West Michigan “Macho Man” Has Soft Spot for Cats

BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN – Dave Svoboda has found the purr-fect job.

Around the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan, it’s very clear that Dave Svoboda has a connection with cats.

“They just like me, even the ones who don’t want to be around people, they trust me. That makes me feel good,” said Svoboda.

The shelter in Benton Harbor is now currently at full cat capacity.

“My main job is just taking care of all the cats. At any given time we have 80 to 100 cats. We make sure they’re warm, clean, fed, and taken care of,” Svoboda said.

The 33-year-old admits he may not fit the traditional image of someone who works with felines full-time.

“People are surprised; they’re used to me doing construction, dirty jobs, stuff like that. I’m the cat man, not Batman, but cat man,” Svoboda said.

A lot of these kitties are strays or have been neglected and abused.

He has the challenge of getting their health back up to par, but also, helping them heal emotionally.

“When they first come in, they’re really scared. Most of the time, they come around, they know they’re not going to get hurt,” Svoboda said.

When the cats get adopted, Svoboda is sometimes very sad to see them go. However, in the end, he’s glad they’re going to a new family.

“Every morning when I wake up to go to work, I feel good because I know I’m taking care of these guys that, they’re homeless, they don’t have anyone to take care of them. It’s up to me,” Svoboda said.

The Humane Society is currently working on building a new shelter so the animals will have more space to live and play.

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If you’d like to help out, here’s their website: humanesocietyswm.org