Emotional support animals(ESAs) are one of the most common types of support animals that benefit the lives of countless individuals living with a psychiatric disability. Many of these animals seem like any other pet at first, but their presence is critical for their owner’s well-being. Emotional support animals provide therapeutic benefits, and their presence alone eases symptoms of many mental health conditions.
While most people who need emotional support animals typically only have one, many would benefit from more than just one ESA. Since an emotional support animal can be any animal that an individual is legally allowed to keep, some also typically require living in pairs to sustain a happy life. Think of common pets like rabbits and guinea pigs.
In this article, we will shed light on this topic by answering how many ESA can you have. If you’re interested in having multiple emotional support animals, read on to learn everything you need to know.
What Is an ESA?
Knowing exactly what an emotional support animal is and how they differ from service animals is key to understanding how many emotional support animals one can have. Here’s what an emotional support animal is.
ESA is short for emotional support animal. These animals belong to a category of support animals that provide therapeutic benefits. They are different from service animals, which assist individuals with disability through performing tasks like retrieving objects from the ground or pulling a wheelchair. Emotional support animals, on the other hand, only provide therapeutic benefits with their presence to individuals with a psychiatric disability.
While they are vastly different in terms of how they benefit their owner with a disability, another main difference is while any animal can be an emotional support animal, service animals must be dogs (or miniature horses under specific circumstances).
The process for getting an ESA and a service animal is also different. To get an emotional support animal, you need an ESA letter from a licensed mental health professional in your state. Service animals don’t need any documentation as long as they are trained and well-behaved in public.
How Many ESA Can You Have Legally?
Now that you know more about emotional support animals, here’s what the law says about how many ESAs an individual with a psychiatric disability can have.
Before we get into the details, note that there isn’t a limit on how many emotional support animals you can have. The law is very clear on this – an individual with a psychiatric disability can have as many emotional support animals as they need.
Getting an ESA Letter for Multiple Emotional Support Animals
However, this doesn’t mean that you can get ten dogs as your emotional support animal just because you want to have that many. Getting even a single emotional support animal requires an ESA letter from a licensed mental health professional. An individual who wants to have multiple ESAs needs a letter for every one of their animals.
With this in mind, it is safe to say that while there isn’t a limit on the number of emotional support animals someone with a psychiatric disability can have, the decision is ultimately up to their mental health professional.
If your mental health worker finds that the number of emotional support animals you think you need is reasonable and will actually benefit your condition, then they will likely issue your emotional support animal letters.
Those who don’t have a mental health worker can get a virtual consultation to get an online ESA letter. This is particularly helpful for those who have difficulties visiting a mental health professional in person due to their symptoms or financial restraints.
How Many ESA Can You Have: Your Questions Answered
While there isn’t a legal limit on how many ESAs one person can have, those with a psychiatric disability need to understand the care involved with emotional support animals. Having multiple emotional support animals is a big commitment that can add more stress to one’s life than the therapeutic benefits.
Therefore, it is essential for individuals considering multiple emotional support animals to understand the commitment involved, along with the impact this will have on their disability.