Although the image above is fictional, it is entirely possibly for a domestic cat to make friends with a tiger. The tiger would be captive. And probably somewhat domesticated and/or habituated to the human presence. Tigers can prey on domestic cats and dogs. There is no unwritten feline agreement that the tiger should not kill domestic cats and eat them. They will and do sometimes in the wild. There have been some stories of domestic cats entering zoo cages and making friends with captive animals. While unlikely, positive interactions between domestic cats and captive tigers can occur, especially when handled by experienced keepers in a protected contact setting. These interactions contribute to the well-being of both species.
But if you just dumped a domestic cat in a cage with a tiger, it is likely that the tiger would treat the cat as prey, kill it and eat it.
There likely won’t be any news stories of tigers directly attacking domestic cats. This is because tigers typically live in zoos or protected areas in say India (in reserves) and wouldn’t normally encounter a house cat. As a consequence, I can’t find any news stories of wild cats in India (the home of the most common tiger species today, the Bengal tiger) attacking and eating domestic or stray cats. There are many stories of tigers attacking dogs and of dogs chasing away tigers.
The outcome of a tiger/domestic cat interaction depends on the socialisation of the tiger to domestic cats. It would be unlikely that a tiger cub was socialised to domestic cats but it is distinctly possible and has happened. When the cub becomes adult, they see domestic cats as friends not prey. That would be the hoped-for outcome of a domestic cat-to-tiger interaction.
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