There's still a bit stretching on the far ends of the paw pads, but it's far more manageable and perhaps even desirable. The new topology does, however accentuate the shape of the paw pad, when view from the side. I don't know how I feel about this just yet. Further shaping will improve it. I also need to improve the space of the ball of the foot, just behind the paw pad. The topology there went through several iterations this time before I found one to be idea. However, the shape of the ball of the foot itself is still in need of work.

The other major improvement is to the deformation of the digits during posing. Not only do their connection to the body of the paw and the paw pad hold up during initial "bringing together" but the digits themselves bend better during posing, such as making them point downward. This is due to a shifting of the position of the second joint of each digit, so. They move as their own unit much cleaner now.

The center image is of the paw prior to bringing the digits into their nominal positions.