FULL DISCLOSURE. That is what this experience was all about. A few months ago, a representative from CertaPet reached out to us to partner with the blog. We receive many requests like this every day, but ignore a lot of them for many reasons. They might be supporting something we don’t or it might not be related to our mission here, which is to help you all find a happy and healthy life. I was intrigued with this one because 1) you know we’re huge animal lovers and 2) my other career is in animal welfare. I talk about Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) every single day. People call me and ask where to get ESA letters, if their landlord can charge them pet rent, what an ESA is, etc. I figured it couldn’t hurt to see if this service was legitimate, since there are so many different ones out there.
A few words on ESAs. Emotional support animals are one of the three types of assistance dogs, as I refer to them. You have service dogs, emotional support animals and therapy dogs. Therapy dogs are trained and tested to be able to provide therapy to people in places such as children’s hospitals and orphanages. These dogs are extremely loving, affectionate and tolerant to any and all behavior. They have to pass tests to be official. These tests are often performed in high-stress and high-stimulation environments such as hospitals. These dogs do not really have any additional rights than a normal pet, other than their access when they’re providing therapy. Service dogs are usually extremely expensive (because of the training) dogs that perform two designated tasks for someone with a disability. They are covered under the ADA (American with Disabilities Act) and it is illegal in many places to have a fake service dog. Not only that, but you’re the absolute scum of the universe, in my opinion, if you lie about your dog being a service dog.
The third type are emotional support animals and these are animals are essentially a kind of medication (or prescription) for someone suffering from one of many disorders, conditions or symptoms. A legitimate emotional support animal is provided to the person who needs that animal with a letter. That letter is a one-year prescription from a license mental health professional who is willing to put their license on the line to prescribe this animal for you. There are many fake services for this out there. Why? ESAs are protected under the Fair Housing Act and as a result, people with legitimate ESAs can essentially bypass housing restrictions or even avoid paying fees such as pet deposits and rent. In order to have a pet in an apartment where you can’t due to restrictions, people get ESAs. Sometimes they might just fool an actual licensed therapist, other times they may bribe them or most often they will find a fake service or forge a letter. This is extremely irresponsible for many reasons and can put themselves, their families and their animals at risk. They often also due this to simply save money. This is nowhere near as bad as people who fake service dogs, but it is still bad.
ESAs have more freedom than therapy animals but far less than service dogs. ESAs don’t require any special training, but they must be well behaved when they’re in an apartment or on a plane, otherwise you risk eviction. There is some fine print in the law about not being a nuisance to the community. ESAs can also travel with more rights than a normal pet or therapy animal, but again, with far less than a service dog. This is because ESAs can provide much needed anti-anxiety inducing effects to people who suffer from flight anxiety. I know many people who do, but fortunately I do not. I don’t recommend flying with animals more than necessary, due to the atmospheric changes, which can be deadly to animals with short nasal passages such as pugs, french bulldogs, Boston terriers… basically all the dogs that were bred for cuteness and not health or function.
I went through the CertaPet process to see if it was legitimate or not. First, I took a much longer and more in-depth than expected online assessment to see if I would qualify for an ESA. I was pre-approved. Then, it asked if I wanted a travel or housing letter. I chose housing letter, again, since I don’t really recommend flying with pets unless necessary. Now, we don’t need a housing letter at all. We always search hard and spend more money to find very animal friendly accommodations because we’re responsible adults that consider our pets true members of the family, but we understand not everyone can afford paying $2000 a month for a one bedroom apartment, along with an additional $1500 pet deposit on top of our normal security deposit. At this point, I had to put down a deposit for the letter. It was about $100 for one, or $150 for both. I don’t even remember since it was so reasonable. It said, if you’re ultimately not approved for an ESA, then you’ll receive your deposit back.
At this point, it told me to wait as they were trying to find the right licensed mental health professional, who has to be licensed in the state that you’re living in, for your assessment. The communication was incredible. I received email and text message updates. It was better service than I receive from companies that I’ve done tens of thousands of dollars worth of business with over the course of years and years and years. Their operating system was on point. I received an email from a certain LMFT (licensed marriage and family therapist) who lived in San Diego, is licensed in both California and Texas, and was intrigued by the answers on my original pre-approval form. I decided to put a lot of time and effort into it, being extremely honest and transparent. She sent me a link to an online system where we could book a call. She wanted to ask some questions and find out more about my answers. I scheduled for sometime the following week, I believe.
Now, she really could have taken all those answers and released them to the public and you would all be pretty shocked. There is a lot on there that no one other than Alana and myself know. As a result of that, she decided that she already was willing to grant me the ESA, once we went over more information about the animal itself and our living/travel situation, etc, but she still had questions because she wanted to help me. Everyone can use a coach, even coaches, and she not only provided me the ESA but ended up becoming my new therapist. She gave me customized plans, homework, etc, to help me with my needs. I was so thrilled to have been matched with her.
The next day, my ESA letters, completely customized to myself and legitimate were downloaded into my CertaPet user profile. They are PDFs that you can send to yourself, download or print. A few days later, I received a package with a CertaPet folder and the physical copies on my letters, as well as some packets/pamphlets with more information about how to properly use and travel with your ESAs. It exceeded my expectations. One note… if you consult with the licensed mental health professional and they deny you the letter, which the CertaPet representative told me happens all the time, you have to pay something along the lines of $30 to that particular person. It didn’t happen to me, so I’m not sure if that is pulled from your deposit or not.
The point of all of this isn’t just to explain ESAs and to tell you that CertaPet was a lovely service. It is also to try to tell you just how amazing having animals in your life can be. Noke holds us accountable on so many levels. She makes us so much more active and responsible. She and the cats make us cleaner and neater. We can’t leave anything out for them to destroy. We need to vacuum almost daily to prevent litter and Noke’s fur from being all over the wood floors. We have to be more financially responsible to provide their annual vet visits, etc. Also, they provide us with endless unconditional love. If you haven’t met Nymeria, she is one of the cuddliest cats in the world. If you’ve never met us, and sleep on our couch one night… she’ll cuddle you.
Don’t be too proud or ashamed to get an ESA if you need one. Being honest with yourself and dealing with your problems will help you stay hungry and fit. Let an animal, or two, or three, or four, help you with that!
