When my personal service dog was tragically attacked and forced to retire, I was left in dire need of assistance, my essential medical equipment gone. Living in a housing situation that makes acquiring another service dog impossible, but my cats have proven to be just as intelligent, driven, and capable of performing service tasks as any service dog. But where does service cat ADA recognition fit in to all of this? Although not recognized or protected as service animals under the ADA, on the state level service cats are already protected in several states as well as some Canadian provinces and in Australia. Cats are often discredited as being too independent, or too stubborn to work as service animals but that's just not the truth. In states and countries were service cats are protected there are already service cats out there working without issues. Performing disability related tasks in public while adhering to their training and to the standards set for service animal behavior. These cats not only possess the confidence and intelligence for service work, but also display the drive and love for the job. Cats are capable of performing almost any task that can be performed by a small dog(Note: Any breed and any size of dog can be a service dog). These cats excell at medical detection and alerts, like alerting to oncoming cardiac episodes, seizures, blood sugar drops/spikes, detecting allergens and more. Cats can also be trained to retrieve dropped items and medication, and even perform disruptions of harmful psychiatric behaviors. So why does this matter? Because expecting disabled individuals in need to only choose between a dog or a literal livestock animal for a public access protected service animal is unrealistic. Not everyone can care for a dog or miniature horse, but cats can accommodate that accessibility gap. Cats can be housed, stimulated, and exercised entirely indoors, allowing disabled individuals with limited mobility and other disability related limitations to appropriately manage and care for their living medical equipment. Cats are also far more financially friendly, with their diets and vet care often costing vastly less than that for dogs and miniature horses.      What are the possible negative implications of service cats having public access rights? Well when done right and in adherence to the law and the standards set forth by the ADA, and keeping the natural differences between cats and dogs in mind, there really are no negative implications. Ethical service cats and their handlers hold themselves to the same standards and other service animal handlers. Will granting service cats public access rights increase the amount of fake service animals? It's honestly hard to say. We already know that there is an epidemic of fake service animals out there. Every day service dogs are interfered with or attacked by pets in non pet friendly environments. But denying legitimate and highly trained service cats equal public access rights because of the illegal actions of uneducated or blatantly entitled individuals is a punishment on the wrong people. The problem will never be legitimate service animals, the problem lies with the people falsifying their pets as service animals and with the businesses unwilling or incapable of following their own policies and FDA health codes. There will always be fake service animals. There will always be people bringing dogs, cats, ferrets, lizards and more into places they have no business being. But No Ethical service cat handler is advocating for untrained or unwilling animals being forced into public access, legitimate service cats deserve the same chance every other federally protected service animal gets.