it provides you with comfort.
If you or a loved one is struggling with a mental health disorder and can benefit from having an ESA, you’re in the right place. Read on to learn more about emotional support animal registration.
What Is an Emotional Support Animal?
An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides comfort to people who need it. They can provide comfort for conditions like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. ESAs also differ from service animals because they don’t have to go through extensive training. Instead, an ESA is ready to get to work, making you feel more comfortable the second you get an ESA letter.
An ESA also doesn’t have to be a dog.n fact, you can have an emotional support cat or any other type of animal as an ESA if they have the right temperament. These requirements tend to be relaxed, and the animal just has to be friendly and not cause disturbances to property or neighbors if you’re renting.
Furthermore, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) has protections in place to protect ESAs in otherwise non-pet-friendly housing situations. You can provide an ESA letter to the landlord, and they will have to let you stay on the property.
That said, ESAs don’t have the same protections that service dogs have from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Therefore, ESAs can’t go in public places unless approved by the owner of a property.
Who Can Have an Emotional Support Animal?
Anyone who has a mental health condition that warrants an emotional support animal (ESA) can have one. Some conditions that qualify for ESA support include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- PTSD
- Bipolar disorder
- Some phobias
- ADHD
- Autism
- Eating disorders
- Substance abuse disorders
- OCD
Other conditions may also benefit from an ESA, so make sure you speak with your doctor to see if you qualify.
How to Register Your Emotional Support Animal
To register your emotional support animal, you need to speak with a licensed mental health professional and receive an ESA letter. Until you have this letter, as a paper copy or PDF file online, you can’t enjoy the benefits of an ESA.
In the past, you used to have to schedule an appointment with an in-person therapist, but that’s not the case anymore. Today, you can work with a reputable online ESA letter provider that handles emotional support animal registration.
These online providers will ask you for information about your pet and mental health condition before scheduling a call between you and a licensed mental health professional. On this call, you can highlight any issues you have, and they can write you an ESA letter.
Once you have an ESA letter, your pet is registered and you can enjoy protections from the Fair Housing Act.
How Much Does Emotional Support Animal Registration Cost?
Emotional support animal registration can cost anywhere from $75 to $250. Ultimately, it depends on what you’re looking for and if you adopted the pet already. If you want to make your pet an ESA and only need an ESA letter, you can get one online for around $100.
On the other hand, if you need to adopt a pet and plan on speaking with your therapist, the cost can be higher than $200. For these reasons, the cost to register an ESA depends on where you are in the process, whether insurance covers therapy, and whether or not you go the in-person or online route for registration.
Register Your Emotional Support Animal Today
Emotional support animal registration is the most important part of owning or adopting an ESA. While they can help you with mental health conditions and live in otherwise non-pet-friendly housing situations, they need to be registered for you to enjoy these benefits. Lying about an ESA’s registration can result in eviction from rentals or, worse, expensive fines.
The good news is that online providers make registering an ESA hassle-free. As long as you work with a trusted resource, getting your ESA approved should be a breeze.