Two-faced Kitten!

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:46 pm

Nature... you sick, cruel, evil bitch...

http://www.nbc10.com/health/9515335/detail.html

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:57 pm

A kitten has been born with two faces and veterinarians don't understand why.

Protracted mitosis (or possibly meiosis, I always seem to mix these two up!) in the initial stages of development in the head area. Common in most animals, but rarely so pronounced as to produce visible signs, except in the cases of twins (separate and conjoined).

The kitten was born Wednesday morning in Ohio. It has two mouths that meow in unison, two noses and four eyes that have not opened yet.

At least the two middle eyes will be blind as, due to the significantly larger cranium, the heart not be able to sustain the nutritional needs of all four eyes in terms of oxygen flow (blood, essentially).

Veterinarians say this occurrence is very rare, but the kitten could be just fine. It has already begun nursing just like the other kittens in the litter.

It will need a significantly different dietary intake in order to sustain itself, resulting in a slightly smaller body than its siblings. It may not have as long a natural lifespan as its siblings either, due to the increased strain on its heart.

A sad curiosity in a museum will probably be its fate.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:09 am

Rebis wrote:A sad curiosity in a museum will probably be its fate.

There's a museum in Amsterdam that does the same thing but with humans. I've not been, but it's a fascinating concept to me, and I think it helps explain a lot of early myths such as the cyclops, trolls and other "semi-human" creatures that were said to exist, usually in "far-off" lands. I think it also probably explains the medieval ideas that some women were witches and slept with the devil by night, sometimes without being aware of it. If a proud husband and wife gave birth to a baby with two faces, what other explanation could there be? Equally, of course, this sort of thing must happen every so often in a hospital ward somewhere in the world. Ultrasound and other scans can catch it where such procedures available, but in places where the facilities are rare, expensive or stretched, rather than routine, anything's possible. Something to think about before engaging in the old sperm-egg dance, anyway.

Damn, I've just started googling this and now I'm reading about the history of Siamese (or "conjoined", for you 'Merkins) twins. Ambroise Paré is a good one to look up, he was a 16th Century French surgeon who was very successful on the battlefield. He was the first doctor to pioneer treating woulds and amputations with remedies other that boiling oil and cauterisation, such as ligature, so we all owe him a great debt in terms of medical science. Anyway, after he became the king's surgeon, he got into investigating Siamese twins, and his classifications of different types are still used today, though most cases are usually a combination of types, hyphenated. But try as he might, he couldn't fathom a reason for why this occurred in such random places and at random times. Was it that God was angry with the parents? Was it that God wanted to show how powerful he was by creating such a thing? Was it that a woman had slept with the Devil, or the Devil had somehow else forced His influence on her? Maybe it had something to do with the tightness of her dress, or the way she sat, or the sort of things that she looked at while she was pregnant? He seemed to be a pretty clever man who was genuinely trying to discover whatever might be causing this condition, though of course he decreed that it was "contrary to the common decree and order of nature". He was French though, and that may be why the French refused to allow Chang and Eng - the "original" Siamese twins - entry into their country for fear that their own women might give birth to conjoined twins if they saw them. This was of course about 250 years later, but sometimes ideas are hard to shake.

Hmmm...I've rambled. Back on topic, I feel sorry for the kitten.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:31 am

I saw a two headed lizard recntly on the news too.

Poor kitty - I thought they were all cute...

man-with-the-dogs · Post by **man-with-the-dogs** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:09 am

I've heard news about a two-faced kitten before, so this isn't the first time. I'd love to take care of that little sweetie myself. But is this real? I LOVE animals, and a kitten with two faces is beautiful. I just wish the kid could come up with a more creative name than "Tiger." I mean, the cat's got two faces! He needs a unique name!

saysadie · Post by **saysadie** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:18 am

Metal Vendetta wrote: I feel sorry for the kitten.

Me too.

Especially since, if the news reports are any indication/What Rebis said is accurate [nothing against Rebis, mind

], the vets that looked at the kitten are dolts and the family that owns them is probably clueless.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:32 am

Off topic, but some sick ****s in our area have been shoving sticks up cats' arses. They obviously think its hilarious but it severs all their internal organs and kills them. I'd love to give them a taste of their own medicine...

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:51 am

Thats sick - U want a carboard tube, stick barbed-wire inside the tube, place tube up bad boys bottom, remove tube leaving barbed-wire firmly inplace.

dity cat ******.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:39 pm

spiderfrommars wrote:

Off topic, but some sick ****s in our area have been shoving sticks up cats' arses. They obviously think its hilarious but it severs all their internal organs and kills them. I'd love to give them a taste of their own medicine...

man.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:59 pm

Sorry to keep this going off-topic.

On the way into work on Tuesday, the car in front of me ran into a young deer. Given that it happened in a short space of time, and that I was directly in the firing line of any resultant flak (bits of the car's light unit, which I initially mistook for severed hooves), I could be mistaken, but in swerving to try and avoid the deer, the car did seem to be swerving as if to ensure the impact took place.

Worst bit is, while I continued on my way to work, the other car stayed in front of me the whole way. Turned out to be someone who works in the same building as me, although I have no idea who.

Hate seeing roadkill like that, but having it happen right in front of me is much worse. Though, probably not as bad as if it'd ran into the road to hit my car.