There is a song in musical Waitress which starts, “today’s a day like any other, but I am changed, I am a mother…in an instant”; it may seem hokey but that is exactly how I felt on the day that I found Roxy. She was just a little kitten, skinny and scruffy, shivering in an unusually chilly summer Idaho night and purring against my chest. My brother had spotted her as she nearly got hit by a minivan in our small town’s Stinker Station parking lot. I told him to get out, to go to the little nook between the gas station’s brick drive up area and a fence to grab her. We wanted to see if she had a collar and thought that if she did, someone would appreciate us not letting their kitten get hit by a car. He got out of my Dad’s towering charcoal gray truck and ran over to where she was. Roxy, then nameless, bolted under the truck. I got out to help and pulled her out from underneath where she was trying to climb inside the mechanical pieces. She immediately started purring when I held her little body tight to my chest.
We didn’t plan on keeping Roxy. It was late so my family agreed to keep her for the night before taking her to the shelter the next morning (there is a great local no-kill shelter in town). I thought that would be all, but Roxy had other plans. That night, after playing with my brother and I, she cuddled up to me, purring constantly as she rubbed against my face and hands, so grateful to be in my arms. She ended up falling asleep on my shoulder. That night, I looked over at her tiny sleeping frame and realized that I was responsible for her, that until the day one of us died I would always take care of her.
That whole summer I had saved up my tip money for a tattoo but my favorite artist was all booked out, so I used the money I had saved to cover Roxy’s food, travel, litter box, and vet bills. She came home with me and quickly she became an essential part of my life. She got me out of bed every morning, sat on the counter while I made and drank my coffee, napped with me, followed me around like a shadow and greeted me when I got home with a bright meow. That relationship prompted my psychiatrist to suggest me having Roxy certified as an emotional support animal.
Emotional support animals are animals that provide support and comfort to individuals with psychiatric conditions. They are protected under the Fair Housing and Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning that you cannot be denied housing because of your ESA. Unlike service animals, emotional support animals do not go through any intensive training and can be any kind of animal. Since they do not undergo any special training, many people are skeptical of emotional support animals and their impacts. However, to become certified as an emotional support animal, the animal must belong to someone who has a disability and that animal must alleviate the symptoms of that disability. Roxy, despite having no training, can tell when I’m anxious or going through a depressive bout and will often lay on my chest or in my lap during those times. One day she was being especially clingy and I didn’t understand why, but later that night I had a massive anxiety attack. She is intuitive and seems to know when I need her most.
I did not bring her with me originally since my roommate in the fall semester was deathly allergic to cats. So I decided to try and last the year without her. Fall semester was when I had one of my worst depressive episodes in recent memory, so I called my psychiatrist and worked on the process of moving out and getting Roxy to move in with me on campus. I met with Student Disability Services, and that day they said that once Roxy’s letter was processed she would be approved. I was so grateful for how quickly the process went and how understanding they were of my circumstances. Housing was tricker, but the housing department figured out a way to move me into a new living arrangement where I wouldn’t have to live with any roommate. I submitted my ESA form to housing and was able to move in before the start of spring semester.
It has been a somewhat unconventional journey and it took a bit of work, but Roxy is worth every dollar I’ve spent on fancy wet food and every moment of effort poured into getting her certified. She is the light of my life and I am so lucky we found her that cold summer night.
