paws

Context

Paws is a fuzzy concept due to the large diversity of shape the extremities of the forelimbs and hindlimbs can take in the community. The definition used for tagging purpose is a deviation of wikipedia's definition of digitigrade, hand and paw. I short: real world paws are the hands and feet of digitigrades. They never have opposable thumbs, and always have claws and pawpads. However this definition is too rigid for what the community describe as paw.

Wikipedia's definitions

Digitigrade

In terrestrial vertebrates, digitigrade (/ˈdɪdʒɪtɪˌɡreɪd/ DIJ-it-ig-rayd)[1] locomotion is walking or running on the toes (from the Latin digitus, 'finger', and gradior, 'walk'). A digitigrade animal is one that stands or walks with its toes (phalanges) on the ground, and the rest of its foot lifted. Digitigrades include birds (what many see as bird's knees are actually ankles), cats, dogs, and many other mammals, but not plantigrades (such as humans) or unguligrades (such as horses). Digitigrades generally move more quickly than other animals.

Hand

Many mammals and other animals have grasping appendages similar in form to a hand such as paws, claws, and talons, but these are not scientifically considered to be grasping hands. The scientific use of the term hand in this sense to distinguish the terminations of the front paws from the hind ones is an example of anthropomorphism. The only true grasping hands appear in the mammalian order of primates. Hands must also have opposable thumbs, as described later in the text.

Paw

A paw is the soft foot-like part of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws.
The paw is characterized by thin, pigmented, keratinised, hairless epidermis covering subcutaneous collagenous and adipose tissue, which make up the pads. These pads act as a cushion for the load-bearing limbs of the animal.

Definition

A paw is the appendage at the extremity of a character's forelimbs and/or hindlimbs, typically portrayed without an opposable digit. In essence, they are the feet of most digitigrade quadrupedal mammals (fox, wolf, cat, leopard) as well as some plantigrade species (bear, mouse, rabbit). Paws usually feature claws and pawpads, depending on the species. Some animals (like rabbits) do not naturally have pawpads but may be depicted with them. Walking with paws may leave pawprints.

Hands that resemble paws are called handpaws, and for feet they are called hindpaws. Characters featuring handpaws are sometimes associated with semi-anthro characters.

General guidelines

Hooves are not commonly referred to as paws.
The digits of a paw may be treated as toes, if treated as a foot, and fingers, if treated as a hand.

Not to be confused

Not to be confused with paw_gloves - Clothing in the shape of paws should not be tagged as paws.

Interaction tagging

Depending on the nature of the interaction, a concept may be tagged as either a hand action hand_on_, or a foot action foot_on_, and sometimes a forepaw action forepaw_on_.

To find hand actions involving paws, it is suggested to search using this format: handpaw hand_on_face.

Related tags

claws
digitigrade - Such as the hindpaws of felids (felid/feline), and canids (canid/canine). Plantigrade hindpaws do exist in species such as bears, and some artists may hybridize paws with humanoid feet. Those types of hybridized feet might be considered paws, especially if they have pawpads, but some designs may be better described as only feet.
pawpads - Spongy like surface on the underside of many paws. Pads on the fingers are know as fingerpads.
pawprint - Also known as animal tracks, pawprints are the printed representation of paws.