Emotional support animals (ESA) are comfort animals that help people deal with certain mental health conditions. With the support and relief that an emotional support animal provides, individuals often find reprieve from negative feelings and emotions in addition to developing supportive routines that encourage positive feelings as they care for their emotional support animal.
If you are considering adding an emotional support animal to your treatment plan, you may be wondering if you can have more than one of these helpful companions.
Our article tells you more about emotional support animals and how many ESAs you may be able to have in your care.
What Is an Emotional Support Animal?
Emotional support animals are animals that provide comfort, companionship, and support to their owners. ESAs can be any type of animal, including animals like birds and reptiles, and they are not required to be trained to help their owners as a service animal would be.
This difference means that emotional support animals have different rights, and they cannot access public spaces in the same way that a service dog would be able to.
However, emotional support animals have the federally protected right to live alongside their owners in any suitable area of housing. This allows the animal to provide support to their owner throughout the owner’s day.
Who Qualifies for an Emotional Support Animal?
Many individuals may qualify for emotional support animals, as these animals are slightly easier to obtain than service animals due to the lack of training requirements. In general, any individual with a mental health condition that impacts their life, but is not significant enough to prevent them from going about their day, can qualify for an emotional support animal.
Conditions such as anxiety are often treated with emotional support animals. Your mental healthcare provider can further evaluate you and help you determine if your treatment plan can benefit from an emotional support animal.
How Do I Get an Emotional Support Animal?
Getting an emotional support animal involves a few different steps. To start, you will need to speak with your doctor or licensed mental healthcare provider to learn more about how an emotional support animal can help you and whether or not you are qualified to care for one of these companion animals.
Once your provider has approved your ESA, they will write you an emotional support animal letter that states your need, includes a few details about your ESA, and states their own details and qualifications. This letter will have an expiration date of around a year in most states, at which point you will need to make sure your provider writes you another one.
After you have your valid emotional support animal letter, you can show it to landlords and property managers to make sure your ESA housing rights are honored. You will not be required to pay extra pet fees, rent, or security deposits with a valid letter, nor will you need to adhere to breed restrictions or ‘no pet’ rules.
Can You Have More Than One Emotional Support Animal?
It is possible to have more than one emotional support animal, but you will need a valid emotional support animal letter for every companion animal in your care. Your provider will need to evaluate you for eligibility for every emotional support animal you wish to have, and they will need to write you a letter that states this need.
For instance, you cannot use one valid emotional support animal letter to try and live with three animals; each animal in your care that is supposed to help with your mental health condition will need an ESA letter to be valid.
While there are technically no limits on the number of emotional support animals you can have, many providers may question providing letters for more than three animals. Landlords may also find your accommodations request unreasonable, making it difficult to find housing with many different emotional support animals in your care.
Will My Emotional Support Animal Be Denied Housing?
Your emotional support animal can only legally be denied housing when your accommodation request is unreasonable, such as bringing several large animals into a small studio apartment, or when your ESA poses an unreasonable threat to the safety of others. If your ESA is very destructive, they may also be denied housing.
Benefiting From Emotional Support Animals
Emotional support animals are some of the most valuable and helpful companions around. If you think you would benefit from one or more ESAs, the first thing to do is speak with your doctor or licensed mental healthcare provider about your needs to understand if you qualify for an emotional support animal.
From there, you can adopt one or more emotional support animals to help you in your daily life.