Kyla King knew that a cat who lived on her family’s farm near Portland, Washington was pregnant and due to give birth any day so she set up a special crate for it.
Early one morning the cat gave birth to a litter of kittens. King checked on them, but noticed one hiding behind the 1-year-old cat. She picked it up and was a bit confused.
The kitten didn’t look like the rest.
The tiny kitten had two faces. She sent a picture to her husband BJ King, who eventually shared the image on a community Facebook group. Kyla also shared an image of the kitten on her Facebook.
“We have 6-1/3 kitty cats now!”
The response was swift, and many wanted to know if they could adopt the adorable kitten. But the Kings’ said they couldn’t think that far in advance, especially since kittens like the one they now had in their possession and named Biscuits and Gravy, rarely survive.
Biscuits and Gravy is considered a Janus cat.
Typically, Janus cats, named after the Roman god, don’t live past a few days, but that wasn’t going to stop Kyla from giving Biscuits and Gravy the best life possible.
“It doesn’t really know how to nurse properly because it has two mouths so I’ve been trying to feed it,” Kyla told KOIN. “And, I mean, I’m gonna do the best I can but these animals don’t usually live too long.”
While no one knows for sure how long Biscuits and Gravy will live, there was at least one that defied the odds and lived until the age of 15. Frank and Louie had the same rare congenital defect called disprosopus.
Frank and Louie currently hold the Guinness World Record for longest living Janus cat.
Until the Kings can get the rare feline to the vet to learn more about its condition, Kyla has taken it – they don’t know the sex of the kitten – upon herself to bottle feed it, keep the kitten warm, and keep it company during the night.
“We’re not super optimistic but it does seem pretty lively and has an appetite and seems to be doing pretty well,” BJ said.
“If a two-headed kitten wants to eat, nap and play, even if he’s not as coordinated or ‘pretty’ as a standard model cat,” Oregon State University veterinarian Jennifer Warnock told the Albany Democrat Herald. “Why shouldn’t he be given the opportunity to do so?”
Isn’t Biscuits and Gravy a cutie? Share this extremely rare feline on Facebook!
