Cat's eyes reflect two different colors

When my cat Bertram gets that glowy-eyed reflection thingie (yeah, tapetum lucidum, but my description is more descriptive!) his right eye shines with the normal green, but the left eye shines red. I can’t seem to get a photograph of this.

He’s a white cat with gold eyes, in case his coloring matters.

Why two different colors?

The future of the planet depends on your answer? Well, really I’m just curious if there’s a simple explanation.

I lied. I managed to get two pictures showing it.

Here and here.

The angle doesn’t seem to matter at all.

Not startlingly uncommon - witness. But my understanding is that the above effect is usually caused by two different color eyes, the red shine always coming on the blue eye and I assume from the same source as “red-eye” effects in human photography - i.e. it is reflecting off blood vessels. One ( seemingly remote ) possibility is that he might be a mutant, lacking a tapetum lucidum in one eye, hence a human-style red-eye

It also might be the angle and variable intensity of the lighting, I guess. Does he always do that consistently, on the same side of the face?

ETA: Okay, on review I guess it isn’t that last bit. Neat pictures. I really wonder now if it is a lacking, thin or partial tapetum lucidum in one eye…

Hah!

*Early Survey results have revealed an odd eyed cat missing a tapetum in the orange eye and a bright yellow one in the occidental type blue eye. The norm is the other way around and an occasional anomaly by now should not cause surprise. There are degrees of deficient tapetums, from one case of an eye with practically no reflection at all which may be caused by a degeneration of the retina as well, but a missing tapetum as illustrated by B&B shows a dull red reflection in which the tapetum is transparent to the choroid which lies behind the retina and which shows a maze of blood vessels. Sometimes small flecks of normal tapetum are visible and occasionally small patches are missing within an otherwise normal tapetum layer. *

http://www.keoka.com/whtdeaf/index.htm

Yes. It’s always the same. Every room. The angle doesn’t seem to matter.

I had no idea a cat could have a missing tapetum, but upon looking further, I’m seeing that it can be caused by a lack of taurine. He also has a heart murmur, which we haven’t pursued yet because he acts fine, but it could be cardiomyopathy which is also caused by a lack of taurine (always? I’m not sure).

I’m really glad I asked. Thanks, Tamerlane.

blue siamese eyes flash red. my stretch the superduper is a siamese mix and his eyes are a light blue not the super intense siamese blue and reflect red.