Emotional Support Animal versus Allergies

[Nocontactgrief]

I think I will be in the minority here, but I want to know AIBU - I read a story about a little horse being allowed on a plane to support an individual:

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/03/emotional-support-horse-flight-american-airlines
(I don't know how to link!)

I have allergies to animals.
Asthma, hives & all the usual streaming eyes, coughing, sneezing etc.
I take antihistamines but they are not hugely effective against certain animals - obviously everyone is different & has different reactions.

AIBU in thinking a balance should be struck between animals increasingly in spaces where previously they wouldn't be permitted in the past.
Restaurants, cafes & hotels are increasingly dog friendly, with no regard for those for whom close proximity with animals is an issue.
Lots of companies now have office dogs.

Clearly there have always been guide dogs & people have to tolerate some animals in passing, but being in enclosed spaces for extended periods with animals...shouldn't people have a choice?

Whose needs should take priority where you get on a plane & there is a bloody tiny horse onboard?

Do emotional support needs trump physical allergies?

I have suffered from severe anxiety in the past and I would say that the needs of the allergies is more important than the anxious person.

Anxiety is awful. I know. I have genuinely thought I was going to die.

But I wasn't. Unlike the person who gets anaphylaxis.

Guide dogs etc are different and then I guess the airlines need to find a way to accommodate both needs by offering alternative flights etc.

I cannot understand why a horse would be chosen as a support animal. They are large (I know this one is small but it’s still a lot bigger than most other domesticated animals) so won’t fit in many vehicles, can’t curl up on the floor, and will be a total pain in a shop/office/doctor’s surgery/other building. I am also not sure what happens about their poos which are enormous and tend to be dropped over some distance. I would have thought the physical ways they restrict the owner would offset any additional freedom from emotional support?

Anyone know any more about why horses are chosen rather than eg dog, cat, guinea pig?

Someone (I read about) has a therapy horse as they are severely allergic to dogs but not horses

@LittleCandle today I've taken 2 x cetirizine, 2 x fexofenadine, 2 x ranitidine and I'll take 2 piriton later
The doctors are all out of antihistamines and I can't have cyclosporine so that it, nothing else they can offer

No wait sorry, it was a guide horse for the blind.

So obviously a cat/guinea pig wouldn’t do any good and with being allergic to dogs, they couldn’t have a dog so they had a guide horse.

I know it’s been retired now as the horse for too big but I’m sure a new one is being trained

People hear the word allergies and they think watery eyes or a stuffy nose. My allergies are much more than discomfort. Some sufferers of my condition resort to suicide because it is just so painful and hard to treat. Anaphylactic reactions can also occur.

My mother’s allergies were paired with severe asthma. Being near cats was life threatening, not just unpleasant.

The conflict between various medical conditions does not get enough attention. There is definitely not an easy solution.

Even within my own home we have had to find a way to accommodate my needs and a beloved family members need for a medicated shampoo.

Might get slated for this, but I have spent a lot of time with those suffering serious psychological conditions - including severe anxiety. I don't see why it has to be so black and white. I don't agree with unplanned animals going on planes, however, I do think it would be good to have some flights allow on 'emotional support' animals. If you could see when booking and so on, then that could protect those with allergies coming into contact.

I know of someone who went to the USA to get an animal trained to support with mental health needs. As far as I know, there are currently no provisions in the UK. However, I think it would be a great benefit to have provisions made. Then again, there also needs to be much more straight forward therapy available and that is something that still isn't often provided enough.

minipie the supportee in this case claims it's allergies. According to their instagram page, i would guess it's rather because dog would be too mainstream and they get more attention with a horse..

That’s just batshit. Total batshit

Anxiety is awful. I know. I have genuinely thought I was going to die.
But I wasn't. Unlike the person who gets anaphylaxis.

Same here, the most common place where I had panic attacks was planes, and yes it's bloody scary, but it would not have killed me. So someone with severe allergy would trump my emotions.

It's not just allergies. I'm autistic and am utterly terrified of horses. If I were on a flight and then someone trotted on with their horse, I'd freeze in terror. I'd sit there not moving, not saying a word, and the panic would build and build until a full on adult autistic meltdown errupted.

Not having your support horse may well increase your anxiety but I bet having someone freaking out and trying to get off the plane would increase it more.

I think physical safety trumps emotional safety every time
I agree

If talking in terms of who trumps who, I would say person with a medical support animal then allergic person then person with an emotional support animal

I agree with you OP.
Asthma and allergies can be life threatening. A human life trumps a humans anxiety.
They should have designated animal free flights, restaurants, etc. Instead of allowing animals on all flights/restaurants etc

YANBU

Sorry, derailing, but I would be BEYOND OVERJOYED to board a flight and see Flirty the tiny pony in the cabin. Look at him!

But I run squawking up to almost every animal I see and DP has to hold my hand and tell me to ask nicely if I can say hi to the animal.

Seeing an emotional support peacock would probably knock me dead with overexcitement.

(Yes, I am aware I am not supposed to disturb service animals and I manage to glumly restrain myself).

My little sister has a severe allergy to dogs. Her face swells really badly and she has horrendous asthma. Popping a tablet won't help her, and she is then at an increased risk of an asthma attack and actually (god forbid) she could die from one of those. In many cases of severe allergies an antihistamine won't touch the sides. I hate that they're not taken seriously, they really can be fatal.

Yanbu - a balance has to be struck as you say. I think it probably has to be assessed on an ongoing basis though, rather than there being a hard and fast rule.

mooshme.com/can-my-therapist-write-an-esa-letter/

This popped up when I was searching for superman with emotional support dog. Basically for a reasonable fee, anybody can get a letter that you can bring your iguana everywhere as an emotional support pet. Yeah. Actual allergy trumps that.

@WhatsMyPassword an emotional support sheep.

plunkplunkfizz

I have an office dog. He is half poodle so hypoallergenic. But I guess some people would still struggle

I have standard poodles - poodles are not hypoallergenic and the claims that they are is false and misleading.

It is true that Poodles do not shed in the same way as most dogs, but they have to be groomed regularly and the dead hair combed from their coats. If someone is allergic to the dead hair, it is still there. The most common 'dog' allergies are caused by skin flakes or as another pp mentioned dog saliva. They do however seem to have less allergans with regards to coat than some breeds

On the poodles forums , the advice to people who enquire whether a family member with dog allergies would be ok with a poodle is to suggest they spend time with a poodle in the owners own home to test that they would be able to tolerate the dog. Many forum members offer to allow people to visit to test their reaction.

I totally agree with you. There is a tendency for some people to downplay allergies and not to realise that allergies to animals can be as life threatening as some of the issues which the support animals are helping with. I have bad asthma and around some animals I can develop such bad symptoms that I can go into stasis. Even if I don't need to visit hospital being exposed to animals can take 2 weeks to recover from. I think the issue is that lack of planning really. If someone really needs the animal then perhaps that needs to be accommodated but we need very good protection to areas where animals don't ever go. If I were on a plane and a horse were on it I'd struggle to be within perhaps 20 feet of the animal - and if the animal had moved past my seat I could still react.

Sorry, meant to also add that I couldn't sit in the seats which the horse had been in or near on the next flights either as you don't need the animal present to react - they leave a whole host of the lovely allergens behind which can't be fully hoovered up.

I agree with you 100% op,
I was on a flight with a woman with a comfort dog that was a large Dalmatian, there was another woman explains that she was coming up in hives just being near the dog at the boarding gate, they put the allergy lady at the back of the plane and the dog lady nearer the front. The allergy lady was able to get some antihistamines but I was cross for her, as she said passengers should be notified as you do not expect it.
The comfort dog lady couldn't care less and the woman's skin was going bright red and lumpy really quickly. It was a transatlantic flight. I would have asked to be on another flight quite frankly if I had such severe allergies, it's wrong and I do believe it's hocum. I take tablets to fly as I get anxiety, I don't need an animal with me and wouldn't consider one due to other passengers comfort.
The woman with the dog was walking it round the front of the economy cabin and I just thought it was out of order.
If it's going to be a thing then airlines need to schedule flights that are for comfort animals and their owners and they book those.
I'm scared of dogs too and can imagine others would be also.
It's absolutely ridiculous these are not guide dogs, they are comfort animals. I do not believe they are necessary on flights.

@FrancisCrawford -
"Clearly you don’t know anything about anxiety.
Streaming eyes, blocked nose etc is unpleasant, but these are minor symptoms and more of an inconvenience than anything else.
And I say this as someone with allergies."

Please don't make assumptions about me. A panic attack is very distressing but no, it won't kill you.
You may get a slight sniffle when exposed to things you are allergic to but, if you knew anything about allergies, some people can have very severe and indeed fatal reactions to allergens. Not everyone just gets a runny nose.
If flying makes someone so anxious it can spark a panic attack then why fly? And how will having a horse or hamster with them on the flight magically prevent a panic attack?
Where do we draw the line? If someone has an emotional support dog and someone has an emotional support cat and they will fight, what happens then? Can everyone and anyone declare they need a support animal? So the plane will be full of different animals, all supporting their humans emotionally.
Are the members of staff going to be expected to clean up gallons of horse pee or dog shit from the plane between flights and do a deep clean so that there are no traces left of fur/hair/faeces for the next flight? It gets a bit absurd then.