How does a cat become an emotional support animal?

0 votes
asked Mar 4, 2022 in Cats by dizzybent (1,180 points)
How does a cat become an emotional support animal?

2 Answers

0 votes
answered Mar 4, 2022 by HuJennifer (2,490 points)
For your cat to become an emotional support animal and to be legally recognized as an emotional support animal you must get a letter known as an ESA letter from a licensed mental health professional which states you need the emotional support animal.

If you suffer from anxiety, depression, panic attacks, PTSD, or any number of mental illnesses you may already qualify for an emotional support animal.

Cats are very good for being emotional support animals.

Cats can be great emotional support animals!

This is also true of any other pet that helps you with a mental health disability or mental health related challenge.

While dogs are primarily considered service animals, an emotional support animal can be many different kinds of animals.

Not only are cats small which is a good thing with emotional support animals but cats are also very calming, relaxing and they can also lower your blood pressure and help with depression and anxiety.

Cats do help with loneliness and when you're lonely cats can be a very good companion to keep you company.

Cats can understand human crying and facial emotions and facial expressions.

Cats and humans have similar hormonal, neurological and genetic makeups.

When humans smile or cry, cats can read our facial expressions and detect our emotions.

A cat's ability to read your body language and sentiments develops over time as they come to know you.

Cats can easily sense anxiety in people and they can sense that you're sad, upset etc.

Cats can sense most emotional issues with people.

When your cat sleeps next to you it means they love you and they trust you and are sleeping next to you for protection in the night or when they are napping.

Cuddling a cat is very good for you as well as very good for the cat.

Most cats do love to cuddle once they get to know you and you will feel good yourself and the cat will also feel good.

When you cuddle with your cat you reduce your stress level and anxiety and cuddling with your cat can also lower your blood pressure.

Cuddling with your cat releases oxytocin in the body, which is the hormone responsible for making people feel happy and loved.

Cats think of us sort of as their parents, but that special bond has to be nurtured.

Cuddling your cat will help them feel safe and loved.

In fact, when you snuggle your cat, a special hormone is released in both of you.

Cats sleep with you as a means of protection for them as well as protection for yourself as well.

When cats sleep with you it provides the cats with security and an extra defense if a predator should launch a nighttime attack.

Cats will sleep with you because they trust you, they know you're not a danger and you can also provide an extra layer of defense if needed.

Cats do know when you're sleeping and sometime when a cat knows you're sleeping they may try to get you to wake up as well.

Cats will wake you up to get you up to play, to get you up to feed them or to just tell you it's time to get up.

If your cat insists on waking you up at 4 a.m. every day it's probably because they tricked you at some point in the past and then kept tricking you because you were so easily tricked.

Congratulations, you have been outsmarted by an animal that comes up to your shins and poops in a box in the corner.

Cats will pick their favorite person the same way that humans or dogs pick their favorite person.

When the person shows so much love and affection towards the cat then the cat will also usually decide that the person who is very affectionate to them and shows them love deserves to be the cats favorite person.

In a multi-human household, it seems that cats will choose one family member they want to spend more of their time with.

According to a study done by the nutrition company, Canadae, they discovered that the person who makes the most effort is the favorite.

Cats headbutt you as a way to show love for you and the headbutt from the cat is also their way of expressing a familial relationship and using scent as a marker.

Marking you with her own scent makes your cat feel even safer around you than she did before

When your cat follows you everywhere it usually just means that the cat loves you and wants to be around you.

Or the cat may be wanting attention or they're bored and just want to walk around with you and it's perfectly normal behavior.

Some cats want to follow people around while others may just want to be lazy.

Cats follow you to the bathroom as they want your attention and when you're in the bathroom the cat realizes that you're more apt to give them attention than you would when busy.

Cats are also very affectionate and become close to you and some cats just love to follow you to the bathroom or wherever you go.

Coming to visit you in the bathroom can become a routine your cat learns to love, especially if you give in to its pleas for attention.

Your cat may also be anticipating mealtime if that's something you do after using the bathroom in the morning.

Cats do get attached to their owners and even family that is around them a lot.

Even some stray cats can become very attached to people they don't even know when you start to let them know to trust you.

Most cat breeds are affectionate although some cat breeds are more affectionate than others.

The most affectionate cat breed is the Ragdoll Cat.

Other most affectionate cat breeds include.

Persian. The Persian is a placid breed that is prone to bursts of kitten-like energy.
Abyssinian.
Maine Coon.
Burmese.
Sphynx.
Cornish Rex.
Scottish Fold.

The average lifespan of a house cat is between 15 to 18 years although some have lived up to 20 years or longer.

The cat is a domestic species of a small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is often referred to as the domestic cat to distinguish it from the wild members of the family.

Felis is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina.

The genus includes the domestic cat.

The smallest Felis species is the black-footed cat with a head and body length from 38 to 42 cm.

The cat (Felis catus) is a domestic species of a small carnivorous mammal.

It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is often referred to as the domestic cat to distinguish it from the wild members of the family.

Some interesting facts about cats are.

Cats can jump up to 6 times their height.
Cats have a total of 18 toes.
There are over 500 million pet cats!
Cats sleep for around 13 to 16 hours a day (70% of their life).
1 year of a cats life equals to 15 years of a humans live.
One of the largest domestic cat breeds is a Maine Coon.
0 votes
answered Nov 22, 2022 by erik-1993 (420 points)

Registering your cat as an emotional support animal requires just a few simple steps. Here’s what you should do to register your cat as an ESA:

1. Connect With a Licensed Mental Health Professional
You need to find a licensed mental health professional about making your cat your emotional support animal. You can get an ESA letter from a licensed mental health professional for you cat at Medvidi (https://medvidi.com/). Consequently, you should have a mental health disability to qualify for an ESA. Otherwise, your health care professional cannot be eligible for your cat as an emotional support animal.

2. Demonstrate Why You Need an ESA
You must demonstrate to your mental health professional that you need an ESA to improve your mental health and lifestyle. The one qualifying factor has a mental disability. This may include suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc. You must also prove that your mental disability limits your daily life to qualify for an ESA letter.

3. Your Cat Should Not Pose a Threat to Others
You must also make sure that your cat doesn’t pose a threat to other people around you. It must provide you with the support you need for your disability without posing a threat or being a nuisance to other people or property. Good behavior is mandatory if you want to register your cat as an emotional support animal.

4. Notify Your Landlord
You must also notify your landlord about your emotional support cat before moving in. Please give them your ESA letter to provide a record that you shared your reasons for having an ESA cat on the premises.

98,443 questions

94,727 answers

1,269 comments

6,992,494 users

...