It's usually pretty easy to tell. I wire the bait though a bone so the bone cannot easily be taken. If a cougar takes the bait the wire will be straightened out and broken; if coyote the wire is usually there but they will manage to take all the bait including the bone. Cats are sloppy eaters. They will leave a lot of meat on the bone and often they will drop small scraps on the ground andleave them. No other animal does that. If they can get the bait loose or part of it you will usually find it within 10 or 12 feet. They don't pack it way off to eat it. Civets and weasels eat a small amount at a time, not usually the whole thing which a cat will eat it all. I get fooled by coon and possum sometime but their eating pattern looks different. They clean it up better then a cat.
Other method I have used is to put up a run pole and hang the bait at least 5 feet up in a tree. That eliminates coyote as they will not climb to get the bait. If I have problems with coyotes I do that.
