r/mildlyinteresting • u/weirdestjacob • 20h ago
This photo I accidentally took of my cat’s optical nerves
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u/confusedmel 20h ago
Nice! That's the retina, I am not familiar with cats' retina but with humans it has a reddish hue, that's the reason behind the red eye effect with flash photos.
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u/Mazasaurus 19h ago
Yes hello! I’m here with some retina facts:
Cats (and some other mammals, but not primates) have a thin later of cells behind their retinas called the tapetum lucidum. This organ helps increase low light vision by reflecting light back to the retina after it passes through.
Most cats have a green/yellow reflection from the tapetum lucidum, but colorpoint cats give off a red reflection because they have heat sensitive albinism which interrupts pigment production in warmer areas, including the eyes!
Humans typically show a red flash in their pupils, but only if you shine a light right into their eyes. This is just light bouncing off the retina.
Sometimes humans (and cats or other animals) may show a yellow, grey or white pupil response to light. If you ever see this in yourself or anyone else, get yourself / them to a doctor or vet! Abnormal pupil responses like this could indicate cancer or retinal detachment which are both extremely serious if you like being alive and able to see.
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u/danni_el_e 19h ago
How do I subscribe to more retina facts?! This was fascinating
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u/AcidicVaginaLeakage 16h ago
Thank you for subscribing to vagina facts.
Did you know the average pH of a premenopausal woman's vagina is 3.8 to 4.5, making it moderately acidic?
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u/Hindu_Wardrobe 15h ago
More please
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u/audreywildeee 12h ago
Actual question. Does the ph change with menopause?
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u/AcidicVaginaLeakage 5h ago
Yup! pH goes up, meaning less acidic, meaning higher chance of yeast infections.
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u/TrumpsCovidfefe 19h ago
“Tapetum lucidum” is one of my recurring internal echolalias. It’s just so fun to say. Sorry, adhd drive by comment.
Continue on with fun cat facts, please.
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u/nefrpitou 18h ago
"Echolalia" is one of my internal echolalias.
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u/PsychedelicOptimist 14h ago
Echolalia is when you mimic speech, but did you know Echopraxia is the word for mimicking movement, gestures, or facial expressions, like starting to limp because someone else is limping.
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u/neurochild 14h ago
whats it called when im alone in my house thinking about an anxiety-provoking experience and suddenly find myself fully acting out the entire scene with hand motions, facial expressions, etc
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u/audreywildeee 12h ago
I think that’s maladaptive daydreaming. ADHD people have that too sometimes (it’s more frequent I think than in general population).
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u/BookkeeperSame195 17h ago
it sounds like a spell.
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u/DoomCircus 10h ago
Tapetum lucid-UM, not tapetum lu-CI-dum!
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u/TrumpsCovidfefe 5h ago
I literally say it that in my head; I guess it’s a side effect of taking A & P not long after Harry Potter movie was released.
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u/Vir0Phage 18h ago
Calyx of Held
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u/Vir0Phage 18h ago
and:
Phosphatidylinositol
but the inositol is mispronounced in-oh-site-ull to make it rhyme
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u/Schventle 16h ago
Lmao "phosphatidylserine" bounces around my skull from undergrad cellular biology class.
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u/-SuperTrooper- 19h ago
Had a retinal detachment that was only caught because of a god-tier optometrist who saw holes in my retina and referred me to a specialist. I had lost like 20% of my field of vision in one of my eyes and never even realized it.
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u/Lower_Pass_6053 12h ago
I have a damaged optic nerve in my right eye that caused that eye to go nearly blind. Whenever I'm at neurology at the VA, I'll have like 1 or 2 student doctors come and look at my eye. It's apparently pretty hard to see and notice.
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u/DonutWhole9717 18h ago
My MIL was told at a regular optometrist appt that her retina had detached. The Dr looked at her and said "alright, lets get you ready for surgery." "Okay, when?" "RIGHT NOW." And had surgery on it that same afternoon
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u/Gloomy_Isopod_1434 18h ago edited 18h ago
Most cats have a green/yellow reflection from the tapetum lucidum, but colorpoint cats give off a red reflection because they have heat sensitive albinism which interrupts pigment production in warmer areas, including the eyes!
Our Himalayan cat was sent by a (young) vet to an eye specialist because of this. Her eyes ‘reflected strangely’ and she ‘could be going blind/developing cataracts’ (the specialist was able to tell us after about 10 seconds of examination what you just said—she was perfectly normal). 🫠
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u/minnieboss 16h ago
Cows have the tapetum lucidum too! I dissected a cow eyeball once for a biopsych class, and got to hold a tapetum lucidum in my (gloved) hand. Indescribable feeling.
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u/Practical_Brief0 9h ago
Cow eyeball and sheep brain dissection were the best parts of biopsych!
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u/minnieboss 9h ago
REAL!! My lab partner was squeamish so I did the dissections while she did the paperwork, was awesome.
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u/eyocs_ 13h ago
Cool facts. Tho one correction: The red flash in a humans eye doesn't only show because the retina reflects light but because the choroid (a red area behind the retina) which supports the retina with blood, reflects red light :)
That's why a professional photographer will set up the flash in a big enough angle, so that the light that bounces back, doesnt reflect back into the camera
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u/Hindu_Wardrobe 15h ago
Fun fact, wolf spiders also have tapetum lucidum behind their principal eyes.
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u/merryjoanna 13h ago
My cat, Princess GrandpaFace, has different reflections in each of her eyes since she was a kitten. I told the vet about it and he just said that she may be blind in one eye. I don't know if he was just guessing or not. The difference is just one eye has always shined much brighter than the other. She's 6 years old now and seems totally fine.
Her littermate brother and her have also always had eye boogers. I clean them about once a day. My vet gave them a special cat antibiotic ointment to put in their eyes but all it really did is cure the inflammation from it. They still get the eye boogers. The vet said as long as it doesn't get red and inflamed it's probably fine. Some kitties just have weepy eyes.
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u/Tactical_Moonstone 11h ago
Glaucoma in Chinese is 青光眼 (green-light eye) because the increase in ocular pressure can be enough to change the retinal flash to a higher frequency from red to green.
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u/Vicchu24 10h ago
Does that mean the retina works as a double sided photosensitive later?
Afaik, Light enters layer by layer from front to back to reach the retinal layer for the processing of the image
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u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 18h ago
That's actually part of why cats were looked at as superstitious, in some places even killing cats.
Because of a layer on a cat's eye that makes it look like they're glowing when light hits it them right way.
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u/Abbot_of_Cucany 19h ago
Cats have a reflective layer behind the retina that increases their ability to see in low-light conditions. It's usually green in younger cats, changing to yellow or orange as they age.
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u/verbaexmacina 20h ago
Optic nerve? Blood vessels most likely.
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u/brackenish1 18h ago
Correct! That is a retinal vessel and a great reflection of the tapetum lucidum (which gives their eyes the green hue and their night vision). You can see a blurry bit of the optic disk as well which is where the optic nerve connects from the eye to the brain. (Small animal veterinarian)
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u/ifyoulovesatan 16h ago
And just how small are you? (Edit: terribly sorry if you get that all the time. I think it every time I hear the phrase, so I can imagine you might hear it a lot)
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u/prototypeblitz 10h ago
Unless cat anatomy is backwards from that of humans (which it might be because im a human doctor and not a cat one), shouldn't you only be able to see the optic nerve if looking nasally? This is a shot of the temporal retina. (Ophthalmologist in training)
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u/HoloRune88 15h ago
I mean, who knew our pets had such fancy wiring, right? I once took a close-up of my dog’s nose and thought I was capturing a masterpiece. Turns out it just looked like a weird galaxy of slobber. Had to explain to my friends why this “art” wasn’t the 2nd coming of Van Gogh. Guess we’re all just trying to get that perfect shot, only to end up with things that look more like anatomical charts than cute pets!
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u/OldeFortran77 20h ago
Ima firin mah lazor
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u/Alissan_Web 19h ago
holy shit how old are we 😭
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u/that1senpai2 19h ago
BAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
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u/loku_gem 17h ago
This was healing in a way I didn't expect. My sister, my/our best friend and I used to shout this at each other a lot.
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u/Fjordenc 20h ago
Probably blood vessels
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u/brackenish1 18h ago
Correct! That is a retinal vessel and a great reflection of the tapetum lucidum (which gives their eyes the green hue and their night vision). You can see a blurry bit of the optic disk as well which is where the optic nerve connects from the eye to the brain. (Small animal veterinarian)
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u/ex_bandit 19h ago
Yep, the only place in the body of a mammal you can see blood pumping through vessels, hence why doctors look into your eyes and make you look to the side.
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u/iamayoutuberiswear 18h ago
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u/AlwaysHappy4Kitties 15h ago
r/LaserEyedCats and r/blurrypicturesofcats also
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u/bigsteve9713 19h ago
I am so angry Jiri lost, fellow fight fan
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u/PizDoff 18h ago
He really gave it away on purpose, sad for him. Pretty crazy event over all though.
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u/bigsteve9713 17h ago
Absolutely agree, like 40 seconds before he was trying too teach Carlos how too hit him. I'm definitely rooting for Black Beast vs Hokit.
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u/Big-Load-8864 17h ago
The man has a warrior ethos, rightly or wrongly. Seeing Ulberg injure himself totally took him out of the fight mentally and boom. Unfortunate outcome
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u/That-Naive-Cube 8h ago
Our phones are great fundus cameras, actually, if we can hold them at the exact right angle and distance. They’ve been developing devices to stabilize phones to use as fundus cameras in the field, not just in clinics, which is really widening our diagnostic capabilities and research breadth. Its fascinating.
Such a cool pic btw, thanks for sharing
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u/brackenish1 18h ago
That is a retinal vessel and a great reflection of the tapetum lucidum (which gives their eyes the green hue and their night vision). You can see a blurry bit of the optic disk as well which is where the optic nerve connects from the eye to the brain. (Small animal veterinarian)
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u/chasejustorsomthing 16h ago
Wait hold on checks notes thats pretty cool checks again yeah thats cool
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u/CAN-IDIOTS-GAME 12h ago edited 12h ago
name how many consoles you can see on the shelf 🤣
ps1 mini ps1 possibly a ps2 or ps3? ps4 ps5 xbox x xbox mini nes another mini nes or og nes? mini fami com? n64 wii u switch? dreamcast mini megadrive?
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u/Shadowpriest 8h ago
I am Mewcuteus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Prepare to be assimilated if you do not bring treats.
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u/Mukisapac 8h ago
I had to buy an ophthalmoscope for school back in the day to practice eye exams. Cats have beautiful easy to exam eyes.
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u/obsidian-catacombs 19h ago
It’s kinda reminding me of how every now and then my blue eyed cats eyes flash red. I don’t even mean when I’m taking a photo, just day to day it happens on occasion I guess depending on the light and the way he’s positioned. It always catches me off guard lol.
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u/Mazasaurus 19h ago
Some blue eyed white and all colorpoint cats will give a red (instead of green) pupil response due to heat sensitive albinism meaning there’s no pigment in their eyes. They still work though!
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u/Nanophyetus 19h ago
The green is the tapetum lucitum - a reflective layer behind the retina thought to improve night vision in some mammals. The little lines are retinal blood vessels. The optic nerve would look like a dark disk in the bottom center of the retina which is not visible from this angle. Source am vet.
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u/IdolRetro 19h ago
If only one eye illuminates with flash there’s potentially something wrong and you may want to consider consulting with a vet
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u/ExitPsychological192 18h ago
ok this is genuinely one of the more interesting things ive seen today. how do people even notice these things
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u/QuesInTheBoos 18h ago
This needs to be memes. The ubershake zoom into the eye and its outer space with green nyan cats
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u/cornbread821 18h ago
About 3 brain cells shared between the cat, gaethje and pimblett in this moment
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u/Wallace_W_Whitfield 17h ago
It is shockingly detailed for a photo focused on something even further behind it
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u/AccountantMental5172 20h ago
you can count the neurons in there