Tigers cannot purr. To show happiness, tigers squint or close their eyes. This is because losing vision lowers defense, so tigers only purposefully do so when they feel comfortable and safe

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image showing Tigers cannot purr. To show happiness, tigers squint or close their eyes. This is because losing vision lowers defense, so tigers only purposefully do so when they feel comfortable and safe

not2reddit on March 16th, 2019 at 17:55 UTC »

Important addition, household cats also do “love blinks” or eye closing like this.

kalel1980 on March 16th, 2019 at 18:08 UTC »

All cats do this btw. Even though your house cat can purr, they still squint.

Aanon89 on March 16th, 2019 at 18:18 UTC »

That's why you only approach sleeping big cats in the wild. They're already happy, so they'll be more welcoming when you pet them.