Research has focused on formalised animal contact in closed settings such as Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). Despite this phenomenon, the potential benefits that owning a pet might confer specifically to mental health has received relatively little attention. The enduring relationship between humans and domestic animals is well documented and there are an estimated 10 million cats (23% of households with one or more cat) and 11.5 million dogs (30% of households with one or more dog) kept as pets in the UK, with similar rates of ownership found across Europe, Australia, China and Japan. However, the evidence base for the benefit of pet ownership for those with diagnosable mental health conditions is fragmented and unclear. Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder) suggesting that pets can be considered alongside other human relationships. Recent work has shed light on the relevance of pets in the social networks of people who have received a diagnosis of a severe and enduring mental health illness (e.g. Indication of the potential benefit that pets convey to the experience of mental health comes from evidence detailing the benefits of pet ownership in relation to stress reduction, improved quality of life, and pets as promoters of social and community interaction. These are increasingly being recognised as holding significant relevance for the management of long-term health conditions. However, these approaches often fail to take into account the wider resources including material and social relationships in people’s domestic and local environments which form the latent and constituent part of systems of lay and community support. Traditional approaches to the self-management of long-term conditions focus on psychological mechanisms of behaviour change, which have been shown to have some utility for managing symptoms. We review current options for developing such a pet labeling scheme and recommend a novel approach based on the EMODE (“easy,” “moderate,” “difficult,” or “extreme”) pet suitability assessment tool to provide a preventative educational approach to alleviating the multifactorial issues of concern.The rise in people experiencing a mental health problem and the identification of mental illness as the leading cause of disability adjusted life years globally (DALYs) requires concerted effort in identifying and mobilising resources to support people living with a mental health problem. We propose that a system is required that facilitates decision-making at the interface between sale and purchase sectors and that uses clear evidence-based labeling. Efforts, after pet acquisition, to educate sellers and keepers to improve animal welfare and public health issues have proven unproductive. Mis-selling exotic species as “easy to keep” or “beginner” animals is widely regarded to be a major common and problematic factor. Relatedly, a growing issue is that of unwanted exotic pets handed to animal care centers due to their overly demanding requirements and the confiscation of animals suffering from abuse. The trade in and keeping of exotic pets has been frequently criticized for the commonly inhumane and harmful practices that are associated with supply and keeping, including animal welfare, species conservation, invasiveness, and public health and safety. Exotic pets are essentially animals that are non-native to a region and/or nondomesticated.