Frequently Asked Questions

Service animals (including psychiatric service dogs) are individually trained to perform specific tasks for a person with a disability and have broad public-access rights under the ADA. Emotional support animals provide comfort through their presence, don't require task training, and their protections apply mainly to housing under the Fair Housing Act — not to stores, restaurants, or airline cabins.

Qualification is determined by a licensed clinician during your evaluation. People experiencing conditions such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, or other emotional or mental health challenges may qualify if the clinician determines an emotional support animal is an appropriate part of their care. No website — including ours — can promise you'll qualify before an evaluation.

Dogs and cats are most common, but other domesticated animals — rabbits, birds, guinea pigs, and more — can serve as ESAs. Housing providers may lawfully decline animals that pose a direct threat or would cause substantial property damage, and unusual animals can receive additional scrutiny.

It's a private 20–30 minute telehealth conversation with a licensed mental health professional. They'll ask about your emotional wellbeing, daily functioning, and the role your animal plays in your life, using recognized clinical criteria to determine whether an ESA is appropriate for you.

No — and you should be wary of any service that guarantees approval. Our clinicians make independent professional judgments and are paid the same regardless of outcome. If you're not approved, you receive a full refund of your evaluation fee.

Yes. Your intake, session, and letter are encrypted, and your health information is shared only with your evaluating clinician. Your landlord receives only the letter itself — never your underlying clinical details. See our Privacy Policy for specifics.

Landlords may verify that your letter is genuine — ours include the clinician's license number and a verification pathway, and we support that process. They can lawfully deny requests in limited situations (for example, if the specific animal poses a direct threat, or in certain owner-occupied or exempt properties), but they can't reject a valid letter simply because the evaluation happened via telehealth.

Since a 2021 U.S. Department of Transportation rule change, airlines are no longer required to accommodate emotional support animals in the cabin — most now treat ESAs as regular pets with applicable fees. Trained psychiatric service dogs are still accommodated under separate rules. ESA letters today are primarily housing documents.

Yes, several do. Arkansas, California (AB 468), Iowa, Louisiana, and Montana all require a 30-day client–clinician relationship before an ESA letter can be issued — meaning two sessions instead of one. Other states have their own telehealth and documentation rules. We check your state's requirements during intake and structure your evaluation accordingly.

Federal law doesn't set an expiration date, but many housing providers ask for documentation issued within the last 12 months, and some states expect current letters. Most clients renew annually — that's what our $99 renewal is for.