Felines in general are tricky to build, mostly because so many of their features consist of very subtle curves. They're hard to get just right, and very easy to slightly err on and make look awful, especially when you're coming from a canine background like I (and a preponderance of other makers) do. In my research for some upcoming foot molds, however, I have stumbled across something simple, that was masked but in plain sight all along.

This is an anatomical diagram of a lion's paw and forearm. As you can plainly see, these feet are NOT symmetrical! They are, in the fact that the left mirrors the right, but not only do the toes splay out, the claws are also set staggered/off to the side and at an angle.

These are replacement feet for cougar taxidermy. The two in the center are the forepaws, and the two on the outside are rear paws. You can see that the front paws splay a bit more, but the rear paws absolutely do too.

In more simple terms: Feline feet really do need a distinct left and right sculpt for realism. It's a subtle little thing, but once you've noticed you cannot unsee it. Even my monstercat Bram's feet do this, so it's not just a big cat thing.

Looks like I'm going to need some more clay!