I have gone through all of the documentation you have listed before you ever listed it. It still does not answer my question.
Permit me to help.
You have THREE cats.
I'll call them: Sammy, Hammy, and Mammy.
Two (Sammy and Hammy) of your THREE cats are pets.
The third cat, Mammy, is your ESA.
The law (in Ohio) allows you to possess and use animals to service you, and emotionally support you.
You request your therapist (better if she or he is an MD, PhD, or DO) to provide you with a letter naming Mammy as your ESA.
This has been excerpted from your state's (OHIO'S) law:
Does Ohio law protect the right of a person with a disability to keep a service animal in his or her housing?
Yes. As stated before, Ohio law defines an "animal assistant" as "any animal which aids" a person with a disability, including a dog which alerts a person with a hearing impairment to sounds, a dog which guides a person with a visual impairment, or a monkey which collects or retrieves items for a person with a mobility impairment. Ohio law provides that a person with a disability who has or obtains an animal assistant "shall be entitled to keep the animal assistant on the premises purchased, leased, rented, assigned or subleased" by such person. Furthermore, he or she "shall not be required to pay an extra charge for such animal assistant but shall be liable for damage done by the animal assistant to the premises."
The law states (in part):
In order to avoid abuse of the system, landlords are generally permitted to require a letter from the tenant's doctor explaining the tenant is disabled by mental illness and how the emotional support animal is expected to mitigate this disability.
Under federal law, you do not have to permit emotional support animals for anyone with a mental illness, only those who are disabled. This might vary with state laws, so check with your attorney. According to the NIMH, 26.2% of adults in the U.S. suffer from a mental illness in any given year, but only 6% are severely mentally ill. So more than three quarters of those with a diagnosed mental illness are not disabled by that illness and would not qualify to use a service animal even if they would benefit from one.
If the tenant has not yet gotten an emotional support animal, the landlord may be entitled to place restrictions on the size and breed of the animal. The landlord may be entitled to require the animal be spayed or neutered. Check with your state's Human Rights Commission or Attorney General for information on your state's laws concerning this. There are links to websites for every AG in the US in the service dog laws section of this site.
Plus:
As opposed to Titles II and III of the ADA in which the animal need only meet the definition of a service animal to be covered by the law, and no further reasonable accommodation analysis should be applied, the Fair Housing Act requires that a person affirmatively notify the landlord (preferably in writing) that he or she has a disability, that he or she needs a service animal to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy the apartment, and that he or she therefore requires a modification to the landlord's policies prohibiting or restricting pets as a reasonable accommodation for his or her disability.
It is also strongly advisable that the individual submit a letter from his or her doctor, therapist or other medical provider verifying the need for the service animal. It is not necessary to disclose a detailed, comprehensive medical history. The landlord or other provider of housing is entitled to obtain only that information necessary to determine whether the requested accommodation is necessary because of a disability.
Okay, try it.
Have that discussion, and as I see it, you should be allowed to possess two pets, and ONE ESA.
