The ability of cats and other pets to help reduce stress, improve depression, and lessen anxiety is why Emotional Support Animals are protected under the Fair Housing Act. If you have a cat who helps you deal with these types of issues or that improves your mental health, they can be legally considered an ESA.

But in order for your cat to take advantage of ESA rights, you need an authentic ESA letter from a licensed doctor. While some therapists will provide this for their patients, not all are familiar enough with the laws to do so. In this case, using a service like ESA Doctors can be incredibly helpful.

ESA Doctors work with numerous licensed therapists across every state to provide legitimate ESA letters to anyone with mental health concerns who benefits from living with their cat or other support animal.

But ESA Doctors isn’t the only ESA letter company online. So what makes them worth using over other options? I did a deep dive into their services to find out what sets this company apart.

Keep reading my full ESA Doctors review to find out what I discovered.

Overview

What to Expect

There are a lot of reasons you may be nervous about getting an ESA letter online.

For one, many services out there are not legitimate. While they provide ESA letters for a price, their letters don’t always withstand the scrutiny of landlords and other housing officials.

This can leave you in a tough spot, having to decide between giving up your housing or giving up your cat. Not to mention, that you’ll have just wasted a significant amount of money on a product that gets you nowhere.

Another good reason many people are nervous about this process is that it requires you to speak openly with a stranger about your mental health concerns.

ESA Doctors puts these fears to rest quickly. This company works only with licensed therapists and mental health professionals who are familiar with ESA and service animal laws. These doctors work with people suffering from mental health disorders for a living, which means they are kind, compassionate, and experienced in this area.

To get started with ESA Doctors, you first need to decide which of their services you would like to use. They provide three options:

The first two options apply to cat owners. Both services include a signed ESA letter on the provider’s letterhead that exempts the pet from residential pet restrictions, deposits, and fees and the digital delivery of the letter. The Plus option also includes priority support and a discounted annual renewal fee.

I reached out to ESA Doctors through their Contact Us page to find out what “priority support” entails. I received no answer to my first inquiry, but they got back to me quickly after my second attempt. (So if you need to contact them for any reason and don’t hear back right away, I suggest trying again.)

According to the representative that responded, “priority support gets you the highest level of attention with the most experienced members of our support team. We recommend this if you think your landlord might be difficult about your ESA request, or if you’re feeling anxious about the ESA process and think you might need extra guidance.”

Once you choose your product, you will fill out a questionnaire about your mental health concerns and how your cat helps you feel better, improves your quality of life, or allows you to overcome inhibiting features of your condition.

If you have multiple cats, you can receive a multi-pet ESA letter at no extra charge.

One notable feature of ESA Doctors that differs from other online ESA letter providers is that they require payment upfront before the questionnaire to determine if you qualify for their services. However, they will provide a full refund to anyone who does not qualify after submitting their questionnaire or speaking to one of their therapists.

If you do qualify for a letter based on your questionnaire, you will be paired with a licensed mental health professional in your state. You will meet virtually with this professional to talk more about your mental health concerns and how your cat constitutes a valuable part of your therapy.

In most cases, one session is enough for your paired professional to get the information they need to write your official letter. Occasionally, a second session is required, but this is typically only the case for people who are hesitant to talk about their concerns or are uncertain of whether their cat helps them feel better.

Once your professional gets all the information they need, they will write up the letter, sign it, and send it to you digitally. From there, you can print it out and send it to your landlord or other housing service official.

If you run into any issues with your landlord accepting the letter, ESA Doctors will continue to support you to ensure your ESA rights are protected.

ESA Doctors advertises that you will receive an ESA letter in under 48 hours in most cases. From speaking with people who have used these services and reading third-party reviews, this time frame generally applies to the period after you have been paired with and spoken to a professional.

The initial professional pairing is also typically very quick. However, some people have reported delays in hearing back from the professional they are paired with.

It is also worth noting that some states have laws that can delay ESA letters from being sent out.

California is the most notable of these. If you live here, your professional cannot write an ESA letter until you have established care with them for at least 30 days. This rule does not apply, however, if you are currently homeless.

Because ESA letters must be renewed annually, ESA Doctors offers automatic renewal for a reduced price.

Pros & Cons

Key Features

What an ESA Letter from ESA Doctors Does

By getting a signed ESA letter from ESA Doctors, you ensure that your Emotional Support Animal has certain rights according to the Fair Housing Act under HUD.

ESA animals cannot be restricted from living with you even if the housing complex or landlord does not allow pets. Additionally, landlords and HOAs cannot add fees or require deposits for ESA animals. These pets are also protected from breed and weight restrictions.

The only document required to certify your pet as an ESA is a signed letter from a healthcare professional, which ESA Doctors provides.

It is important to note that an ESA is not the same as a service animal. Service animals are specifically trained to perform tasks to help their owner with a mental or physical disability. An ESA, on the other hand, simply provides comfort and support to a person with a disability.

Because of this distinction, an ESA letter does not grant your cat entrance into businesses where pets are not allowed, onto airplanes outside of traditional pet travel restrictions, or into hotels that do not allow pets.

Who Can Qualify for an ESA Letter from ESA Doctors?

In order to get a legitimate ESA letter, a licensed healthcare or mental health professional must determine that you have a disability (typically a mental health disability) that is alleviated by your pet.

A licensed health professional in your state must speak to you about your condition and your pet’s effect on it in order to make this determination. This is why ESA Doctors partners with hundreds of licensed mental health practitioners across the country.

What Makes ESA Doctors Different

There are many ESA letter services available online. Unfortunately, a large number of these services are scams. Some offer ESA certification in exchange for a fee. Others provide letters declaring your pet an ESA without taking the proper steps.

There is no certification necessary for ESAs. ESA letters are only legitimate if they come from a licensed professional who has met with you in person or virtually to discuss your condition and the effects your pet has on that condition.

ESA Doctors is different from other ESA services online because they work with licensed professionals, take the time to match you with a professional in your state, and provide ESA letters signed by the professional you meet with.

This ensures that the letter you receive is legally valid and will protect your emotional support cat under the laws of the Fair Housing Act. ESA Doctors will also support you in the event that your landlord or housing authority denies your ESA rights.

About ESA Doctors

ESA Doctors was started by a pet owner who relied on his dog, Buddy, to help him through his depressive episodes. After struggling to find a knowledgeable therapist who could write an ESA letter for Buddy, he decided to start his own company dedicated to the task.

Is ESA Doctors a Good Value?

A quick search of online ESA letter services reveals a wide pricing range, with ESA Doctors priced toward the top of that spread.

That said, this is one of the few services out there that provides legitimate ESA letters from licensed healthcare professionals that are written in accordance with ESA laws. This means that your letter is more likely to be accepted by landlords. And if it isn’t, ESA Doctors will help you fight for your ESA rights.

Given all of these factors, we believe ESA Doctors is worth the added expense.

How We Tested

While I have never used an ESA letter service myself, I did do ample research on ESA Doctors before writing this review.

This included reaching out to ESA Doctors to get questions answered about their services, reading reviews from past customers posted on sites other than ESADoctors.com, and reaching out to past customers via Reddit and similar platforms.

I also spent time researching the services and claims of competitor ESA letter services to get a full understanding of what is being offered by both legitimate and scam ESA companies.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does everyone who speaks to one of ESA Doctors’ therapists get approved for an ESA?

No. ESA Doctors works in accordance with ESA laws, which dictate that only people who meet certain criteria qualify for an ESA. The questionnaire on the company’s website can help you determine your eligibility, but it is the health professional you talk to who makes the final call.

Do I have to own a cat currently to get an ESA letter?

No. An ESA letter simply specifies a medical need for an Emotional Support Animal. If the professional you speak to makes this determination, they will provide the letter and you can acquire the pet after the fact.

Is it possible to get an ESA letter for multiple cats?

Yes. If your licensed mental health professional determines that you would benefit from more than one ESA, your letter will reflect this.

What types of disabilities qualify for an ESA?

There is no strict definition of which types of mental or physical disabilities qualify for an ESA. It is up to the licensed professional you speak with to determine if your specific disability would benefit from an ESA. Common disabilities that typically qualify include depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, phobias, and autism.

Conclusion

If you believe your cat helps alleviate symptoms of your mental disability and need an ESA letter to allow your cat to live with you, ESA Doctors can help.

This legitimate ESA service pairs you with a licensed medical professional in your state to provide you with a legally valid ESA letter within as little as 48 hours. But their support doesn’t stop there. ESA Doctors will continue to work with you to ensure that your letter is accepted by your housing authority or landlord and that you have access to updated letters as needed to renew your lease or move to a new place.

In an industry inundated with scammers and fraudulent services, you can trust ESA Doctors to provide a legitimate ESA letter to protect your rights.