If you're considering multiple emotional support animals, you're not alone—this is one of the most common questions people ask when researching ESA letters on Pettable. The good news? There's no federal law limiting how many emotional support animals you can have, but the reality is more nuanced than a simple "yes" or "no."

Whether you can successfully obtain documentation for multiple ESAs depends on several critical factors: your specific mental health needs, your living situation, and what constitutes "reasonable accommodation" under federal housing laws. We consulted with our experienced mental health experts to cut through the confusion and provide you with everything you need to know about having more than one emotional support animal—from understanding the legal requirements to navigating the process of getting your pets certified with an ESA letter.

How Many ESAs Can You Have?

You can have as many ESAs as you need. No rules or guidelines exist saying you can only have a certain number of emotional support animals. As long as the emotional support animals do not violate state or local laws, your request is reasonable, and both you and your licensed mental health professional agree your ESAs provide you with necessary mental or emotional support, you can have one, two, or as many Emotional Support Animals as you need. But, you need to follow government ESA rules and guidelines to make sure you can keep your ESA companion with you in your home. While there is no limit, the request has to be reasonable and your LMHP also needs to verify the need for more than one support animal. It is uncommon for more than 2 animals to be approved based on what is reasonable for your home.

We base our ESA guidance on the four most authoritative sources:

• The Federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fair Housing Act rules
• The Air Carrier Access Act 
• Advice from Licensed Mental Health Professionals

Each of these sources plays a role in helping you figure out how many emotional support animals you can have, and we'll dive into what each one tells us.

What Does Federal Law Say About Multiple ESAs?

Federal laws from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have been put in place under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) that protect emotional support animals – including situations in which an individual may require multiple ESAs. These laws acknowledge the fact that sometimes individuals need different assistance animals for different purposes. In addition, a person may need multiple assistance animals to serve the same purpose – but each animal may be equally essential to that person’s coping with and treatment for their disabilities.

The FHA Recognizes That People May Need More Than One Emotional Support Animal

Federal law explicitly recognizes that individuals may require more than just one emotional support animal. For example, if one of your pets helps you with anxiety and another pet helps you stay active (which benefits depressive symptoms), both emotional support animals are deemed necessary to your mental health.

HUDs stance on multiple ESAs per Michigan State University College of Law:

HUD acknowledges that there are circumstances where a person could need more than one assistance animal. For example, a person has a disability-related need for more than one animal, or two people living together each have a disability-related need for a separate assistance animal. Each request would be individually evaluated based on the criteria explained in the guidance.

No Federal Law Exists that Limits the Number of Emotional Support Animals You Can Have

In some cases, a person may have multiple emotional support animals that assist with unique symptoms of the same diagnosis/disability. For example, a person with depression may experience both fatigue & low motivation. While one animal may assist with getting their owner's energy levels up by getting them out of bed first thing in the morning, the other animal may require being walked first thing in the morning to help resolve low motivation.

What Counts as a Reasonable Accommodation?

Landlords must assess requests individually. Common factors include:

• Size and layout of the unit and common areas
• Number, size, and species of animals requested
• Behavior history and potential risks like noise, sanitation, or property damage
• Feasible rules to mitigate risks such as leash use, waste disposal, and vaccination records
• Whether the request creates an undue financial or administrative burden on the housing provider

Source: HUD’s assistance animal guidance FHEO-2020-01 and 24 CFR § 100.204.

The FHA Says Your Request Must Be Possible To Accommodate

While the Fair Housing Act does not forbid multiple ESAs, landlords are only required to provide "reasonable accommodation" and may deny emotional support animals if they cause "undue financial burden". As a result, the quantity of emotional support animals a person can have is partially dictated by what can be considered as reasonable to accommodate. For example, 2 or 3 ESAs may be okay, but 50 assistance animals may cause undue financial hardship on the landlord.

Is There a Legal Limit Under the Fair Housing Act?

The FHA does not impose a numeric cap. Each animal must have a disability-related need, and the overall request must be reasonable for the housing context. Two people in the same household may each have a disability-related need for their own assistance animal consistent with HUD guidance.

What Does The Department of Housing Say About Multiple ESAs?

The Department of Housing and the Fair Housing Act’s guidance for landlords and people who want to bring emotional support animals into their housing complex is relatively straightforward.

The Fair Housing Act and HUD recognize that individuals may need multiple emotional support animals and simply state that your request for reasonable accommodation must be, well, reasonable.

This means that if you live in a tiny New York apartment, having a horse live with you (not sure that would be enjoyable in the first place) is most definitely not a reasonable request.

However, if you have two or three dogs that serve as your emotional support animals, plus they're well-behaved, and you're not stuffing them into a tiny apartment, that would likely fall under reasonable accommodation. In that case, you'd be able to move in with them provided you have proper ESA Letter documentation to share with the landlord.

Local Pet Limits vs. Assistance Animal Rights

Many cities and HOAs cap the number, breed, or weight of pets. Assistance animals are not pets, and the FHA can require exceptions to those limits. Neutral rules about health, safety, sanitation, and property protection still apply and you are expected to follow them.

What Do Mental Health Professionals Say About Multiple Emotional Support Animals?

ESA Letters require a live consultation with a licensed mental health professional. During this evaluation, the LMHP will look at the purpose that each of your emotional support animals serves in helping manage your mental or emotional symptoms. Specifically, a therapist is looking to understand:

• What is your relationship with each emotional support animal?
• How does each emotional support animal help you to deal with your disability?

For a mental health professional to write you ESA documentation for more than one emotional support animal, they need to first determine that each emotional support animal does in fact help you with your disability and that you can speak to how they specifically help. You’ll need to be able to describe your unique relationship with each emotional support animal.

Most mental health clinicians will also ask the context of why you need your ESA letter. They need that information to help them determine if your request for ESA letters and multiple assistance animals falls under the standard of reasonable accommodation.

If your clinician feels your situation does not meet the standard for reasonable accommodation, they will likely not approve a letter for multiple ESAs, even if you are able to speak to the specific therapeutic relationship with each one. This would be the case if you were asking for an ESA accommodation for 10 cats in rented housing – this likely wouldn’t pass the “reasonableness” test, and a clinician likely wouldn’t be able to sign off on letters for all of them.

Do You Need to Name Each ESA in the Letter?

Best practice is to identify each animal by name and species and, when relevant, breed or approximate size. Your provider should also include a brief explanation of the disability-related need for each animal, often called the nexus. While HUD does not prescribe a specific format, clear identification and nexus statements for each ESA reduce disputes with housing providers.

Expert tip: Ask your clinician to include each ESA on the letter rather than relying on separate notes or emails, so your documentation package is complete and easy for housing to review.

Provider Credentials & Telehealth Requirements

Your clinician should be appropriately licensed, acting within their scope in the jurisdiction, and have a legitimate provider-patient relationship established through a live consultation. Some states add disclosure or timing requirements for assistance animal documentation. Make sure your letter includes provider license information, contact details, and the issue date to satisfy both federal and applicable state standards.

So How Many Emotional Support Animals Can I Have?

Ok, so we’ve covered a bunch of stuff about laws around assistance animals. How do you figure out whether you can have more than one emotional support animal, and can you get an ESA letter for each one?

Here's a checklist you can run through before going through the whole process to feel reasonably confident that you will or won't qualify.

Step-by-Step: Requesting Multiple ESAs in Housing

1. Consult your LMHP to evaluate the disability-related need for each ESA.
2. Ask for a letter that:
   
   
3. Submit your request to housing in writing with your letter attached. Be responsive to reasonable follow-up questions that do not ask for diagnosis details.
4. Agree to reasonable rules such as vaccination records, waste disposal, leash control, noise control, and other mitigation that does not amount to a denial.

Expert tip: Keep records like vaccination proof, training certificates, and a short behavior history ready to demonstrate responsible ownership, especially when requesting more than one ESA.

Common Scenarios and Outcomes

• Two small dogs in a 1-bedroom with a strong nexus for each and good behavior history: often reasonable.
• Four large dogs in a studio with prior noise or damage issues: likely unreasonable.
• Two roommates, each with one ESA and valid letters: often reasonable if the animals are manageable for the unit size.
• Documented severe allergy conflict with a nearby tenant: housing may explore alternative reasonable accommodations such as unit separation or mitigation measures rather than outright denial.

What Kind of Emotional Support Animals Do You Have?

First, what kind of emotional support animal(s) do you have? Whether you can get an ESA letter for them might depend on how your ESA helps you and where you need them to be accommodated. Here are some common animals:

• Dogs
• Cats
• Miniature Horses/Pigs (really!)
• Birds
• Rabbits
• Other Assistance Animals

Whether you are entitled to accommodation for each kind of support animal will depend on its size, your living or other situation, and your specific needs. A clinician will need to look at those factors to decide if your request is likely to be considered reasonable according to the laws and if they can provide you with an ESA letter.

How Does Your ESA Help You?

Next, think about how each of your assistance animals helps with a mental or emotional disability. Remember, the mental or emotional disability they help you with does not need to be different for them to qualify as an ESA. If you need language for your disability, here is a list of common ones:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Various Kinds of Phobias
• Panic Attacks
• Personality Disorders
• ADHD
• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar Disorder

What Is Your Housing Situation Like And Does Your Request Feel Reasonable?

Next, we encourage you to consider whether your request is reasonable for housing (as per HUD and the FHA). First, what are your living conditions?

• Are you in an apartment?
• Is it a small apartment?
• Will having your ESA (dogs or cats) potentially risk damaging the apartment?

Remember your request for accommodation needs to be reasonable, and if your request feels reasonable, you'll be protected by the FHA and protected as a tenant.

How Many ESAs Are You Planning To Travel With?

Current Airline Rules for ESAs

Under the DOT’s 2020 final rule at 14 CFR Part 382, U.S. airlines are no longer required to recognize ESAs as service animals. Most major U.S. carriers now treat ESAs as pets that are subject to pet fees, carrier size limits, and route restrictions. For background, see a summary of the changes available on DOT’s website.

The Fair Housing Act does not require public places or airlines to allow ESAs, however some airlines still choose to accommodate emotional support animals. The amount of animals allowed and whether you will be charged for them will depend entirely on the airline you travel with. We recommend you research an airline that works for you and call ahead before your date of travel to explain your situation.

If you have a service dog, they are generally allowed onboard all flights free of charge. Airlines are only allowed to deny transport to service dogs under certain circumstances, such as if the dog violates safety requirements (too large/heavy) or poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others. If you have an ESA, they may qualify to become a Psychiatric Service Dog, a type of service dog for those with mental health disabilities. Read our article on how to get a psychiatric service dog for more information on the requirements.

What Is An Emotional Support Animal?

If you’re considering obtaining one or multiple emotional support animals of your own, it’s important to understand exactly what emotional support animals are. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), emotional support animals are animal companions that offer comfort, friendship, and emotional support to those struggling with an emotional or mental disability. Emotional support animals can come from any of the places that pets come from. One or many emotional support animals can be adopted from shelters, purchased from breeders or pet stores, or obtained from anywhere else that a pet could come from.

One or several emotional support animals can help those struggling with major life activities and have difficulty falling asleep, are frequently worried, or whose life is severely affected by any mental condition that's diagnosed by a licensed mental health professional. One or many emotional support animals can provide unconditional love to alleviate symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other mental health illnesses.

While dogs are the most common type of emotional support animal, any species of animal can qualify to become a legitimate emotional support animal. As long as the animal is proven to alleviate at least one aspect of a person’s mental and emotional disorders, their emotional support cat, horse, bird, or any other animal or pet they feel connected to can turn into their official emotional support animal.

Staying Focused on Multiple ESAs
While ESAs can be many species, housing requests for multiple ESAs hinge on reasonableness and the nexus for each animal. If you are considering more than one ESA, be prepared to explain how each animal helps alleviate specific symptoms and how your living setup supports responsible care.

Go Deeper

How to Get an ESA Letter for Housing in 2024

For those who qualify, getting an ESA letter requires just a consultation from a licensed mental health professional. This will ensure that you will be legally protected when it comes to living with your pet in all permanent housing situations – regardless of landlord policies.

Emotional Support Animals vs. Service Animals

One essential factor to remember about owning one or multiple emotional support animals is that they are very different from service animals. Understanding these significant differences is crucial to allow you to properly choose and certify an animal that best satisfies your needs. Below are the major differences between emotional support animals and service animals.

Service Animals Perform More Tasks Than ESAs

Many people believe that emotional support animals and service animals are interchangeable, but these two types of animals are trained for separate tasks. A service animal is specially trained to perform a function or job for an owner that has a physical, intellectual, emotional, or mental disability. An emotional support animal serves as more of an emotional companion for the owner to help with major life activities. A service animal may still be able to provide the comfort of an emotional support animal, but it has been trained to complete tasks that a support animal will not, such as checking blood pressure or alerting others if their owner’s health or well-being is in danger.

Service Animals Are Protected Under Federal Law

Service dogs are usually needed more frequently as they help the owner with physical tasks. Therefore, they are offered legal protections through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that emotional support animals do not get. You can take a service dog almost anywhere that you go and they legally cannot be denied access. A person can own multiple assistance animals, as long as they are all deemed necessary to treat a person’s disability by a licensed mental health professional. On the other hand, an emotional support animal doesn’t share the same legal protections. It’s important to understand that if you have an emotional support animal, they may not be allowed into areas that a service animal will. Legal protection of an emotional support animal is limited to housing and air travel. However, there may be businesses that will allow you to bring your emotional support animal inside, so you’ll have to check with state or local beforehand to see where emotional support animal allowed places are.

Service Animals Require Proper Training

Unlike Emotional Support Animals, who need no formal training, Service Animals must be trained on tasks that assist their handler with their mental or physical disability. Service animals are also required to undergo general obedience and public access training to ensure they are able to behave in public spaces and provide their essential services to their handler even when surrounded by distractions.

However, contrary to popular belief, a professional trainer is not required in this process. The ADA explicitly states that owners can train their service animals from home. Having a professional trainer involved in the process can nonetheless be a valuable asset both to ensure the quality of the animals training, and to ensure a smoother experience when traveling. If you are looking to train a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD), consider our online training program guided by a professional dog trainer experienced with service dogs. The online self-guided video courses will give you the confidence and knowledge required to train your very own PSD.

How An Emotional Support Animal Is Beneficial

Mental health professionals note vast improvements in patients with a mental or emotional disability thanks to the presence of one or multiple emotional support animals. Below are the mental health benefits of having an emotional support animal.

They Provide Mental and Emotional Encouragement

Having one or multiple emotional support animals provide comfort to owners with mental health issues, especially to those who have:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Anxiety disorders
• Specific phobias like agoraphobia and aerophobia
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder

During tough times, multiple emotional support animals can help individuals stabilize intense emotions that are the results of the mental illnesses mentioned above. Studies show that animals, especially dogs, help humans stimulate neurotransmitters that send happy signals to the brain. Dogs can help re-regulate the flow dopamine, which helps reduce both depression and anxiety. This is the neurochemical associated with love, bonding, and pleasure. 

When you take care of another living being, such as an animal companion, your capacity to love increases, and you feel less depressed. People suffering from loneliness feel safer and loved when they have an animal around. Having one or many emotional support animals, especially dogs, also gives you a reason to go out for a walk, maybe a run, or spend time outdoors. These are all good for your mental well-being.

They Give Unconditional Love

Animals can feel love and give love, too. The truth is that one or many emotional support animals can provide unconditional love. They give love unconditionally to people struggling with mental health decline or an illness like depression or grief. With the unconditional love provided by these animals, a person will feel loved and get back on their feet after a difficult emotional experience.

Feeling loved can dramatically improve a person’s overall mental health. This is important for a person to re-engage with the people around them, form loving relationships, and have more meaningful relationships with their loved ones.

Animal Therapy Works in Conjunction with Other Forms of Treatment

Therapists or counselors are becoming more aware that one or many emotional support animals work in concert with other forms of treatment to overcome mental illness. It’s like advising patients to exercise and eat nutritious food to control the symptoms of a mental health problem or avoid depression.

Assistance animals, including emotional support animals, are used in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Pets are also utilized for mindfulness techniques, to help patients find a sense of purpose, encourage people to spend more time outdoors (by walking their dog), and help individuals feel safe during highly stressful events. Whichever form of therapy works for you, you will find that emotional haven you need when you incorporate an emotional support animal into your treatment plan.