[Karen W. (OP)]

Cats dogs and other critters ie bears etc.. have a padded paw area. Besides cushioning and protection what else does the pad do for the animals??? Are there a lot of nerve endings there? If so perhaps they feel with them like we do our hands? Are certain areas more sensitive or not sensitive at all?

[SquarishTriangle]

Besides cushioning and protection what else does the pad do for the animals???

They predominantly do just that. They can also contain sweat glands (eg. in the dog) that have ducts opening out onto the surface and function for territorial and trail marking.

Since the epidermis is modified to be highly thickened and cornified (composed of many dead layers of cells), it probably wouldn't particularly sensitive.

[Karen W. (OP)]

The sensitive part of my question was mentioned because I noticed if my dog or cat got a little tiny sticker in their paw they would hobble in as if they were crippled and favoring or not using the paw and I would have to get a magnifying glass out just to see if it was a sticker... 8 times out of ten it was a tiny sticker from this funky weedy thing that grows wild in me grass! It has teeny tiny yellow round bud flower thingy's LOL and has stickers on it!

[JimBob]

They are made by Dr. Scholls (an old American podiatrist who makes very cheap - in both senses of the word - orthotics) and are for comfort and protection of the foot.

[SquarishTriangle]

This weed thing grows stickers??! I don't understand!!

[kdlynn]

i don't think she meant colorful stickers like the kind you get on your school papers when you get a good grade, although that's what i thought at first too. i think she means the sharp things on bushes that get stuck to your pants when you brush by

[Karen W. (OP)]

tes it is a green weed, low growing that produces a yellowish looking round ball like
bu or berry. It only gets thorns in the summer when it is hot and things are drying out!if you step on it it gets thes very tiny needle like thorns very thin, when you step on them they hurt and are hard to see very hair like hard to see tiny like some cactus stickers! LOL!