The Rainbow Rehoming Centre was first established by Helen Davies in 1997 in response to the desperate need to find homes for the hundreds of abandoned and
unwanted dogs and cats that are found in the city and north west every year.
Before 1997 Helen ran an 'Adopt A Pet' scheme for two years. This in turn attracted
financial support and with sponsored building supplies to build a small premises for
a shelter. But space was limited and in 1999 Helen and rescue pets moved to the current location with six dog pens, two outside runs, three isolation units for quarantined animals and a purpose-built cattery. The Centre can house 20 dogs and 30 cats with 15 cages for
kittens and convalescing cats.

Feisty Fifi on road to recovery
ONE of the saddest shaggy dog stories at the Ranbow Shelter at the moment is Fifi, a little terrier with bags of personality who had suffered a lot.
When you see little fighters like this tiny terrier you wonder what the phrase 'man's best friend' means, because no human would treat their friend the way this little pooch has been treated.
Found in the hedge during the recent freezing weather it was immediately apparent to the staff that she had been ditched. It was also plain to see that she had severe mange and has been nursing pups - of which there was no sight.
"She was found at Lowry's Lane, beside Creggan Reservoir, by a man out walking, and it was obvious she had mange and that she had had pupples because she was very engorged with milk. So the girls took her back the next day to see if she would lead them to the puppies but no. She is pining for them," said Jacqueline.
Seen by the vet, feisty Fifi has a closet of medication to treat very various problems, and this week she will begin a series of special baths to treat her skin, although Jacqueline points out that the inflammation has already subsided.
It will be several months yet before Fifi will be put up for rehoming, and staff at the centre have promised to keep the Sentinel posted about the little dog's progress.
"That's the only option that is open to us unless someone is able to take Fifi on - provided they don't have another dog, becuase mange is very contageous. She will be fine, we have had other dogs in with mange before and they have recovered well. Fifi is totally bald underneath and was really red and inflamed, but we will get her sorted.
"She could have come from anywhere and could have been dumped out - her and her puppies - or her puppies could have been drowned and she has been dumped, or she has had her puppies and they are dead now given the cold. When she is restored there will be no problem getting her a new home for she is a lovely wee dog. She's happy enough and eating well. But it is heart-breaking and it makes you angry with people," she says.

Rescuing Dudley
LUNCHTIME 'walkies' has been cut short for the residents of Rainbow Animal Shelter when an urgent call comes through that a small stray dog has finally been caught in the Rathmor Industrial Estate in Creggan.
Volunteer Joanne Mullan has been setting a baited trap for the little terrier for several days, and this rescue is one of the 'better' ones in that the little dog has been fed by the workers at the industrial estate and is not a rack of bones, as is so common in these cases.
Volunteer Jacqueline Steele and I set off in her van to pick up the little scrap. Driving into the city, Jacqueline explains that staff at the industrial estate have been feeding the dog from their lunchboxes.
"This man rang us a few days back. Now we did take a cat trap down which is smaller because we didn't think the dog would trigger the dog trap. This is the second day we have had the trap out and we have caught it. The wee dog has been living wild for a few weeks, so now we have it we will do our best for it, but sometimes for a wee creature the best is putting it to sleep, hard thought it is, and it is a last resort.
"We have kept difficult dogs and what we do as well is shipments of dogs to the Dogs Trust in England, and we can send quite a few that way and they get them rehomed and it is great. I used to take them up to Larne to meet the Dogs Trust Ambulance up there at 8am, and to do that I'd be at the sanctuary at 3.30am getting them all loaded up and they are rehomed in no time. The Dogs Trust are very good, and every dog we have sent over has been rehomed in a matter of weeks," she says.
Arriving at the industrial estate, Joanne Mullan, who has travelled in another vehicle, and Jacqueline and myself are confronted with a tiny, timid male dog cowering in the back of the cat trap. It is immediately obvious that the dog, whom we name Dudley, is quite possibly a pure bred Border Terrier.
One of the men at the yard fills in the missing pieces for us. To the side of the plant is a storage area where he first noticed movement several weeks ago. That movement was Dudley, who had been trapped in a mangled bundle of wire that had cut into portions of his skin removing the fur.
Once pulled out of the storage area and liberated from the wire, Dudley had taken to his heels and had been sheltering amid the dense gorse on waste land to the rear of the plant. The only time he showed his face was to feed when the workmen threw food out for him.
Transferred into one of the bigger cages in the rear of Jacqueline's van, Dudley starts to relax and back at the shelter he is given a bed beneath a heat lamp, a bowl of grub and an even bigger bowl of water before he is tucked in for the night.
According to Joanne, Dudley is going to a dog behaviourist this week to be fostered because he is very stressed and needs more one-to-one work before he can be put up for rehoming.
As Joanne points out there are worse situations, and she goes on to recount how they had one situation recently where a dog's owner had gone off for a holiday leaving the family pet on its own without food and water.
"A neighbour discovered it outdoors in a pen, and it was full of poop, and he phoned us. He told us that he did not even know the dog was there and that it was skin and bone, and he was throwing food to it.
"He told us that he had checked the property twice a day but it did not appear that anyone was coming to feed the dog and we went and lifted the dog. She was in a bad way and had big whelts on its skin where hit had been lying without bedding," she said.

Anyone got a tumble drier?
LOOKING after so many animals means the staff have a lot of washing and drying to do, which is not easy in the wet weather that plagues Northern Ireland.
Having recently had to shell out for a new washing machine, the staff are now on the lookout for a tumble drier.
If anyone got a new drier for Christmas, or if they are moving home and suddenly find themselves in possession of two driers, then the staff at Rainbow would love to hear from you.
Old blankets and counterpanes past their best for human beds are also much sought after commodities at the shelter, as they are recycled into bedding for the dogs, and the staff are always grateful for hand and bath towels that have seen better days as they can be used for doggie baths and in the treatment of skin ailments for some of the more badly treated and unloved dogs and bitches that find themselves at the shelter.
Old footballs, dog beds, and no longer used toys suitable for dogs also make very welcome second-hand gifts.
Those who can help can leave donations at the shelter adjacent to Moores Cars on Ballygudden Road, Eglinton, or phone 028 71 812882 .
Opening hours:11am to 1pm and from 7.30pm to 9pm daily.