The short of it is I'm moving to a new apartment. I've got 2 cats. The first I adopted had appointed herself as my service animal - I'm a insulin dependent diabetic and she would wake me when I went hypoglycemic. Sweet, I'm usually a dense sleeper so having a cat that would do that was awesome. So I took it up to train her to continue that - I keep turkey in the fridge for lunch and that was good motivation for her. And aside from the one night I let her food bowl get low (oops!) she has been 100% spot on at alerting me.
My state provides legal protection to people beyond what ADA provides - they recognize service animals beyond just dogs and miniature horses. And as far as the law is concerned, the work I've put in with training the cat is more than enough to qualify her as a service animal, which means she would be exempt from pet restrictions and all that jazz.
So having a cat, eventually she ended up with a "sibling" in that I found another cat that had a history of getting along with others. I could tell she needed an outlet for her energy, and having a friend to play with worked better than having to wait around for me to get home from work. So I adopted the 2nd cat, and decided that not telling the landlord was the easiest way since I had 1 on my lease I was paying for, and that cat had been trained to a service animal.
SO, NOW, THE SHORT OF IT.
2 cats, one is a service animal per the letter of the law. I've got no issue paying the fees and that stuff for the one who is just a pet. The question is, when I'm filling out paperwork at the new apartment, should I say I've just got 1, or "I've got 2, but one is a service animal" I don't want to have hassle if they freak out about the 2 for whatever reason, but I also don't want to start going off on service animals and accessibility stuff right at the start. I don't see why not declaring the 2nd would be an issue for others either - if the pet would be an allergy issue then so would the service cat.
My state provides legal protection to people beyond what ADA provides - they recognize service animals beyond just dogs and miniature horses. And as far as the law is concerned, the work I've put in with training the cat is more than enough to qualify her as a service animal, which means she would be exempt from pet restrictions and all that jazz.
So having a cat, eventually she ended up with a "sibling" in that I found another cat that had a history of getting along with others. I could tell she needed an outlet for her energy, and having a friend to play with worked better than having to wait around for me to get home from work. So I adopted the 2nd cat, and decided that not telling the landlord was the easiest way since I had 1 on my lease I was paying for, and that cat had been trained to a service animal.
SO, NOW, THE SHORT OF IT.
2 cats, one is a service animal per the letter of the law. I've got no issue paying the fees and that stuff for the one who is just a pet. The question is, when I'm filling out paperwork at the new apartment, should I say I've just got 1, or "I've got 2, but one is a service animal" I don't want to have hassle if they freak out about the 2 for whatever reason, but I also don't want to start going off on service animals and accessibility stuff right at the start. I don't see why not declaring the 2nd would be an issue for others either - if the pet would be an allergy issue then so would the service cat.