Being two-faced usually has a negative meaning.
But for a Worcester pet owner, her two-faced cat has garnered worldwide recognition.
Frank and Louie are in the newest edition of the Guinness World Records as the longest surviving Janus cat, according to its record-tracking website.
Although the cat turned 12 this month, Guinness said that at age 6 it had outlived all other recorded specimens.
The feature, diprosopia, is a rare congenital condition in which part or all of an individual’s face is duplicated on its head. The cats usually live only a few days.
A British zoologist dubbed the animals Janus cats after the two-faced Roman god of doorways, according to Guinness.
The pet’s owner was a veterinary nurse at Tufts Veterinary Clinic when he was brought in by a local breeder to be euthanized, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. But the owner, who did not want to be identified, took him home and cared for him.
“He’s just so affectionate and sweet he usually wins people over,” the owner told the T&G.
