Animal Support Certificate: What to Know

Animal support certificates are a helpful piece of documentation when it comes to ensuring that your emotional support animal is identified clearly, but you do not always need one of these certifications on hand. When it comes to obtaining an animal support certificate, there are certain considerations you should keep in mind.

Our quick guide tells you more about animal support certificates.

Animal Support Certificate: Do I Need One?

In general, you do not need an animal support certificate if you have an emotional support animal. The only piece of documentation you need is an emotional support animal letter written by your licensed mental healthcare provider. However, an animal support certificate can be helpful when it comes to giving you peace of mind and identifying your ESA.

Your animal support certificate will typically list your animal’s information, indicate that they are an official emotional support animal, and may sometimes include your contact information. You can keep this document on hand for when you need to identify your emotional support animal, or just as a handy document to ensure you have your companion’s information in one place.

How Do I Get an Emotional Support Animal Certificate?

You can get your emotional support animal certificate online, but you should make sure that the website you are using to get your certificate is legitimate. It can be easy to accidentally purchase a certificate from a less-than-reputable website, so ensure that a website has good reviews and that the website itself is secure before you complete a purchase.

You should also steer clear of websites that claim to sell certificates that replace ESA letters. An ESA letter is what gives your animal legal rights, such as the right to live with you as a disability accommodation, not a certificate. Always work with services that are honest about what they’re selling.

Can Any Animal Get an Animal Support Certificate?

Any animal can be an emotional support animal as long as they have an official ESA letter from your licensed mental healthcare provider; this means that any animal can also obtain an animal support certificate if you wish to add extra identification for your ESA. Make sure you have both documents on hand to identify your companion animal.

Can Anyone Obtain an Emotional Support Animal Certificate?

Anyone with an emotional support animal can obtain an animal support certificate. These certificates are designed to help individuals with ESAs better identify their companion animal, in addition to giving them peace of mind about keeping all of their information in one place.

However, you must make sure that your emotional support animal is legitimate and that you are keeping your ESA letter up to date. These typically expire year to year, and having an accurate ESA letter combined with your animal support certificate is the best way to identify your legitimate ESA.

Without an ESA letter from a licensed mental health professional, your animal support certificate won’t do much for you. For instance, it won’t allow you to live in no-pet housing with your animal, as the Fair Housing Act (FHA) only recognizes animals with a valid ESA letter.

What Do I Do With My Animal Support Certificate?

Your animal support certificate is more or less an identification document that you can use to show landlords or other property managers alongside your ESA letter when you are requesting housing accommodations. This can help your ESA accommodation request look more legitimate, since you will have additional documentation; though, legally speaking, you only need an ESA letter.

It’s important that you always show this certificate alongside your ESA letter, as the animal support certificate alone is not enough to ensure you receive the housing accommodations you need with your ESA. The animal support certificate is an accompaniment, something that lets you gather your support animal’s information in one place, and not the document that ensures your ESA can benefit from federal housing accommodation regulations.

Obtaining Your Animal Support Certificate

Obtaining your animal support certificate can seem overwhelming at first, but these documents are easily purchased online from a reputable source. We recommend thinking about how you would use this document, including whether or not you need it for identification needs, and speaking to your licensed mental healthcare provider about the possibility of adding an emotional support animal to your treatment plan if you think you could benefit from one.