Amanda Mullens had been searching tirelessly for her family's 10-month-old kitten, Oliver.
She even posted on Nextdoor, Ring, Pawboost and unfortunately got scammed by a fake pet recovery service.
"Unfortunately, you will do anything you can when you have children, and they're crying every night for their cat," Amanda Mullens said.
She finally spotted a post of Oliver on a lost pets Facebook page. He was still wearing his two collars, but what she didn’t expect was to find out he was already across the bridge at Lee County Domestic Animal Services — and had been adopted. When Mullens called DAS, she said staff told her Oliver had no collars or ID and blamed her for not having him microchipped.
"I had a name tag on him and a phone number, and apparently that's not good enough anymore, and I don't want other families to go through what we're going through because it's not good enough," Mullens said. " I want other families to know that if that's what you have to do, then I want to help other families."
According to the county, Oliver was dropped off at the Cape Coral Animal Shelter as a stray. From there, the shelter contacted DAS to pick him up. He was placed on the adoption floor, where he stayed for seven days before being adopted. Mullens said she had no clue Oliver would be from Northwest Cape to Fort Myers.
The county later confirmed Oliver was wearing his collars, but without ID tags or a microchip, there was no way to prove he wasn’t a stray.
“This cat is not a stray,” Mullens said. “We’ve had him since he was born. We have his mom. I told them I would even help pay for the family to adopt another cat.”
Mullens said she understands the new adopters may have grown attached but hopes they’ll reconsider.
“I have little boys at home. Oliver is their best friend,” she said. “I hope the family that adopted him are good people. They went to a shelter to do something kind. I believe that if they knew Oliver had a family, they might bring him back.”
Lee County officials urge all pet owners to microchip their animals to avoid situations like this. The county also said DAS reached out to the new owners, but they declined to return Oliver. Still, Mullens remains hopeful and wants her story to serve as a reminder to other pet owners.
“I just hope no one else goes through this,” she said.
Lee County DAS urges all pet owners to get their pets micro-chipped.
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