diff --git a/tests/e2e/llm_translation/fixtures/cat.jpg b/tests/e2e/llm_translation/fixtures/cat.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..103c370b2e2
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/e2e/llm_translation/fixtures/cat.jpg differ
diff --git a/tests/e2e/llm_translation/test_chat_completions_regression_e2e.py b/tests/e2e/llm_translation/test_chat_completions_regression_e2e.py
index 156f3393530..584dbce8089 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/llm_translation/test_chat_completions_regression_e2e.py
+++ b/tests/e2e/llm_translation/test_chat_completions_regression_e2e.py
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ via /model/new (Cohere, Gemini, hosted_vllm), each deleted on teardown.
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import base64
 import os
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Final
 
 import pytest
 from pydantic import BaseModel
@@ -79,18 +82,29 @@ def _streamed_tool_call(events: list[str]) -> tuple[str, str]:
     return name, arguments
 
 
-CAT_IMAGE_URL = "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Cat03.jpg"
+_FIXTURES_DIR: Final = Path(__file__).parent / "fixtures"
+CAT_IMAGE: Final = _FIXTURES_DIR / "cat.jpg"
 OPENAI_VISION_BACKEND = "openai/gpt-4o"
 
-# OpenAI caches a shared prompt prefix once it exceeds ~1024 tokens; this is well
-# past that, so a repeat call reports cached prompt tokens.
+
+def _cat_image_data_url() -> str:
+    """The vision image as a data URL, read from a fixture we own.
+
+    An https URL would make every vision run depend on a third-party host staying
+    up and unthrottled, and a 429 from that host reads as a gateway failure. It also
+    changes what is under test per provider: litellm downloads the image itself for
+    bedrock, while openai is handed the link and fetches it from its own servers. A
+    data URL removes the host and puts both providers on the same bytes."""
+    return "data:image/jpeg;base64," + base64.b64encode(CAT_IMAGE.read_bytes()).decode()
+
+
 def _vision_messages() -> list[ChatMessage]:
     return [
         ChatMessage(
             role="user",
             content=[
                 TextContentPart(text="What animal is in this image? Answer in one word."),
-                ImageContentPart(image_url=ImageUrl(url=CAT_IMAGE_URL)),
+                ImageContentPart(image_url=ImageUrl(url=_cat_image_data_url())),
             ],
         )
     ]