Janus Cat

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The feline, named Frank and Louie, has become the longest surviving member of a group known as Janus Cats, named after two-faced Roman god of transitions.

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Weird cat with two faces breaks Guinness world record

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwE_kAdG2a0

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96unHUcG8n4

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Two-faced cat breaks Guinness world record

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/8797652/Two-faced-cat-breaks-Guinness-world-record.html


The feline, named Frankenlouie, has become the longest surviving member of a group known as Janus Cats, named after the two-faced Roman god of transitions.

Twelve years after owner Marty Stevens rescued him from being put down, the blue-eyed rag doll is not only thriving but has made it into the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest living janus cat.

Ms Stevens, who used to work in a veterinary school, says Frankenlouie's longevity is particularly remarkable because felines born with such congenital abnormalities usually survive only for a few days.

"He was brought in, at a day-old, to be euthanised and I just offered to take him home and try to save him and they told me not to get my hopes up too much because usually they don't survive. They never survive, actually, and he is 12-years-old, September 8th," she said.

According to his owner the two-faced cat loves nothing than a walk on leash – a peculiar enough sight – but tends to shock those who get up close to pet him.

"I see a look of horror come over their faces when they actually see his face, it's funny," said Ms Stevens.

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Pictures of Janus Cat (Frank and Louie) and his owner, Marty Stevens:

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Cat with Two Faces Sets World Record

http://gawker.com/frankenlouie/

http://gawker.com/5844460/cat-with-two-faces-sets-world-record

Meet "Frankie and Louie," a 12-year-old cat with two faces and two names. Guinness World Records says he is the world's longest-living Janus cat. (Fun fact: That is what they call two-faced cats, on account of two-faced Roman god Janus.) Most Janus cats die within hours of their births.

Frankie and Louie (sometimes "Frankenlouie") has two mouths, two noses, two functioning eyes, and one non-functioning eye.

"That was the first eye to open up when he was two days old so I had a little Cyclops for a while," his owner explains.

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Two-faced cat earns Guinness record

FRANK AND LOUIE A HIT

By Nancy Sheehan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

nsheehan@telegram.com

http://www.telegram.com/article/20110927/NEWS/109279895/1116

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Frank and Louie is a cat who was born with two faces, so he has two names. Does that mean he has 18 lives?

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It almost seems so now that he has earned a spot as the longest lived Janus cat in the new edition of the Guinness World Records (Guinness has dropped the word “book” from the name in this digital age). The cat's owner is a Worcester woman named Marty Stevens who has owned Frank and Louie since a local breeder brought him into Tufts Veterinary Clinic to be euthanized when he was a day old. Marty was a veterinary nurse at Tufts at the time and offered to take him home. 

The prognosis, however, was not good. Janus cats, named after the Roman god with two faces, are extremely rare and seldom live more than a few days after being born. Often they die within hours. But under Marty's dedicated care Frank and Louie flourished. He turned 12 years old on Sept. 8. 

Frank and Louie has two mouths, two noses and two normal eyes with one larger non-functioning eye in the center. “That was the first eye to open up when he was two days old so I had a little Cyclops for a while,” Marty said. That's not an endearing image, and, as often happens with animals and even people who are not exactly like everyone else, Frank and Louie often draws a shocked reaction from onlookers. But that first impression quickly fades. 

“He's just so affectionate and sweet he usually wins people over,” Marty said. 

The cat has two faces, but only one head and brain, so the faces react in unison and not as separate entities. Also, two faces doesn't mean two cans of cat food every morning. The cat's right side — or Frank's side — is connected to an esophagus while Louie's isn't, so Frank eats for two. 

If you look at the cat from the left he looks completely normal. Look at him from the right and he does as well. It is only when you look straight at him that you can see how unusual he is — so different he attracted worldwide attention after a local news story and video about him was picked up internationally about six years ago. One of those articles captured the attention of British cryptozoologist and science writer Karl Shuker, whose books include “From Flying Toads to Snakes with Wings: In Search of Mysterious Beasts, Bizarre Creatures and Mystery Animals” and “Mystery Cats of the World.” 

Mr. Shuker also happens to be the life sciences consultant for Guinness and it was he who submitted details of Frank and Louie for inclusion in the 2012 edition as the world's longest surviving Janus Cat. It is a term, he said in an email to the Telegram, that he coined several years previously in relation to cats born with diprosopia, or two faces on a single head. Though rare, it is a phenomenon that occurs in many species, Mr. Shuker says, including humans. Mr. Shuker said he was thrilled to learn the cat was still alive when Marty tracked him down by email after finding his blog (Karl Shuker). She wanted to tell him that the cat had been included in the 2012 Guinness edition. 

She was surprised to learn it was he who submitted the cat's information. 

The Guinness entry on Frank and Louie says the cat lives in Millbury, Ohio, and had reached the age of six by 2006, the last year for which Mr. Shuker could find press accounts. The cat and Marty actually lived in Millbury before moving to Worcester. 

Even in 2006, Frank and Louie was the world's longest living Janus cat. 

As a newborn kitten the size of a hamster, he wasn't expected to live 12 days let alone 12 years. Because he had to be fed every two hours, Marty carried him in a shoebox everywhere she went, including work, feeding him with a special veterinary kitten formula. She had to put a tube down into his stomach and injected the formula with a syringe. Veterinarians advised her not to get her hopes up. 

“But every day he got stronger,” Marty said. “He just kept beating the odds.” 

There wasn't a special celebration Sept. 8 because cats, after all, aren't exactly party animals. “I just kept calling him ‘birthday boy' all day,” Marty said.

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Here's an update from the blog of Karl Shuker:
http://karlshuker.blogspot.sg/2011/01/sonic-hedgehog-and-janus-cats.html

SECOND UPDATE, 5 December 2014 (date of posting)
Today, I was very sad to learn from his owner, Marty, that Frank and Louie had died. He had fallen ill a few days earlier, and after being formally diagnosed by veterinarians as suffering from a severe cancer he was euthanised yesterday to prevent him from suffering from what would soon be its traumatic effects. He was 15 years old, an incredible age for a Janus Cat, far surpassing all previous examples and likely never to be surpassed by any in the future - a wonderful testament to the love and devotion that Marty had always given to him throughout his long and happy life with her. Rest in peace, Frank and Louie.

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