Two-Faced Cat Lives 12 Years, Enters Guinness Book of World Records

When you hear the names Frank and Louie, you would never think they are one cat.  Known as a Janus cat, Frank and Louie has beat the odds and lived a record-setting 12 years.  Like other Janus cats, named after the Two-Faced Roman god, Frank and Louie was born with two noses, two mouths and three eyes.  The survival rate for a Janus cat is extremely low, many of which are still-born.  Those who survive birth usually have defects that make it very difficult for them to breath and feed.

Frank and Louie was taken by his breeder to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University to be put down one day after his birth.  Marty Stevens was working at the school at the time and couldn't bare to put Frank and Louie down, so she offered to take him in.  Stevens used a feeding tube for the first few months out of fear that Frank and Louie would choke from eating with two mouths.  Luckily, Frank and Louie didn't seem to have any of the birth defects associated with Janus cats, and even favored one mouth while feeding, so Stevens didn't have to worry about him choking.

When Stevens first offered to take in the cat, many of her associates warned against it, saying it would be tough and she might get attached.  12 years later, Frank and Louie is a healthy adult cat that is now in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living Janus cat.

via USA Today