#Emotional Support Animal

[daxhalfawake]

Kit got his shots and tests done, and got chipped yesterday! He also put his own head through his harness, I just had to hold it for him. He is such a breeze to train, this is wild. I have been given the greatest fucking gift.

Holy fuck, did my late ESA just tell me via dreams he was coming back to me as a new kitten? 😭

I lost my ESA, Lorcán, in 2018. I've had dreams about him here and there since and all of them have been hard bc his loss was sudden and unexpected and came at a time when I really needed him still.

Last night I had a dream that involved seeing him and the words that came out of my mouth were "ohmygod baby did you come home?"

When my wife got to work, her coworker asked if we wanted another cat and naturally her initial response was a no because we have 4 cats, and we're expecting a baby. But then the coworker showed her a photo of the kitten - an orange and white cat with the same expressive eyebrows as Lorcán. She texted me and asked if I wanted to talk about taking him in when she gets home from work.

Brb gonna sob all day.

(for the curious, side by side pics of Lorcán shortly after I brought him home [left] and the potential new kitten. I don't really have any pics of Lorcán's expressiveness that read well; he usually pulled eyebrows together when upset or concerned or scared and he was well taken care of and safe)

[artfromrainydays]

Happy disability pride month!

Wanted to share the new ghosties with some mobility aids and medical devices! Remember, you are valid! Take care of yourself this pride month.

[pixierainbows]

People not with intellectual disability or cognitive disability are use that word again. Pixie too tired to educate… :( :( :( HURTING

Pixie still very upset person at art studio call Sunshine a Emotional support dog … not understand . Sunshine's vest have big letters what say service dog . is not not not same thing AT ALL . is very very intense training of dog to help with serious disability . is not not not Just so Pixie “ feel okay “ … Is very difficult training take long long time is to train service dog To help with Pixies serious and severe disability . is not at all same as Emotional support dog SO UPSET :(

[trick-of-the-troubles]

sometimes being chronically ill is laying on the floor in pain while the cat tries his very best to help

[rubenesque-as-fuck]

Sometimes when I'm sad, Velma brings me her toys to cheer me up 🥹 finally got it on video

[hushedhippie]

My emotional support bestie🖤🐈‍⬛

[hootnhoney]

Updated link

Where thomas goes on antidepressants and the medication manifests as an emotional support dog for virgil.

And of course virgil named her Zero after the doggo in nightmare before Christmas

[healingchildhoodtrauma]

[kindaasrikal]

The ninja deserve emotional support animals except they’re them so none of them get a damn dog or something.

Zane has a penguin, he’s lovingly called zaneguin (real name: Peniuella, or Penny) (Penny gets along with Zane’s bird) (he rlly wanted a polar bear. Wu said no) (he waddles with the penguin, bro loves waddling.) (he once waddles over to some villains full penguin style as a on the spot distraction. Cole gave him a lecture about safety and being smart. Zane waddled away right after it was done.)

Kai has a parrot, bro loves his parrot (he’s called parry the parrot and he’s taught him how to scream FIYAAAAA) (Kai is usually the first ninja up for training, so he actually get his parrot to wake the others (Nya) up by putting Parry in their room and getting him to scream their elements.) (its become a common thing to hear ‘WATAHHHHH’ at 6am in the morning) (or ‘GREANNNNNNNN’ or maybe ‘ARTHHHHHH’ in a really deep voice. Cole had nightmares after hearing how deep Parry’s voice can get.)

Lloyd has a ferret, he’s just a ferret kinda guy. He also got a chinchilla soon after cause he got the dust for a dust bath, and then found out ferrets can’t have dust baths (he just wanted a lil guy to have a dust bath with.) (Yeah you heard me, Lloyd does dust baths. He likes the feeling of it.) (he rlly wanted to called his ferret ferry the ferret but Kai already took the joke, he called him Mr Ferrington instead.) (plus his Chinchilla is called Chilly, he loves dressing him up in mini versions of Zane’s gi because of it.)

Nya has two rats, she calls them her babies (don’t insult her rats, she will drown you.) (Jay named one Ratatouille, and as much as she hated the name she had no choice but to keep it, Jay would be sad if she didn’t.) (the other rat is called Rumphly. She thought it sounded sophisticated.) (she lets her rats burrow in her hair.) (she also has to protect everything she owns, her rats chew on everything and anything. Nothing is free from their menacing little mouths.)

Jay has a spider. He’s a lil weirdo like that (its a deadly spider) (he found it in his workshop) (it was 2:54 am and dark) (he almost died from the damn thing) (Pixal almost lost it when Jay literally clung to her begging her not to kill it-sorry, my mistake, her.) (he stays up late at night building stuff and chatting to her and she dances every time Jay goes on an excited ramble.)

Cole has a lizard, and it’s a Chameleon. He named her Lizzy (Kai calls her Queenie.) (he lowkey lost Lizzy on her first day and had a breakdown) (Jay said that defeated the purpose of an emotional support animal) (until at 11pm at night they found out Lizzy was just chilling in Cole’s hair and they just couldn’t tell) (everyone thought Cole was gonna be annoyed, but bro lowkey broke down again because he got emotional about how she clung to him the whole time.) (he got Lizzy because he missed Rocky) (I miss Rocky too)

+extras

Morro has a rabbit. Named Chompy (and they’re a ghost) (lowkey Morro has no idea what Chompy is, the lil brat just jumped onto him and went ‘CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP’ and bit him.) (it looks like a rabbit, if oni’s could be rabbits.) (he blames Garmadon, he probably corrupted the damn thing and now he has some weird monstrous rabbit attached to him) (he does like telling Chompy to attack tho. He finds it hilarious when the other ghosts are sent running) (their convos go like ‘No Chompy, you can’t eat my book’ ‘chomp chomp?’ ‘Because i said so.’ ‘Chomp chomp!’ ‘Uh, yes, i can.’ ‘Chomp chomp chomp!!’ ‘Wha-why you little-’) (everyone thinks he’s mentally unstable for thinking he can understand them) (and maybe he is but you can shove it, he deserves to talk to weird monster animals who actually like him, after what ever octopus bull the preeminent pulled)

Skylor has a turtle, she got him from Griffin (he couldn’t take care of him all the time and got busy so he asked Skylor if she’s willing to co-parent) (she had to agree that turtle was giving her puppy eyes) (they love acting like divorcees) (Kai pretends to the new boyfriend who hates the og partner) (the turtle is named Grecko) (Griffin wanted to mess with people who thought he was talking about an actual Gecko when instead he was talking about a turtle named Grecko) (Skylor loved and hated it at the same time) (she calls him Greg.) (she gets Greg to walk small distances over to kids in her restaurant and give them food) (the kids love him.)

Neuro has a mouse, five, to be precise. (Nya got the idea for a rat from Neuro, who has to explain to her the difference between the two.) (he loves letting them hide in random places of his body.) (don’t be surprised when you’re talking to him and a mouse just pops out of his shirts collar.) (he doesn’t even look phased.) (he’s accepted his fate as a climbing tree) (he is also trying to learn how to speak mouse by reading their minds) (its going…somewhere.)

Pixal has her lil robots. She loves mini pix with all her heart thats her baby.

Wu has his damn chicken and his chicken has been around for centuries. Morro also loved the chicken.

[short-wooloo]

Are we not going to talk about how ride or die Little is for Ruby?

They saw that the marionette/Penny Sword was important to Ruby and despite not knowing how or why that is they went "ok time to steal!"

[kari-kurofai]

My beloved emotional support dog, Auggie, passed away very suddenly on 09/10/2024 at eight years old.

My grief is immeasurable. Auggie can never be replaced, but he had a job that now needs filling, and waitlists for hypoallergenic, ESA trainable puppies from ethical breeders can be long if opportunities are not taken as soon as they are available. I have picked out a breeder and placed a down payment for a new puppy that will be trained to help me with my support needs. They will be born in October, and home by Christmas. However, I could use a little extra help. I can cover most of the expenses myself, but this will give me a bit of a cushion to make the first few months easier.

[rats0nvenus]

Vest arrived and fits perfectly!!

[normal-with-adhd-is-a-joke]

If you are a "disability advocate" be normal about emotional support animals. I am not asking. Do it.

The only time I ever see ESAs brought up by non-handlers in disability circles is to complain about them. Mainly, to complain about people who bring them into public spaces. This is fine, they're not supposed to be in public and it does cause issues for service animal handlers, but the problem is when the criticism extends to criticizing the concept of ESAs, which happens quite often. I've recently seen more disabled people and allies advocate for more restrictions on ESAs, or for them to stop being protected altogether, and I need to emphasize that this is an incredibly dangerous, ableist stance.

First and foremost, ESAs are a real thing in the U.S. If you're from outside the U.S. feel free to chime in about how they work where you're from, but I'm from the U.S. so I can only offer my experience. ESAs are recognized by the federal government under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The category that includes service animals and ESAs is called "assistance animals".

ESAs are not legally pets. They have fewer rights than service animals, but they have more rights than pets. ESAs are not subject to "no pet" rules in housing, nor are they subject to pet fees or pet security deposits. They are also generally exempt from breed and animal type restrictions. The law has some caveats about this like not causing undue financial stress to the housing provider or damage to the property. These rules also exist for physical accessibility (i.e. wheelchair accessibility), they're generally to protect against significant damage or alterations to the property without the permission of the housing provider. If the presence of an animal doesn't cause a health and safety risk, doesn't cause excessive damage to the property, and is necessary to afford a disabled person equal use of the property, then landlords and other housing organizations pretty much have to act like the ESA isn't there.

ESAs can be any animal. Most are dogs or cats but birds, rodents, snakes, pretty much any animal that's legal to own can be an ESA. Of course, just because it's legal doesn't mean it's ethical. Unfortunately, sometimes animals that can't reasonably be kept in a home by a private keeper, like primates and alligators, are claimed as ESAs. This is an obvious abuse of the system but it's difficult to prevent without harming legitimate handlers. In my opinion, focusing on tighter restrictions and more bans for exotic pets would do more for animal welfare than focusing on being weird about ESAs.

One of the common statements I see non-handlers make about ESAs is that they're just pets and don't serve any special purpose. This isn't the case. ESAs must help with at least one effect of a person's disability in order to qualify as an ESA. One of the main purposes of ESAs is suicide prevention. Keeping up spirits can be very difficult for people with mental and physical illnesses, we might sometimes feel that we're not contributing anything to the world, that things would be better off without us, or that the distress we experience isn't worth pushing through. Having an animal that relies on you gives a sense of importance and responsibility. If you die, your ESA will have to adjust to a new environment and go through the stress of change. There's also a possibility that they could be alone without care if no one realizes you're gone, which unfortunately does happen with people who live alone sometimes. ESAs also motivate us to care for ourselves. Many severely mentally ill people, as well as many physically disabled people, struggle to motivate ourselves to get out of bed and live life. It can be easier to do nothing than to deal with the pain and fatigue associated with moving around, even if our health suffers as a result. Caring for an animal requires us to get up and move around our living space, sometimes doing things for ourselves in the process. ESAs can also help encourage us to take medications, stay off of addictive substances, go to doctor's appointments, and do other things to stay healthy in order to be able to continue caring for our ESAs. Basically that Simpsons "do it for her" meme.

ESAs are disability aids. They're important. They keep disabled people alive and healthy. Questioning their right to legal protection is ableism.

[vulpine111]

[sunnyaliceart]

UPDATE: Cookie will be getting surgery to remove her leg this Thursday. The procedure will be expensive, so if you can donate, want a kofi sketch or spread the word, we would be forever grateful. Anything helps

Link and More Details Below

Sunday, Cookie jumped off the bed and after a moment, started screaming in pain, refusing to put any weight on her front left leg. We rushed her to the vet and they did an Xray. They found that she had several hairline fractures caused either by a fungal infection or cancer.

The best course of action is amputation as the infection is on her upper leg bone and not in her chest cavity. If left alone with just pain medication, the bone would continue to weaken and break. She's still so full of life and Faye's (my fiancee) ESA (Emotional Support Animal).

Apparently, this isn't entirely uncommon with greyhounds and they're able to recover and adapt as tripods, so we're relieved we're not alone in this, but it's still an emotional roller coaster that we're still processing.

Cookie is on medication to help her be as comfortable as possible until Thursday and we're keeping an eye on her. Thank you again if you donate and/or reblog. For any kindness you may give, we can't thank you enough.

If you'd like to donate to my kofi, here's the link. Please specify if you'd like a sketch (anything $10 or more and please keep it simple) and I'll get to it as soon as I can:

[ahedderick]

I need to know more about Nutmeg! She sounds very amusing (like most goats, honestly) and I just really like goats in general, so...

While I would have LOVED to get a second horse to keep Hero company, it just wasn't practical. I bought Nutmeg from a local couple who bred goats, in the hopes that she could be company for Hero and also a dairy goat. She is 3/4 Nubian and 1/4 Boer.

My dairy goat plans did not come to fruition; Nutmeg is infertile. That was really a shame. However, she fulfills her function as an equine emotional support animal, tries relentlessly to steal his food, commits crimes, and is generally pushy and underfoot. What was I saying? Oh, Nutmeg. Yep, she's great.

OFF TO COMMIT MORE CRIME!!!