.

The world’s oldest two-faced Janus cat has died at the extraordinary age of 15. Frank and Louie, of Worcester, Massachusetts, lived with his petmom, Martha “Marty” Stevens, who adopted him when he was a just few days old. While Frank and Louis gained fame as an oddity and a fluke who beat the odds and lived for more than a few days or weeks as most Janus cats do, he enjoyed a long and very normal life as a beloved pet to Ms. Stevens.

The Guinness World Record holder, who went into the record books at age 12 for being the longest-lived cat of his kind, passed away at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tuft’s University in Grafton on Thursday morning Ms. Stevens said. The Worcester Telegram reported on the news of Frank and Lois’ passing today.

Ms. Stevens, who has a background as a veterinary nurse, told the Telegram that Frank and Louie had been “a little down” around Thanksgiving and she was giving him fluids. When Frank and Louis looked much worse Thursday, she rushed him Tufts. The clinic determined that Frank and Louis was critically ill and was probably suffering from a “really bad cancer,” so the decision was made to euthanize him.

Ms. Stevens says she is devastated at the loss, but she knows that her cat almost didn’t get a chance to live for more than a few days. She was working at Tufts in 1999 when a breeder brought him in to be put down. Janus cats rarely live more than a few days, succumbing to complications of their physical deformities, and are often rejected by their mothers.

“I said, ‘Can I try to save him?’ ” she said, despite being told by veterinarians on staff that he was unlikely to live more than a few more days.

“But the next day I came in with him, and the next day, and we started thinking he was going to survive,” she said. “I tube-fed him until he was 3 months old because I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to eat.

With only minor difficulties, Frank and Louis not only survived, but thrived.

Frank and Louis has made the news now and then, especially when he turned 12 and was declared the oldest living Janus cat by Guinness World Records.

Ms. Stevens told the Telegram she would do it all again, and would take in another Janus cat if the situation arose.

“I would love to do it again,” she said.

See our earlier posts on Frank and Louie, from 2011: An At-Home Visit With Frank and Louie the Two Faced Janus Cat and More on Frank and Louis, The Extraordinary Two-Faced Janus Cat Who Defied the Odds.

For more on Janus cats at our site, click HERE.

.



.

