Her face, like some unreal psychedelic vision, was split into two. There were two noses, two mouths and four eyes, all coming up from one tiny body.
The kitten, called Two Face because of her condition, was born on Tuesday of last week in a litter of six, and seemed to be defying nature simply by living. The condition she was born with, called diprosopus, is a rare congenital defect that leaves little chance of survival.
But Two Face, after living a seemingly healthy life for two days, died on Thursday inexplicably. Her owners, Jeffrey and Tammy Oxley of Charleston, West Virginia, have not been able to find out what caused the death.
When the kitten was born, the Oxleys didn't know what to do. After absorbing the shock of seeing her, they took her to a local shelter, who referred them to a neighboring animal hospital.
The Oxleys' financial circumstances prevented them from paying for a comprehensive exam, and Dr. Erika Drake performed a brief courtesy exam of the kitten.
"Both mouths would meow independent of each other, and at the time, she – they, I'm not sure which – did drink from each mouth without any trouble," Drake tells PEOPLEPets.com. "What the main thing is, if there are other abnormalities inside, we don't know. You can't tell without having some imaging there."
"The vet said, 'Well, it probably won't live,' but we brought it home," Jeffrey says. "My wife stayed up with it all night making sure it was eating, feeding it with a bottle just in case."
The mother cat, named Isabella, took to Two Face more than the others, according to Jeffrey, and seemed to be extra protective of her. Two Face stayed underneath Isabella's neck "all the time." Tammy kept watch of the cats overnight, and Jeffrey took over in the morning, observing Two Face nursing on her mother.
Suddenly, sometime Thursday afternoon, Two Face stopped moving. The Oxleys wish they could find out what really happened to her, but don't know if they will ever be able to. Isabella and the other kittens are behaving normally, however, and the kittens should all be adopted out soon.
See unusual animals on PEOPLEPets.com:
Holy Cow! Calf Born With Two Heads in Belgium
Double the Love: Second Chihuahua Born with Heart-Shaped Marking
Your Reaction
