Every cat has the signature five pads on each paw, but if you’ve ever looked at your cat’s front paws you may have noticed a sixth pad hiding behind the rest. The sixth pad on a cat’s front paws is called the carpal pad. Its main purpose is to provide a cat with extra traction when they are going down a hill, coming to a stop and jumping off of a high spot. Besides providing extra traction the pad also acts as a shock absorber much like the other five.