NOTE: Biscuits and Gravy has died since this original story was posted.
While checking on her pregnant cat, an Oregon woman was surprised to find she’d already given birth, and one of the kittens had two faces.
On Wednesday morning, Kyla King was checking on her expectant cat on her farm east of Albany when she noticed four kittens had already been born. One hiding behind its mom, Portland station KOIN-TV reports, had two heads.
“I came back out and looked again,” she told the Albany Democrat-Herald, “and I was like, ‘Ah!'”
Kyla took a snapshot of the special kitten, sending it to her husband, BJ King, with a text that read: “We have 6-1/3 kitty cats now.”
The kitten, which they’ve aptly named Biscuits and Gravy, has two mouths, two noses and four eyes — two complete faces on one tiny, mewing body.
Knowing just how special this was, BJ shared the news on a private Facebook account for their community called Albany Happenings.
In the videos shared, the kitten can be seen eating and breathing with both sets of mouths and eyes.
Clearly, it was much-needed respite from the coronavirus news cycle and the post has garnered more than 1,700 reactions so far, according to the Democrat-Herald.
It’s believed that the kitten has a birth defect known as diprosopus, a rare condition that causes the duplication of heads. Cats with this defect are often called Janus cats, the local publication says, after a Roman god with two faces.
According to National Geographic, Janus cats have an excess of a protein called “sonic hedgehog,” which influences how facial features develop.
The oldest known Janus cat, which has since died at age 15, was Frank and Louie, per Guinness World Records.
Many offered a high price to take the two-headed kitten home, but the Kings said they’ve become too attached.
While many Janus cats don’t live very long, the Kings were dedicated to letting Biscuit and Gravy enjoy its life as long as possible.
The cat passed away on May 20.
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