Cat Eye Colors Can Indicate Cancer?

[hotspot]

Hello. I posted a photo of my cat while I filmed him with flash on and his eye colors came out different. Someone said that they read somewhere that cats eyes being two different colors because of a camera flash is a sign of cancer and I'm not sure if this is true??? Can anyone tell me if this is like one of those bad myths? 

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• hotspot
• Sep 9, 2016

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• hotspot
• Sep 9, 2016

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• hotspot
• Sep 9, 2016

 

[smile123]

Wow. I'm honesty not sure but to me it sounds like a myth. But his eyes look really cool

 

[hotspot]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I searched for cancer symptoms and Spot (my cat) doesn't show any of those other signs so I'm skeptical... I do see that this can be a sign in human children though, when I searched on google, except the eye color has to be white-ish. 

 

[Geoffrey]

I am afraid that this is an urban myth!  The different eye colours are just artefacts as the light is reflected from the retina of the eye nearest to the flash.   In the bottom film, the cat's left eye has a wide open iris and the reflection of the retina has caught a retinal blood vessel and shows a band of red.  In the upper film the reflection of the two eyes has caught different parts of the retina.  In the middle film the iris is closing, giving an oblong of retinal colour in the right eye.  

Incidentally Hotspot wrote:  I do see that this can be a sign in human children though, when I searched on google, except the eye color has to be white-ish.    Hotspot I am a human doctor and have been for over fifty years and I must say that I have never heard of this sign in human children.  I doubt that this is true. 

Excellent photos though.  How did you get your cat to hold still for three flashes?   My cat would have been off under the bed after one flash!

With regards,

Geoffrey

 

[hotspot]

Hello Geoffrey, thank you SO SO much for this reply. I nearly had a heart attack when someone told this to me. About children and the sign of cancer, I was just going off on what I could find on google that had any bit of relation to what I was trying to look for. "Leukocoria" was the only thing that I could find. I'm glad to hear this is a myth! Thank you for clarifying this. 

As for Spot staying still, I was actually filming him while the flash was turned on, so the light was constantly on. Then I took screenshots of what I filmed and uploaded them. 

 

[Yoda's mom]

I am afraid that this is an urban myth! The different eye colours are just artefacts as the light is reflected from the retina of the eye nearest to the flash. In the bottom film, the cat's left eye has a wide open iris and the reflection of the retina has caught a retinal blood vessel and shows a band of red. In the upper film the reflection of the two eyes has caught different parts of the retina. In the middle film the iris is closing, giving an oblong of retinal colour in the right eye.

Incidentally Hotspot wrote: I do see that this can be a sign in human children though, when I searched on google, except the eye color has to be white-ish. Hotspot I am a human doctor and have been for over fifty years and I must say that I have never heard of this sign in human children. I doubt that this is true.

Excellent photos though. How did you get your cat to hold still for three flashes? My cat would have been off under the bed after one flash!

With regards,

Geoffrey

The disease is called RETINOBLASTOMA and yes one of the symptoms is the white in the pupil when light is shined in it. Leukocoria or “Cats eye reflex” is usually the first sign of the cancer. If you are indeed a Dr of 50yrs then that’s scary that you have never heard about this Cancer or symptom of it. It’s not always a guaranteed sign but they should follow up with an eye doctor. Cellphone photo revealed toddler's eye cancer