When I first moved to Gainesville I took a tour of this facility and I was very impressed by how clean they keep everything. A couple of years later I adopted my cat from ACAS. He was and is extremely healthy. And all of the dogs in their care appeared to be WELL cared for. As far as I'm concerned the dopey, childish reviews posted here need to be deleted. I'm pretty sure ACAS by denying adoptions, are weeding out potential pet owner problems. Also if you cannot afford a visit to a veterinary clinic, DON'T own a pet!!! The animal didn't have a choice. They're your hostages and are at your mercy. Please be more mindful of your decisions. Thank you staff at Animal Services!!! read more

Our first instance of adopting was back in November of 2023. We adopted two kittens and quickly realized that they had pretty serious upper respiratory infections. We were told initially that it's common and that they would get over it, themselves. While we understood the financial and emotional risk of adopting from ANY shelter, we were still surprised when our two little ones became VERY ill. This would cost us about 1,300 dollars in vet bills. Thankfully, after our care and our vet's, they made a full recovery. We understand that when adopting from a shelter, there is a risk that your animals will be sick already. My partner is in vet med at UF, we get this concept. Still, when we went back for the second time to adopt, that was the deal breaker on EVER returning to this place. HORROR. We found a kitten that we were interested in, in January. The kitten had not been fixed yet so we were told we had to foster to adopt and then bring the kitten back for THEIR vet STUDENTS to perform this operation. That was fine, in the beginning. The kitten appeared fully healthy when we took it home, initially. After bringing the kitten back to the shelter, a week later, they return the kitten to us because she hadn't reached the weight of 3 pounds which was what the weight was supposed to be in order to get fixed. At this time, we were told she weighed 1.6 pounds. That was what we were told. When we initially adopted the cat, they also told us that the kitten was male. My partner disagreed with this WHILE being at the shelter and this concern was brought to the staff's attention. The woman assured us that the kitten was male and gave us the paperwork for a male, identical looking kitten. When we returned to get her fixed, they told us that it would be a spay operation. This confirmed that the kitten was female and the whole time, we had a completely different kitten's paperwork. This was a slight annoyance, but was one of the first things that raised our concerns. We return home to try to bring the kitten to her goal weight. During this time, she is playful and happy. She didn't even get sick like our other kittens had. She was fine. We were really excited that she was getting along with our other kittens and eating well. She was using the litter box with no issues. It was a relief that maybe this one would be without issues. We bring her back a week after the last visit, for the spay. They asked us to drop her off the night before because of scheduling issues. So, we drop her off on Wednesday night and are told to pick her up at 4:30 PM on Thursday. That day, my partner picks her up to find that she is still heavily sedated. She is awake, but walking very clumsily. When looking at the papers, it was stated that the surgery was performed at 3:00pm... That was just an hour and a half before my partner picked her up. This state of sedation had lasted until the following morning. Additionally, there discharge instructions stated to use the e-collar that was provided. There was NO e-collar provided. We were concerned with how long the effects were lasting, but we figured she would be ok after a few days. Two days after the surgery, she started presenting with much serious symptoms. They were similar to an upper respiratory infection along with the inability to eat and excessive drooling. We called the shelter SEVERAL TIMES over those few days and did not get a response until several days LATER. They stated that we could bring her in so that their vet could look at her, but that we were not allowed in the room while the exam was happening. Of course after ALL of this, we weren't going to leave her unattended/away from us and certainly we were not going to leave her with this shelter, again. So, we took her to our vet. It is possible that she was incubating the virus and the severe stress she underwent having to be there a full 24 hours, when the surgery was performed at 3:00pm, caused a flare-up. At the vet, they determined that she did have an upper respiratory infection, as well as strange sores in her mouth. They also told us that she only weighed 1.9 pounds. I was there and I saw the scale, myself. I was in complete shock considering this was only a few days after her surgery and the shelter stated that she weighed 3.0lbs. That is pretty convenient since she needed to be exactly 3lbs to have the surgery done... Terrible. $900+ later and about two weeks of medicating, she seemed to be recovering. Although we hadn't yet experienced her bothering the site due to not being given an e-collar, she had bitten out her internal sutures and the wound was open. $900 later at the emergency vet, she was fine. I am running out of YELP review space. They don't really care about the animals. Don't adopt from here. read more

I adopted a dog in the beginning of March during an emergency adoptathon. He's a Staffordshire mix named Kelvin and absolutely the sweetest dog. However, they reported coughing in his medical history and never treated him with kennel cough even though it was a mere cough. I have went through $300 of antibiotics and probiotics for my dog. His kennel cough exceeded to pneumonia and now he has GI issues. They should've nipped this cough in the butt as soon as they saw the cough. This event was supposed to adopt out healthy dogs who are ready for homes but instead they let one of their dogs go home sick knowing something wrong happened. Now I stay up every night worrying about my dog while he coughs and regurgitates even after the antibiotics he's been on. read more

My boyfriend and I adopted our first dog, Sally, a pit mix from here. When we went to meet her they let us spend a lot of time out in the yard with her and made the whole adoption process super easy and not frustrating in the slightest. This facility has a lot of dogs, so you just have to be patient sometimes. Also, unlike other shelters in the area, they have their adoption fees at an affordable price, so considering I am a college student that was really nice. It also made me feel like they actually want their pups to be adopted, not just trying to gouge me for money. High recommend! read more

I adopted a puppy from this place who obviously has an upper respiratory infection. They told me she was healthy. I've been calling the place for two hours and no one will answer the phone, I need to get her antibiotics. read more

This place isn't here to help animals....I just came from this place and they denied me the opportunity to adopt a dog.I understand the fact hat I can't because my dog doesn't have proof that he's had his rabies shots.But they also denied my friend the chance because he was with us,although he doesn't live in the same household or have any pets read more

We adopted Belle, a Manx kitten, yesterday and were so impressed with the cleanliness of the facility and the friendly employees. You could tell just how much these animals are loved and cared for by talking to the employees. We were inquiring about kittens the day before and Susan, our go to person, was so helpful in sending photos and answering questions. Thanks so much and it was definitely worth the 3 hr. and 20 min. drive to get there! We are enjoying our Maggie May very much. She is a joy! read more