Rescued kitten discovered to have “extremely rare,” “1 in a million” mutation — has four ears

An animal rescue took in a litter of kittens who were found in a cardboard box — and were stunned to discover one of them had a 1-in-a-million genetic mutation.

True Rescue, in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, took in a litter of four kittens this week. According to McClatchy News, the 2-month-old cats were discovered by a good samaritan after being abandoned in a taped-up cardboard box.

They took the cats in and treated them for parasites and respiratory problems — and then they noticed something very unusual about one of the cats: he had four ears!

@truerescuetn

EXTREMELY RARE IN THE CAT WORLD! This 8-9 wk. old kitten, who was dumped at a mechanic’s shop duct-taped inside a box with his siblings, gave us quite the surprise today! He has FOUR EARS! You “heard” us right, there are indeed 4 ears. This is a very rare, genetic mutation and is completely harmless to the kitty. We actually find him quite ear-resistible, and we have named him Audio, and we also cant quit making ear puns, apparently! He will be up for adoption soon at True Rescue in Mt. Juliet, TN #truerescue#fourears#rescuekitten

♬ original sound – True Rescue

The rescue described the condition as “extremely rare,” and said they had only seen a case like this once before.

“We were both very taken aback. That’s not something any of us affiliated with True Rescue have ever seen, probably the rarest of genetic abnormalities that we’ve heard of,” director of operations Kristin Condit told McClatchy News.

They named the unique cat Audio, because he “has built-in surround-sound speakers,” the rescue wrote on Facebook.

Thankfully, the condition doesn’t appear to affect Audio’s hearing as his inner ears work perfectly fine, and the extra ears won’t cause any issues (“other than having extra flaps to clean,” True Rescue wrote.) There are no plans to remove them.

“This baby is simply ear-resistible (sorry, can’t stop)!” they wrote. “Welcome to True Rescue, Audio, where love has no boundaries!”

Audio arrived at a stressful moment for the shelter, which has been affected by flooding issues recently. They took this extremely rare kitty as a good omen.

“There have been a lot of setbacks since the flooding that have been going on in our world, and for Audio to come at this time… it really does feel like a good luck charm,” Kristin Condite told WKRN.

The unique four-eared cat also quickly won many hearts online. “Audio is just the cutest little thing! Doesn’t matter how many ears he has, he’s a real little doll!!!” one person commented on Facebook.

“Better to hear when you shake the treat jar! Sweet baby!” another wrote.

“Extra ears to ignore with,” someone else joked.

True Rescue wrote that they will announce later when Audio is up for adoption.

What an adorable, unique cat! Please share this story if you love Audio! 😸❤️