Emotional support animals (ESAs) are becoming more and more popular. This popularity is partly due to their ability to provide comfort for their owners and also because they can help with emotional and mental health issues.

Emotional support animals provide potentially life-changing support to their owners. While they don't possess the same legal protections that service animals receive, there are still regulations to minimize discriminatory practices.

Like many other American states, Missouri is a welcoming place for assistance animals of all kinds. But it also differentiates different assistance animals, most notably service animals and emotional support animals.

In most states around the country, the provisions the ADA lays out for housing, employment, travel, and so on are upheld verbatim as state standards. But some states have begun to diverge from the 1990 bill. Indiana, with its newly passed law concerning emotional support animals, is one of those states.

If you have a mental or emotional condition currently affecting your daily life, receiving support and comfort from a pet may be helpful. If so, your dog, cat, or other pet can serve as an emotional support animal (ESA).