Two-headed cat sets longevity record (VIDEO)

A two-headed cat in Worcester, Mass., has won a place in the 2012 edition of the Guinness World Records for beating the odds and reaching age 12. That makes him the longest-living two-headed cat on record.

Cats with two heads, known as Janus cats after the Roman god with two faces, are extremely rare and tend to survive only a few hours to a few days, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports. But Frank and Louie – yup, he’s got one name per head – has thrived under the care of the former veterinary nurse who adopted him. She saved him after a local cat breeder brought him into Tufts Veterinary Clinic, where she worked at the time, to be put to sleep.

Frank and Louie has two mouths, two noses and two normal eyes, plus one larger non-functioning eye in the center of his head(s), the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports.

According to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

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.

Frank and Louie’s owner told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that onlookers often do a double-take when they see her cat’s double face.

But their horror doesn’t last long. “He's just so affectionate and sweet he usually wins people over,” she said.