Andrew Rambaut:
I have not found a good source about the cat's eye effect or how it manifests itself (other than in gemstones?) - I will dig into this further.
There has been a useful discussion here in AB about this and similar effects a while ago. The basis is that the marginal rays get clipped by internal baffles (or any similar obstacles) so that off-axis you don't receive the full bundle of rays but a clipped one, resembling cat's eye when the iris isn't fully open.