Kitten Killed By Camera Flash

“I thought he was just playing at first”, said a Florida woman after her kitten died from a seizure induced by her new camera.

Dead Cat


Sara Tarbor had just gotten a new Cannon digital camera after her cat Taz gave birth to 4 kittens. “I bought the camera so I could show the kittens to my family back in Atlanta. The kittens had just turned 4 weeks old and were getting really frisky. My biggest kitten named Spike was rolling and jumping all around so I had taken quite a few photos of him. I was laying on the floor when he jumped at me as I took a photo. The camera flashed right in his face and immediately Spike started flapping around on the floor like a fish. At first I thought he was just playing but I soon figured out it was a seizure”.

Tarbor grabbed a blanket to cover the kitten from light because she had heard it helped people with seizures but it didn’t help. “The kitten stopped moving after 30 seconds or so and died”, said Tarbor. “I had never heard of a cat having a seizure induced by a camera flash so I didn’t think I could hurt them by taking photos”.

Thought rare, it is not the first case of a cat getting a seizure from a flashing light. It may though be the first caught on camera.

6 thoughts on “Kitten Killed By Camera Flash

  1. Digital camera flashes are known to cause people and animals to have seizures. Camera flashes are banned in many hospitals for that reason.
    Cute cat.

  2. A convulsion or seizure is rarely fatal for a cat, it can be a frightening experience, especially if witnessed for the first time. It is important for a cat owner not to panic. You are not in danger, but the cat needs help to protect him or her from self-injury.

  3. While I was playing with my 6 month old cat when he suddenly had a seizure. We first thought it was choking because of the way he seized up – he was jumping for a toy and seized in mid-jump – but it soon became clear that he was still breathing. We rushed him to the vet who told us that our cat had definitely seizured and that he was blind, a common reaction in cats. They kept him overnight, did blood work and didn’t find anything wrong with him. It happens alot.

  4. Pingback: Kitten killed… at lurk

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