WE WANT JUSTICE!
Donia Youssef, 45, from Grays, is pleading for help after an unimaginable attack happened to her cute kitty...
Ignoring all superstition, I hoped that scouring the internet for a cute black kitten would somehow bring us luck. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2017, I wanted to give my girls Aaliyah, now 11, and Tiana, now eight, some kind of comfort for when I would need to spend time in hospital.
Only, it was a plan that I had to come up with in secret as my partner Thomas, now 45, wasn’t the biggest fan of cats – however, he didn’t need to know…
And after discovering a perfect little mongrel on Gumtree, later that month, I found myself picking our new kitty up from a local lady, before quickly sneaking him back into the house.
‘You’ve got to be joking,’ Thomas said as he spotted our new furry friend.
‘He’s super cute. You can’t say no when I’m going through chemo!’ I smiled.
Plus, seeing the look on the girls’ faces was just priceless, too.
‘Please can we call him Dennis?’ Aaliyah begged.
And after that the name just stuck – Dennis, our lucky black mongrel.
Roaming around in our huge garden, despite being fiercely independent, Dennis was always close by.
And after a few weeks Thomas warmed to him.
So much so, after entering remission in January 2018, over the years we slowly introduced another cat, Ralphie, and three dogs into the family.
Only at the end of April 2023, we hadn’t seen Dennis in a few nights – which started to ring alarm bells.
Our five-year-old puss had never spent a night away from home and would always come back for his yummy dinner.
‘Have you seen Dennis recently?’ I asked my neighbours, knocking on every door in sight – but there was no luck.
However, before we really started to panic, the girls getting a little upset, I received a text on 26 April.
Dennis is on our driveway, our neighbour sent, and relief washed over me.
Only as I read on, my heart sank.
He’s not in a good way though… Running out of the house, I dashed to the neighbour’s drive, before seeing a scared little bundle
of fur on the floor.
Cupping Dennis in my hands, his face looked red raw, his eyes all crusty and he had a weird smell to him – like no scent I had smelt before – it was pungent and his coat was all sticky, too. ‘Where have you been?’ I whispered in horror. ‘Have you been in fight?’ Without a second thought, I got in the car and rushed Dennis to our local vet. Shaking and afraid, I thought he’d just need patching up. ‘This isn’t a fight,’ the vet said, sternly.
‘What do you mean? What’s happened?’ I replied.
‘It looks like somebody has thrown acid or a bleach-like substance over Dennis, as well as boiling water,’ the vet said. What vile monster would do something like that?
I couldn’t even fathom it – it was the purest form of evil. ‘Is he going to be OK?’ I asked, still confused.
‘We can give him antibiotics in the hopes of a miraculous recovery – and we can give it time,’ the vet admitted.
I knew that we had to try – we had to have hope and I knew Dennis would feel better being at home. ‘Somebody has done what?’ Thomas shouted, absolutely fuming when I told him.
I’d never seen him so angry. ‘I’m going to find out who did it,’ Thomas added.
And as for the girls, I knew I had to tell them the truth. Crying, angry and upset, they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
But while Dennis stayed tucked up in a ball at home, I knew we had to fight for him.
Marching up the street and knocking on every single door with the girls in tow, we explained our situation and asked if anyone knew anything. Most of our neighbours were reduced to tears – it was awful.
And calling our local RSPCA, as well as the police to report the attack, I couldn’t quite believe the truth – it was wicked.
Only as days passed with no updates, Dennis got weaker.
With his black fur falling out in clumps, revealing red burns on the underside of his belly, as well as going off his food completely, I knew that we were quickly running out of time.
Taking him back to the vets on my own three days later on 29 April 2023, I showed the extent of Dennis’ burns.
‘This is one of the worst attacks we have ever seen. I’m sorry Donia, but we are going to have to put him down – he is in too much pain,’ the vet confirmed.
And that’s when I knew the vets were right – as much as I didn’t want to admit it.
Able to be in the room with Dennis in his last moments, I Facetimed Thomas – he burst into tears instantly.
‘I’m so sorry Dennis, I’m so sorry,’ I sobbed.
And in that moment I felt like I was apologising on behalf of the whole human race.
Someone out there had tortured our Dennis – murdering him.
‘I’m just so sorry,’ I bawled, as Dennis took his last breath.
Despite it being one of the most horrendous moments, I took comfort in knowing that he wasn’t in any pain.
‘Where’s Dennis?’ Aaliyah asked when I came home without our cute, little mongrel.
‘Unfortunately, he hasn’t made it,’ I admitted.
And from that moment on, both girls just cried and cried.
It was such a shock to everyone, especially as I thought we lived in a lovely little area.
Turning to fundraising to spread awareness, as well as wanting to give back to the RSPCA who had helped to cover vet bills, it’s our mission to keep Dennis’ loving legacy alive.
Starting a Gofundme, we have managed to raise just short of £1k at the moment, which is incredible.
However, Dennis’ cruel attacker is still at large.
Police have searched the area and looked on CCTV, but even now, there’s still no trace of anything.
We’ve still been unable to find the monster who did this to Dennis.
However, it’s still my mission to put that evil person behind bars.
Someone out there must know something about the attack – and if you do have any information, please reach out.
We welcomed Dennis into our lives in a time of need and despite black cats normally bringing superstition, he brought us happiness, love and comfort instead.
Only, a cruel, malicious monster took our lucky mongrel away.
I knew we had to fight for him
Please search Fight Against Animal Cruelty – RIP Dennis.
If you have any information, contact Essex Police quoting crime reference number 42/78105/23