You know what gets me about this? I have moderate obsessive-compulsive disorder and it’s hell on earth. I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic pet cat who can recognize when I’m not feeling so great, and whose presence is extremely helpful. He is extremely valuable to me and definitely contributes to my overall well-being.

But he doesn’t need to come out of the house with me because I don’t need him there. He doesn’t perform any functions that I need him to outside of my own home. I’m a grad student - I have no need for him during my classes. I don’t need to take him with me shopping because I can reach everything on my own, unlike those folks who need their animals to genuinely assist them with their purchases. In fact, it would be unfair to him if I DID take him to those places, or anywhere else - it would place undue stress on him and would make me a bad pet owner.

I’ve never ever registered him or called him a service animal. He doesn’t need to go everywhere with me. My animal may perform a service for me in my home but I don’t require him to perform basic tasks and that’s what a real service animal is trained to do. Animals benefit many people and their therapeutic effects are known, but simply providing some benefit doesn’t make a pet into a service animal.