One of my clients owns a couple of small multi-unit buildings, locally. They have a strict no pets policy. I act as the rental agent and simply show the units and forward the applications to the landlords.
One day a lady arrives to view a unit. During the conversation, she asked if the landlords allowed pets to which I explained that they do not allow pets of any kind. She looked upset and said
"Well, I have a service cat."
"I'm not being a wise guy but, what is a service cat?"
"Oh, my therapist told me holding the cat on my lap and petting it helps with anxiety."
I was aware of service dogs but not service cats!
My antenna went up and I thought to myself, "I wonder if this is a tester?" as the State does send them around to check up on agents. To be safe I replied,
"I will speak with the landlords and explain your situation and will remind the landlords about ADA compliance when it comes to service animals"
That was the last I saw or heard of her.
As I live in Massachusetts I am sharing a link regarding Massachusetts.
I also checked the United States ADA & Justice Department
http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/service_animal_qa.html
Neither of these sites states anything about service cats. Then I found this link making it clear that the ADA only considers dogs as service animals.
What Say You?
Seriously, though, I know of service horses and pigs... maybe it's just a restrictive issue for some things.
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