Oscar Scott, the “Ocelot”

In a letter dated November 24, 1964, Mom introduces our new pet:

In August Bucher added to our household one baby ocelot, whom we named Oscar.

When we got Oscar, we were told he was an ocelot; he looked just like all pictures we saw of ocelot kittens. As he matured, however, Oscar never developed the longer legs and more elongated torso of an adult ocelot. While Oscar was a part of the family, we always referred to him as Oscar Scott, the Ocelot. But decades later, after encountering adult margays in zoos or photographs and being struck by how much they resembled Oscar, each of us came to the realization that he was a margay rather than an ocelot.