Rare “Janus kitten” born in Oregon
A two-faced kitten was born on Tuesday in Oregon. You heard that right. A kitten with two faces.
Owner Stephanie Durkee couldn’t believe it either when her kids told her about the kitten.
“The kids … came in and said, ‘Mom there’s a kitty with two heads,’” Durkee told Portland’s NBC affiliate. “And I said, ‘I think you guys are just tired, you’re crazy, that doesn’t happen.’”
Durkee took the two-faced kitten to the vet, who said the kitten is in good health. The vet determined that the kitten’s organs are all in tact. She just happens to have four eyes, two noses and two mouths. But the two-faced kitten will require a lot of care if it’ll have a chance at survival.
The mother rejected the two-faced kitten, so Durkee has been feeding both faces using a syringe. Animals often reject offspring with deformities, as in the wild, such young aren’t likely to survive long. The family has named the kitten Deucy.
Two-faced cats are rare, but not unheard of. Often called “Janus cats” after the two-faced Roman god, most kittens born with two faces don’t survive long. Two born in the states in 2012 both died within a few days of their births. The kittens were named Harvey Dent (after the two-faced villain from Batman) and Gemini.
But with the right care and luck on their side, two-faced kittens can live long lives. Frankelouie was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2011 for being the longest lived two-faced cat. He was 12 years old.
