Has anyone tried Animal Assisted Therapy?

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I love animals and when I was at the hospital my doctor suggested I try animal assisted therapy. I did and really enjoy it. Has anyone else tried AAT?

What exactly is animal assited therapy? I do horse riding therapy.

Wow. I'd love a Therapy cat! This is wonderful. I'm very excited about this. I think you should keep on with this---if you keep on, I have a lot of people who would be interested. In fact I'm interested. I had no idea that cats could be trained like that. Is she a certified service cat? What type of cat is she? This is really really cool, and I'd love to know more. I'm really excited about this!

I've been to your website. It's very neat. Can thy be trained to tell when I have a meltdown and help?

The ADA does not require any animal to be certified, so any place claiming to "certify" the animal is kinda a scam. All they do is give you an official looking certificate saying its registered to show any mean store owners who dont want any animals in their building. I actually printed out my own certificate to show to people who were being rude.

My cat has been trained to remind me to take my medication, sit, stay, jump on my lap when im having a fit, and do agility. Some other things she kind of learned on her own after relising what one of my fits looks like. She wakes me up from my nightmares and starts to purr and snuggle me when im crying or about to melt down.

My dog is a PAT (pets as therapy) dog. He works well... Goes everywhere, Is well behaved, and only bites me when he is playing.

I'll go live in an orangutan enclosure and just say they're service animals, that'll work riiiight???

That's interesting. I thought it could only be with dogs and horses.

Service animals is my area of interest and I just wanted to clarify that cats don't have public access rights as service animals due to the revised ADA that now only gives access to Guide Ponies and service dogs, unless your state or city laws say otherwise.

Also, there is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between Therapy animals and Service animals - Therapy animals provide comfort to others, Service animals are trained for those who are disabled (mental/physical/emotional etc.) but you must fit ADA standards of "disabled" an the animal must be trained to do 2 or more tasks that mitigate to your disability. If the animal's SOLE purpose is to provide comfort, it is an ESA (Emotional Support Animal) and it doesn't have public access rights other than housing (no pet fees!!) and being able to go on the plane with you.

Sorry, I hope I don't anger anyone, i would hate for someone to be misinformed and be charged with a felony offense. I am in the process of receiving a successor Service dog to take the place of my beloved retired Service dog and I want to make sure everyone knows what's correct and what isn't.

It would probably just be a fine or a ticket but faking a service animal and such is a felony. I am not too knowledgeable in ESAs as I don't have one. I just know that they aren't allowed on public transportation with the exception of planes.