wildcats

[steven61]

are all cats digigrade

[New Forester]

Yes. (Digitigrade is where an animal walks on the tips of their toes, like a horse, cat, dog, deer or bird. Plantigrade is where the wrist or ankle/heel is on the ground and the animal walks on its palm or sole, like a badger, bear, lizard or human.) Some cat-like creatures are plantigrade, but they are not true cats.

[TommyC]

HMmmm... Is that quite right..? I've seen plenty of dogs - especially the bigger ones - that seem to have a very pronounced and obvious "foot" that turns clearly horizontal as the dog transfers weight to it - and then it goes limp again as it lifts forward for the next step. Cats perhaps, but between the extensive joint evident at the back of the paw, and the large flat pads underneath, I'd certainly never have thought of any dog as walking on "tiptoes" - and I think there are lots of other animals in the same boat.

[New Forester]

Tommy - The paw of a dog or cat is the equivalent of our fingers or toes -- so you're right, they don't walk on the extreme tips -- I ought to have just said that they walk on their toes. It's like a human walking on tiptoe, with toes flat on the ground but the heel lifted up. Hoofed animals such as horses and cattle do walk on the very tips, like a ballet dancer on "points" -- the hoofs are of course the same thing as our nails. The big pad at the back of a dog or cat's paw is equivalent to the parts of our hands or feet nearest the fingers or toes. The rest of the hand or foot is stretched upwards. If you look at a cat's front leg, you can see that the "thumb" or dew-claw joins part-way up, and is not walked upon (dogs too, but they often have their dew-claws removed as puppies).