Can You Make Cats Your Emotional Support Animals?

An emotional support animal (ESA) is a companion animal, which helps a patient with mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, etc. to manage their symptoms. It provides ultimate love, comfort, and calming effects, thus reducing emotional distress. The ESA is different from a service animal and doesn’t require any special training to perform its duties. An emotional support animal can be a dog, cat, rabbit, etc., and it must be prescribed by a licensed mental health professional as a part of the patient’s treatment plan. In this article, we are going to talk about the benefits of having an emotional support cat.

Cats as Emotional Support Animals

Cats are calm and intelligent animals, and they always provide their owners with comfort and support. Thus, cats are the ideal candidates to be emotional support animals for individuals suffering from mental disabilities.

Patients with anxiety, depression, etc. are unable to concentrate on daily tasks, and even have difficulty getting out of bed. They don’t feel like leaving their homes, and usually hesitate talking to strangers and making friends. Cats can increase the patients’ activity levels, boost their mood, thus improving their overall well-being. Their natural docile nature make them perfect pets for those who need emotional support and entertainment.

Another reason why cats are the best emotional support animals is due to their small size and ability to create a strong bond with their handlers. Moreover, they are clean and quiet when it comes to living.

Cats provide the same compassion and love as dogs and other ESAs. Many may not understand, but a cat’s love is unconditional, thus helping a mental health patient refresh their mind and boost energy levels. However, many mental health practitioners report that cat ownership provides the same health benefits as dog ownership.

By registering your cat as an emotional support animal, you can avail the ESA benefits. The two most important ones are-

Flying with your emotional support cat in-cabin without paying any extra pet travel fees under the Air Carrier Access Act

Living with your support cat in a rental apartment without paying extra pet deposits under the Fair Housing Act.

The Best Emotional Support Cat Breeds

American Short hair

Also known as America’s breed, it’s a family favorite cat, which has a calm nature and loves spending time with children. American Short hair doesn’t require hourly attention, and when it’s in the mood to play, it will bring a toy.

Maine Coon

Originated from America, it’s one of the largest of all cat breeds. Maine Coon is a calm, intelligent, and trainable cat, and it has the ability to develop a good understanding with its handler. The cat loves playing with toys, wadded-up pieces of paper, and small balls.

Siamese

Siamese is a loyal cat, which has the tendency to make one or multiple family members happy. This active animal love going on long walks, and playing games such as fetch, thus it’s also called “dogs of the cat world.”

Rag Dolls

This well-mannered, friendly cat provides companionship by sleeping or laying with the owner. It’s usually good with children, and cat be trained certain tricks as dogs.

To sum up, cats are calm, friendly and well-mannered animals, which can provide emotional support as dogs. Thus, people with mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, stress, etc. can manage their symptoms by living with cats and register them as their emotional support animals. Researchers have found that cat ownership provides its owner with the same health benefits as owning a dog. Moreover, cats are small in size and are easy to handle.

Talk to a licensed therapist to get your emotional support cat letter.