Cat with Two Faces: Nine Lives and 12 Years Later [PHOTO]
A cat born with two faces 12 years ago has just landed a spot in the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records, thanks to a birthday on Sept. 8.
The cat, known as Frank and Louie, has a condition called Janus, and is now the longest surviving member of its kind.
Janus refers to the two-faced god of the future and past in Roman mythology.
In the feline world, the term refers to cats born with disprosopia - two faces on a single head, zoologist R. Karl Shuker told the Telegram and Gazette. Shuker is also the one credited with coining the term Janus cat.
Frank and Louie was also born with two mouths, two noses and three eyes but share the same brain and stomach.
In 1999, one day before he was to be euthanized, the cat was rescued and adopted by a Worcester, Mass. woman by the name of Marty Stevens.
Every day is kind of a blessing; being 12 and normal life expectancy when they have this condition is one to four days . . . so, he's ahead of the game; every day I just thank God I still have him, Stevens told the Associated Press.
According to Stevens, Frank and Louie only uses one of his mouths to eat.
Frank does the eating . . . he only has to eat for one cat body. He's just one cat body with an extra face, she told the Boston Globe on Thursday.
Stevens also added that Frank and Louie enjoys playing with other animals, going for walks on a leash and riding in the car.
He doesn't know he's any different. He thinks he's a normal cat, she said.
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