Maybe try looking up paw more generally. Merriam Webster seems to think it can be used to describe any animal foot, or human hands (albeit with some baggage), or as a verb for rough contact.
For further uses outside of explicitly furry animal feet, a few more come to mind: southpaw, (left handed baseball player), catspaw (knot/hammer/chuck), and chicken paw (chicken foot, usually in the context of food).
In terms of the specific expression you’re asking about, it’s from a work of fiction. If evocative language serves your story better, even if it doesn’t fit as well by literal meaning, that’s reason enough to use it. In this story paw may have better communicated crudeness than hand would’ve. Or maybe the author thought paw better drew out the parallels with a lucky rabbit’s foot. Ultimately, why it was chosen doesn’t really matter, the imagery was powerful enough that we’re still talking about the story.
Maybe try looking up paw more generally. Merriam Webster seems to think it can be used to describe any animal foot, or human hands (albeit with some baggage), or as a verb for rough contact.
For further uses outside of explicitly furry animal feet, a few more come to mind: southpaw, (left handed baseball player), catspaw (knot/hammer/chuck), and chicken paw (chicken foot, usually in the context of food).
In terms of the specific expression you’re asking about, it’s from a work of fiction. If evocative language serves your story better, even if it doesn’t fit as well by literal meaning, that’s reason enough to use it. In this story paw may have better communicated crudeness than hand would’ve. Or maybe the author thought paw better drew out the parallels with a lucky rabbit’s foot. Ultimately, why it was chosen doesn’t really matter, the imagery was powerful enough that we’re still talking about the story.