Can I Have 2 Certified Emotional Service Dogs

Many people researching Emotional Support Animal (ESA) letters on Pettable inquire if they can have more than than one emotional support animal and exactly how many ESAs they can have. Nosotros turned to one of our highly experienced mental health experts to help y'all sympathize the rules and requirements for having more than than one ESA. In this article, we share everything a person with a disability needs to know nearly having multiple ESAs, what to do to get your dog, cat, or other pets certified, and how to obtain an ESA letter.

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How Many ESAs Can Y'all Have?

You tin take as many ESAs as yous need. There are no rules or guidelines saying you can only have a certain number of emotional support animals. As long as the emotional support animals exercise not violate land or local laws, your request is reasonable, and both you and your licensed mental health professional concur your ESAs provide you necessary mental or emotional support, y'all can have i, ii, or as many Emotional Support Animals every bit y'all need. But, yous need to follow regime ESA rules and guidelines to brand certain you lot can go on your ESA companion with you at abode and when you travel.

We base our ESA guidance on the four most authoritative sources:

The Federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fair Housing Act rules
The Air Carrier Access Air-conditioningt
Advice from Licensed Mental Health Professionals

Each of these sources plays a part in helping y'all effigy out how many emotional back up animals you tin can have, and we'll dive into what each one tells u.s.a..

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What Does Federal Law Say Nigh Multiple ESAs?

Federal laws from the ADA and FHA have been put in place that protect emotional back up animals – including situations in which an individual may crave multiple ESAs. These laws acknowledge the fact that sometimes individuals demand different assistance animals for different purposes. In add-on, a person may need multiple assist animals to serve the same purpose – only each animate being may be every bit essential to that person's coping with and handling for their disabilities.

The ADA Recognizes That People May Need More Than One Emotional Support Animal

Federal law explicitly recognizes that individuals may require more than than only 1 emotional back up beast. For instance, if one of your pets helps you with anxiety and another pet helps you stay active (which benefits depressive symptoms), both emotional back up animals are deemed necessary to your mental health.

Here is a direct quote from the Federal ADA police force:

Some people with disabilities may use more than one service animate being [or emotional support creature] to perform different tasks. For example, a person who has a visual disability and a seizure disorder may use one service animal [or emotional support animal] to aid with style-finding and another [emotional support animal] that is trained as a seizure alert dog. Other people may need 2 service animals [or multiple emotional support animals] for the same task, such equally a person who needs two dogs to assistance him or her with stability when walking. - ADA

The ADA States That Your Emotional Support Animals or Service Animals Tin can Exist Used To Help With The Aforementioned Disability

The ADA also states that your emotional support beast does not need to back up yous in a unlike manner than your other emotional back up fauna. Specifically, if both your dogs aid you with low, then the ADA recognizes that both may play a crucial function in supporting you lot in your depressive symptoms. The ADA explicitly states:

Other people may need two service animals for the aforementioned chore, such as a person who needs 2 dogs to assist him or her with stability when walking. - ADA

The ADA Says Your Request Must Be Possible To Accommodate

The ADA does place some limits around the Federal rules for multiple support animals. For example, suppose your request to enter a private business with multiple support animals tin can't be reasonably accommodated. In that example, the private business may have the correct to deny your request to bring in more than one of your support animals. This would exist like if you bring two Bang-up Danes to a tiny restaurant and both your dogs aren't able to fit under the table, the staff may asking that one of the dogs remain exterior. Hither is what the ADA specifically says:

If both dogs tin can be accommodated, both should be allowed in. In some circumstances, however, it may not be possible to adapt more than one service brute. For example, in a crowded small restaurant, simply one dog may be able to fit nether the table. The merely other place for the second canis familiaris would be in the aisle, which would block the space between tables. In this case, staff may request that one of the dogs exist left outside - ADA

What Does The Department of Housing Say About Multiple ESAs?

The Department of Housing and the Fair Housing Act's guidance for landlords and people who want to bring emotional support animals into their housing circuitous is relatively straightforward.

The Fair Housing Deed and HUD recognize that individuals may need multiple emotional back up animals and simply state that your request for reasonable accommodation must be, well, reasonable.

Meaning, if you live in a tiny New York apartment, having a equus caballus live with y'all (not certain that would be enjoyable in the start identify) is about definitely not a reasonable request.

However, if you have two or three dogs that serve every bit your emotional support animals, plus they're well behaved, and y'all're not stuffing them into a tiny flat, that would probable fall under reasonable accommodation. In that case, you'd be able to move in with them provided you take proper ESA Letter of the alphabet documentation to share with the landlord.

What Exercise Mental Health Professionals Say About Multiple Emotional Support Animals?

ESA Messages crave a live consultation with a licensed mental health professional. During this evaluation, the LMHP volition look at the purpose that each of your emotional support animals serves in helping manage your mental or emotional symptoms. Specifically, a therapist is looking to understand:

What is your relationship with each emotional support animal?
How does each emotional support fauna help you to bargain with your disability?

For a mental health professional to write you ESA documentation for more than ane emotional support animal, they need to first determine that each emotional support brute does in fact assistance you with your inability and that yous can speak to how they specifically help. You'll need to be able to describe your unique human relationship with each emotional support fauna.

Virtually mental health clinicians will as well inquire the context of why you need your ESA letter. They need that information to help them determine if your asking for ESA letters and multiple assistance animals falls under the standard of reasonable accommodation.

If your clinician feels your situation does not see the standard for reasonable accommodation, they will likely non corroborate a letter for multiple ESAs, even if yous are able to speak to the specific therapeutic human relationship with each one. This would exist the case if you were asking for an ESA accommodation for 10 cats in rented housing – this likely wouldn't laissez passer the "reasonableness" test, and a clinician probable wouldn't be able to sign off on letters for all of them.

So How Many Emotional Support Animals Can I Have?

Ok, so we've covered a bunch of stuff about laws around assist animals. How do you figure out whether you can have more than i emotional support brute, and tin you get an ESA letter for each one?

Here's a checklist you can run through before going through the whole process to experience reasonably confident that you will or won't qualify.

What Kind of Emotional Support Animals Exercise You Accept?

Start, what kind of emotional back up animate being(s) do y'all have? Whether y'all can get an ESA letter for them might depend on how your ESA helps y'all and where yous need them to be accommodated. Here are some common animals:

Service Dogs
Emotional Support Dogs
Cats
Miniature Horses/Pigs (really!)
Birds
Other Assistance Animals

Whether y'all are entitled to accommodation for each kind of support animal will depend on its size, your living or other situation, and your specific needs. A clinician volition need to expect at those factors to decide if your asking is likely to be considered reasonable according to the laws and if they can provide you with an ESA letter.

How Does Your ESA Assist You?

Next, think about how each of your assistance animals helps with a mental or emotional disability. Remember, the mental or emotional disability they help you with does not need to be unlike for them to qualify equally an ESA. If you lot need linguistic communication for your inability, here is a list of mutual ones:

Low
Anxiety
Diverse Kinds of Phobias
Panic Attacks
Personality Disorders
ADHD
Schizophrenia
Bipolar Disorder

What Is Your Housing Situation Like And Does Your Request Feel Reasonable?

Side by side, we encourage you to consider whether your asking is reasonable for housing (as per HUD and the FHA). Kickoff, what are your living weather?

Are you in an apartment?
Is information technology a small-scale apartment?
Will having your ESA (dogs or cats) potentially risk damaging the apartment?

Retrieve your request for accommodation needs to exist reasonable, and if your asking feels reasonable, you'll be protected by the FHA and protected equally a tenant.

How Many Are You Planning To Travel With And Does Your Request Feel Reasonable?

Next, to accept your legal rights protected when you travel, we encourage you to recall about whether your request is reasonable (as per the ADA). For a clinician to experience comfortable writing emotional back up animal letters for someone who wants to bring multiple cats or dogs on an airline, for example, they'll need to explain conspicuously how each supports your mental disability.

Assuasive one ESA to travel with you is seen as reasonable most of the time, and then you'll need disarming reasons to get an emotional support animal alphabetic character for multiple companions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Kind of Animal Tin Be an ESA?

Any brute tin qualify as an emotional support animal as long as they come across the criteria defined by either the FHA and HUD and the ADA. If a licensed mental health professional determines that your cat, dog, or other pet acts equally an ESA, they will provide an emotional support brute letter that will help protect your rights for housing, travel, and other purposes.

What'due south the Deviation Between a PSD and an ESA?

A Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) is a Service Animate being trained to back up a specific private who is diagnosed with a mental affliction. PSDs assistance by reacting to their owners' emotional cues or in stressful situations. PSDs preparation includes performing specific tasks to protect, alert, or distract their owners.

An emotional support creature is not required to exist trained to serve only a specific individual or perform a specific task. An ESA provides emotional comfort to a person with emotional or mental wellness challenges through physical companionship.

How Much Does Information technology Toll to Accept More than than One ESA or Service Pet?

Many services will tell you that you lot need documentation for each ESA you have, only HUD does not crave that, nor is it required by the FHA or the ADA. Nosotros besides consulted with each therapist on our squad – they explained that the most important thing when writing an emotional back up animate being letter is that the clinician needs to understand and explain what they phone call the "nexus" of your relationship with each ESA you lot ain. That takes more time and piece of work, and nearly services and therapists charge actress for more than one ESA.

Does Pettable Charge For More Than Ane ESAs?

At Pettable, we get how critical your ESA is to your mental wellness, and we understand the ESA laws and regulations (HUD, FHA, ADA, ACA, etc.). We also piece of work with each therapist on our team to make sure we can provide a loftier-quality and affordable service for you lot and your ESA.

As a result, we suit up to two pets per ESA letter for no additional charge. Yes, that requires our therapist team to do more than in their evaluations, but all of us at Pettable are dedicated to making our services affordable.

We do have to accuse per letter of the alphabet when we provide you with documentation for 3 or more than ESAs. Our guideline is upwards to ii ESAs per official alphabetic character.

What Should Tenants Say to the Landlord If They Take Multiple Emotional Support Animals?

The same rules employ if you have one ESA or more than one ESA. Specifically, your landlord has the right to request documentation (an emotional back up fauna alphabetic character) in which your therapist certifies your need for an ESA.

They can ask whether or not you accept a inability and enquire if each of your ESAs helps with your disability. But, for both housing or travel, country and local laws are articulate: no one tin inquire you to tell them exactly how your ESA helps or what assist they provide. They also tin can't enquire what disability y'all have. A person's disability cannot impact whether a landlord provides reasonable accommodations to its tenants.

Suppose the person or organization y'all are dealing with has additional questions well-nigh their obligation to accommodate your ESAs. In that case, the best thing to do is direct them to the therapist who adamant your diagnosis, and they can confirm that your emotional back up animal letter documentation is valid and legal.

If needed, Pettable customers as well have admission to our legal team to help explain and protect their rights under the ADA, FHA, and other laws.

Is there a limit to how many service animals you lot can have in an apartment?

No, the Fair Housing Act and the Department of Housing simply say that the request for ESAs must be reasonable. A person should non be penalized for their medical demand for an assistance animal, regardless of his or her disability.

So, if you have multiple large animals you're trying to cram into a tiny apartment, that volition probably be considered unreasonable. On the other mitt, if you have smaller animals to fit into a small apartment or a larger apartment for several larger animals, that volition likely be looked upon as more reasonable. Emotional back up animals allowed in apartments can go on to back up their owners unless they cause health hazards or a direct threat to anyone's safety. Mostly, ESA cats, dogs, and other animals on the smaller side volition do well in an apartment.

What does an ESA letter of the alphabet need to say?

A valid ESA letter must include your licensed healthcare provider's official letterhead, license number, contact information, and the engagement the letter was issued.

The body of the letter must use specific wording to explain your need for emotional support pets. While it cannot give specific information near your medical issues, it must state that you take a qualifying status. The ESA alphabetic character also must say that your symptoms are improved by the companionship of your ESA animals. Finally, it must include the medical professional'due south request for reasonable accommodation for your assistance animals.

If it is an ESA travel alphabetic character, it must too state that your ESA is needed to back-trail you during travel due to your mental or emotional disabilities. It's best to accept your letter on mitt when yous plan to travel or go out with your back up pet. Nearly places practise not have to arrange ESA animals, just some may.

How to make a pet an emotional support animal?

If you have a pet that you feel contributes to your mental health, it could be worth finding out if you lot tin qualify them equally an emotional support brute.

The process is actually quite uncomplicated. Y'all must exist evaluated during a alive consultation with a licensed healthcare provider who determines that y'all have a mental health inability. They too demand to determine that your pet'due south companionship helps to reduce some of your symptoms of that inability, making life more livable for you.

One time your licensed mental healthcare provider has determined your eligibility, they can write you an ESA letter. Once you lot have a valid ESA letter in hand, your pet volition at present be recognized as your emotional support animal.

For more data on how to get an emotional support creature, check out this post.

Who can write an emotional support animal letter?

Just a licensed mental wellness professional person tin can write an ESA letter. This includes

Licensed clinical social workers
Licensed marriage and family therapists
Family physician with feel in mental wellness
Licensional counselors
Licensed professional mental health counselors
Licensed clinical psychologists

Can apartments accuse for emotional back up animals?

No. The law does not permit for property owners to discriminate against people with disabilities. Considering of this, fifty-fifty housing providers that typically accuse for pets to be allowed on the premises cannot charge for your to continue your emotional support pets with y'all.

Can whatsoever dog be an emotional support domestic dog?

Whatsoever size or breed of canis familiaris has the potential to go an emotional back up dog. Emotional support dogs don't demand special training, like service dogs, to help someone with an emotional or mental disability. A service animal performs tasks for someone while an emotional support domestic dog offers comfort. Your pet must be well behaved around others, nether your control at all times, and must not pose any threat to the wellness and safety of others. Also, though non required, it's a good idea to become them spayed or neutered to prevent the arrival of an unexpected puppy litter, every bit well as whatever aggressive behaviors related to mating.

To make it official, yous must receive an ESA letter from a licensed healthcare provider certifying that you lot have a mental health condition that is improved by the presence of your pet.

For more information on how to brand your domestic dog an ESA, bank check out this postal service.

Can you get an emotional support domestic dog for anxiety?

Of course. If your anxiety is adamant to be inhibiting your life, and a domestic dog could help reduce some of your feet symptoms, it's definitely worth looking into. Several emotional support animals may cause unnecessary stress and feet to a pet owner, just a dog could assist someone coping with anxiety.

Emotional back up dogs provide companionship to the owner that can go a long manner in helping ease mental wellness conditions, such equally feet.

For more information on emotional support dogs for anxiety, check out this mail service.

Practise landlords have to accept emotional support animals?

Yes, as long as your request for accommodation is within reason, the emotional back up pets pose no threat to others, and you have provided your landlord with a valid ESA letter, they must suit your ESAs. Whether a person has 1 emotional back up animal, 2, or more, a landlord must accept the animals unless the request is unreasonable. Pet fees for a person's assist animal will besides be waived, and then having additional pets for a medical reason will non create a financial brunt in regards to pet fees.

What is an ESA dog?

Because in that location are several types of working dogs, information technology can sometimes exist hard to go along them all direct. A service animal is a pet, normally a dog, that has been specially trained to help a person perform tasks like seeing or hearing. Someone may demand a service fauna for a variety of reasons. Some dogs are individually trained to assist a visually impaired person while others are trained to help someone who may exist difficult of hearing. A psychiatric service dog also needs training to help individuals struggling with things like schizophrenia, postal service traumatic stress disorder, or something similar.

An ESA does not need to be individually trained to back up someone with mental health issues. Therapy dogs are likewise different from emotional assistance animals. Therapy dogs travel from hospitals to nursing homes and other places to offering comfort and love to residents. An ESA canis familiaris helps people cope with various mental illnesses.

Dogs tin can make wonderful emotional support animals. An ESA dog, or emotional support domestic dog, is simply a dog that has been officially certified with an ESA letter to provide condolement and some relief for the possessor'southward mental or emotional disability. In other words, an LMHP has determined that the domestic dog's companionship is an essential part of the owner'southward treatment and coping with their condition.

What If My Letter Does Not Work For Me?

At Pettable, we know how vital our service is to our customers, and we stand backside it 100%. Nosotros guarantee that the ESA letter you obtain through Pettable volition do everything it is supposed to under the police. If it always doesn't, we volition fully refund your purchase.