LOL, I never said it was a big cat, and I'm not aware of any sightings locally. What I meant was that the footprints themselves are definitely real.
I'd have thought that a dog would have left distinct claw marks in the mud, whereas none of the four prints we found had any claws showing.
After a bit of research, my current hunch is that it's a badger that bites its fingernails. Either that, or the claw prints were so far away from the main pads that we didn't associate the two together at the time?
However, I'd very much like to see what the experts on here think!
Edit: Bushwhacker, you got there whilst I was typing. What do you think about the absence of claws though?