I love Assisi - it is such a good cause. They will take in any animal they have room for, and operate a strict No Kill policy, which is fantastic and so important, because why should a pet have to pay just because their owner can no longer look after them. Assisi is well run by a team of staff and volunteers, and they are widely supported by the local community in Bangor and far beyond. They strictly vet any person adopting an animal, and do house visits before and after the animal is adopted, to ensure that they have gone to a good home. One complaint I have, and I stongly suspect that this is an isolated incident, but I feel that I should mention it anyway: My parents adopted a dog from Assisi last year, and before they brought him home, they were assured that he was friendly with cats. They brought him home, and as he was settling in, my parents elderly cat wandered into the room, the dog absolutely leapt at the cat with aggression I have never seen before and attacked her. Needless to say, the dog had to go back, which left us feeling a bit let down by their system. read more

I'll probably shed a wee tear during the writing of this review, purely because a) I'm a bit gushy. b) It reminds me of a previous story of a certain beloved cat (mentioned in my review of Gortlands Vets if you're interested). c) It has a happy ending (the review that is). When I was younger, my parents, my sister and I would head up to Assisi nearly every weekend, bringing cat food and treats for the, well, cats. We spent all afternoon with the cats in particular, playing with them, watching them, seeing how things were done. We also paid a visit to see the dogs, guinea pigs and rabbits, but it was with the cats that are hearts lay. Two years after loosing our first puss, my mum, dad and sister decided to go to Assisi to select a new one. After a great deal of thought, they chose Nutmeg, a beautiful tortoiseshell and blue whose owner had died a couple of months before, and arranged to pick her up the next week. Assisi don't ask for payment, but you can make a donation, and the cats are all neutered and have undergone recent veterinary checks, so we only paid a small amount to help fund the animal shelter. Six months later, and Nutmeg is very much one of the family. Assisi do a fantastic job with all the animals, and we are very thankful we were able to help them out by homing a cat. Aww, knew I'd cry... read more

Assisi is definitely one of the best animal shelters I've seen, they care for their animals very well and the cats are very settled and friendly. Whilst most of the dogs there are friendly, some can be very noisy and aggressive. But that is dependent on the dog. I adopted a dog from Assisi a couple of months ago, a collie mix, I was told she is great with children so I was delighted since I have a lot of children constantly in my house, but when we got home despite being confident all will be ok she ran straight to my littlest one and jumped on her, since then I have strictly trained her and I have made her more obedient and has since become a lovely family dog. Definitely browse their website instead of buying a dog, you could save their life! read more

Found the staff to be quite a mixture, some staff were very helpful and pleasant and professional (very few!) as for the rest, I don't know where they find these people, when talking to us in the reception area one girl actually swore ! We also found the male member of staff in the reception desk to be rude, and intimidating , not a nice person at all, I felt pressurised into making a donation, although I was going to do it anyway, I felt pressurised by this man! Who was NOT listening to me and told me I was lying ! I could NOT wait to leave this mans presence! And I am confused as to why they put the staff smoking area at the front of the reception right beside the door so its the first thing you encounter before you enter!! During the process of adopting my pets I was told a different story by each member of staff about their past! Which has really left me unable to believe any information I have been giving about them, I even doubt their age ! And I am especially suspicious about them being both having to be homed together, not that I would change either of them, but I feel that I have been waffled a sad story to take 2 cats off their hands. I needed a few days in preparation to buy new beds etc for my pets and it went from it being fine that they were aloud to stay there and be picked up 7 days from my confirmation being given, to , can you pick them up sooner, like a day or two, then a phone call an hour later asking if they can be picked up that day, then a phone call an hour later to tell me they needed to be picked up in 2 hours! I know the staff mostly consists of volunteers but my god send the ones that have to deal with the public on customer service course please and leave the rest to deal with the animals! Seems to be a few people on power trips read more

although assisi do lots of good work for animals i found a wild rat in need of care and attention so i took it to assisi , i was meet outside with a woman who mumbled about someone in belfast who deals with wild animals then she started talking with someone else , all i expected was they would take it in keep it overnight and see how it was , so i took it back to my flat kept it overnight in a box then in morning i checked how it was, it managed to get out of the box and was in a cupboard so got it back in the box itbit me twice so that told me it had recovered as it never bit before so i took it to parkland an released it thats how you care for a animal assisi take note no excuses . read more