I NEED SOME HELP!!!

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I need people's thoughts on this situation. Hopefully someone out there has more knowledge about this kind of thing then I do. So here's the story...

My girlfriend and I, allong with 2 other friends of mine, live in a very nice appartment. It was newly remodeled. We have been living there for about 2 months now. Our landlords (a husband and wife) originaly told us that we could not have pets. My girlfriend however, has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and her doctor sugested that it would be extremly beneficial if we could get a pet (like a cat or small dog) because of all the benefits it provides to people who suffer from depression and anxiety. She is on medication, however, due to her size, can only be perscribes a very small dosage. Anything higher and she gets sick. The medication helps but because of the low dosage it isnt fully able to do its job. Our landlords originaly told us that they didnt want any pets in the place b/c it was brand new and has hardwood floors and they didnt want anything getting scratched. We thought that if we explained our situation to our landlords that they would be sympathetic and let us get a cat. We even offered to put down a pet security deposit and even use a product called SoftPaws (a high density rubber cap that is applied to cats nails to prevent them from scratching things, perfectly safe and harmless, plus, its better than declawing!) but they have still been reluctant to let us get one.

I have read online that under the Department of Housing and Urban Development that they have laws in place for people with "mental and physical disabilities" as far as renting is concerned. It said that the landlord must make a resonable accomidation for people with such disabilities, and yes, depression and anxiery disorder is a mental disability. It even goes on to say that they need to allow pets, even if their policy is no pets, to a person who needs one. My girlfriends doctor is even willing to write our landlords a letter stating that she should be able to get a cat for medical reasons. We are trying to be as reasonable as we can with this isue but our landlords seem to be being as unreasonable as posible.

PS they let other people have pets, the only reasoning they have for our place is that its new and they dont want the new stuff to get damaged.

What should we do??? Do we have the law on our side??

Please provide your feedback on this matter!

Thank you!