Why Can’t I Call a Therapy or Companion Animal a Service Animal?
Well here we awe wiff pawrt 2 of meez series ‘bout “Working Animals”. We told you da definition of a Service Animal yesfurday, and ifin yous missed it you can click here to read it. So today me wants to tell you ‘bout Therapy and Companion Animals. We did weceive a comment yesfurday dat maybe we shuld have addwessed in our posty but sincce we planned on writin’ more ‘bout Service cats we didn’t cover everyfin’. We just gave a bwoad overview. But me wuld like to add dat Certification and/or Licensing IS NOT required fur Service Animals. There awe weputable agencies dat do certify them. This is sumfin’ dat be completely voluntary on da pawrt of da handler. Da benefit to certificatiion is dat you have an agency behind you dat offen has lawyers dat will help you fur furee ifin yous have difficulties wiff accessibility or such. wiff yous Service animal. So dat bein sed let’s move on today.
Weez been weferred to as Therapy cats and even Companion animals fwum time to time, and altho’ weez not get angwy we do correct peeps. But what zactly is a Therapy animal mommy? Will yous tell everypawdy what da definition and qualifications awe?
I sure will Dezi. A Therapy animal is different from a Service animal in the duties they perform and should not be confused with or called a Service animal. A Therapy animal is one that is TRAINED to provide comfort and affection to people in long term care, hospitals, retirement homes, schools, mental health institutions and other stressful situations to include disaster areas. They provide people with comforting animal contact whether they have a disability or not. The person who brings the animal to these places is called a handler and is most often the owner of the animal. Therapy animals and their handlers DO NOT have the same rights as a Service animal and it’s handler. It is important to remember that it’s the person with disabilities that have rights under the rules of the ADA and not the Service animal itself. Since the Therapy animal is most often owned by a non disabled person, the Therapy animal is not allowed to accompany their handler into places that don’t allow pets/animals such as restaurants, grocery stores, etc..
Dat’s a big diffewence isn’t it mommy?
Yes it is Dezi. And that’s why we correct people when they call you and Lexi Therapy cats. You and Lexi perform trained duties related to my disability. Whereas a Therapy animal has no such training. They are wonderful animals and are chosen for training because of their gentle and outgoing disposition and ability to remain calm around people with all kinds of illnesses like your friend Sophie from Kitty Cat Chronicles pictured above.
We do luv Sophie and all hers furmily. Can you tell everypawdy what a Companion Animal is mommy? Cuz me knows they awe weally diffewent than Service animals and Therapy animals.
Yes they are Dezi, and I would be happy to explain the differences. A companion animal is any PET that provides health benefits to a person. They may help to relieve stress. But their main “job” is to provide company, amusement and psychological help just to name a few. NO specific TRAINING is required. In my opinion ALL pets can be considered Companion Animals. After all most people get a pet because they want the love and affection an animal can give. Your friend Buddy in the photo below is a perfect example of a Companion Animal. His daddy is alone and needed the company. And Buddy provides him with hours of entertainment and lots of love. He kind of gives mr. W a purpose.
Me agwees mommy. And we have a few furiends dat be Companion animals fur sure. We even have sum furiends who awe trained Therapy animals. And me finks they do a gweat job and a good fing to help ease udders stwess and fears. And we have a few furiends dat be Trained Service animals too.
Y’all sure do Dezi. And they are all wonderful. And even tho’ you and Lexi have been trained to work and I think y’all are very special, that doesn’t mean that y’all are any better than any of your friends. You are all special in your own way.
Me agwees again mommy. All our furiends awe special and beluvved by their hoomans and us. Me weally purreciates you helpin’ me define da diffewent types of “working animals” fur our furiends. We do hope you all have learned a bit fwum these definitions. And me hopes you all have enjoyed learnin’ ‘bout da diffewences in “working animals”. We will be tellin’ sum twainin’ stowries fur you all to read, enjoy and maybe even laff at. And one of our dear furiends, da Kitties Blue asked ifin we had fawt ‘bout makin’ these definitions available all da time usin’ da menu, so weez gunna be addin’ this to our menu options soon. (furst mommy has to member how to add it-mol) And we wanted to give you a little update on sis Lexi. She be feelin’ much better now dat she be gettin’ antibiotics. We still have a big fank you to send out but mommy fell asleep at da puter again yesfurday. She sez she weally needs to get sum sleep, but we do fank all of you dat helped make gettin’ sissy medicine pawssible. One she gets well, weez’ll only have da CKD to manage.
And this be da last day to enter to win dat pawsum Pagoda Fountain fwum PetSafe. So ifin yous not entered yet, click here to do so.
And don’t furget to enter fur yous chance to win a case of da pawsum Weruva noms by clickin’ here.
Till da next time………………….Be Blest!!!
Another great post, girls! We have enjoyed learning more about the differences between all of the “working animals.” We can’t wait until Sophie completes her supervised therapy visits and becomes an OFFICIAL therapy cat! Oh, and we got your email about using Sophie’s photo — absolutely no problem at all!! We definitely do not mind. Thank you for linking back to us! Sending love!
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Fank you. Weez can’t wait til she gets certified and become official eever. Weez have to have a big pawrty. And faks, weez hoped yous wuldn’t mind. Weez so purroud of her.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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that was super interesting to read about the difference…. and I’m super glad that we have service animals like you and the furfriends who bring joy and some hope to people in hospitals…or to kids in school. It’s great that the meds help Lexi to feel better… and I hope you all can relax now a little and you can catch some sleep :o)… with wonderful dreams of course :o)
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Fanks Easy. weez gwateful fur da Therapy animals dat help udders too. And weez glad to be Service animals dat help mommy. And weez so glad sis Lexi got medicine and is feelin’ better. Da weekends finally here and weez hope mommy can finally unwind and get sum rest. Have a wunnewful day.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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Me and mum kind of knew the difference, but it is great to have it confirmed. I don’t think there are many (if any) service kitties in the UK!!
BTW we are taking a break from blogging for a while, but we can still catch up with you on fb xoxoxox
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Glad yous enjoyed and learned fwum our posty. We had wunnwed where yous went and was a bit worried. Weez not get to facebook as much as we like, but weez won’t lose you. Weez luv ya’ too much. Have a pawsum weekend.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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More great information. I can’t wait to read your training stories – even I have read some of them before I always love them.
So very, very glad Lexi is doing better and so thankful to those that helped so you could get her medicine.
Love you all so very much. Hugs and kisses.
Mary
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Fank you awnty Mary, weez can’t wait to tell sum of them again.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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Excellent explanation. I know you ladies are hard workers. I hope Lexi is feeling better. XO
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Fank you Ms. Ellen. Lexi is feelin’ much better now dat she has medicine. Fank you.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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How interesting Dezi. I guess Kali and I are companion cats to mom as mom has fallen asleep while petting Kali. Kali relaxes mom when mom gets upset.
I still have some questions Dezi. Who trained Lexi and you to be service cats? Does it have to be a special person for the government to accept service animals and give the owner monetary breaks? I realize cats are no longer accept as service animals. The same applies under the Canadian Disability Act. How can you manage to steer the wheelchair? If it is with your teeth…Lexi doesn’t have many so how does she steer?
This are questions that have been bugging me and if they’re bugging me….then others probably wonder too.
Love Shoko
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Yep Shoko, Kali and yous be Companion animals fur sure. And yes we know yous and udders who didn’t follow us back when weez told these stowries afur have lots of questions. And we hope to answer them in our followin’ postys ’bout our twainin’. Da one fing nopawdy has ever asked so weez not fink weez ever weally answered it is ifin sumpawdy special has to twain da animal. Da answer is NO. So long as da animal is twained. Even da government not have da wight to wequest purroof an animal is a Service animal. It’s all kind of a mess. Thre awe lots of us dat wuldn’t mind da government wequirin’ certifications of sum sort cuz dat wuld mean they kuld acceot kitties again. But alas, they didn’t ask us.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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This is so interestin’ to us. The Canadian Disability Act on service animals seems very similar to the American. Nowhere are cats mentioned. This has to make mom wonder…Why do they say service animals if its always dogs they’re talking about? Are they leaving animals in because one day they hope other animals can be used? You’re right….after reading some of the CDA…..it is a mess…..not completely clear is more what I mean.
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Yep Shoko da wording once included all animals. And cuz there’s no cerrtifications wequired peeps was takin’ advantage and sayin’ datt pets of all kinds includin’ weptiles dat wasn’t and kuldn’t be twained were Service animals. And so they changed da definition, but only fur da ADA. Weez not know why they left da word as animal ‘cept dat States can include udder species and so duz da Fair Housing Act and Da Air Carriers Act (planes). So maybe da wordin’ is left bwoad fur those weasons. As we sed, weez just guessin’ cuz weez not know fur sure.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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Reptiles couldn’t help anyone. To me they wouldn’t be a companion either.
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Agweed. But there’s da rub. Since no certification is wequired and nopawdy can ask fur or wequire purroof, those dat weally luv weptiles were claiming them as Service animals and wanting the benefits. Da definition got changed fur da wight weasons, cuz of peeps takin’ advantage. But stad of limitin’ it, they shuld have wequired sum kind of certification purrocess. Mommy wanted me to ask ifin sumtime this weekend wuld be good to call yous mommy?
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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Fur sure. The only time she is busy is Saturday afternoon with a “meet and greet” for a new pet sitter. This one sounds very good. She has 3 pages of data on the pet and service she provides. This place is called Pampered Pets and Critters Pet Sitting Services.
Mom is deliriously happy that the sprinkling regulations have been lifted starting at 5pm today. No more brown lawn.
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Dat’s pawsum Shoko. Maybe yous can run fwu da spwinkler and have a little summertime fun. MOL Now what’s this ’bout a pet sitter? Awe yous pawents goin’ away again?
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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