Let me see here ...
There's the obvious cat:
Then there's the car, made by Mercury:
Or the airplane, made by Grumman:
Or the chewin' tabackie:
Seems like there's a couple of schools that use the cougar -- CSU:
None of which make any real sense to see in a bar. So yeah, I'd be surprised if a buddy said "Hey, cougar" in a bar.
Dan