John!

Little Hawk, I don't know the answer(s) to your sophisticated query. I do know, however, that one cannot put all the cats in one basket, even metaphorically.

Last month I house/pet sat. I took my dog and my cat along and there were already two dogs and one cat living there.

The dogs already knew each other so no problem, but the resident cat took great exception to sharing his home with another cat. There were tremendous growlings and hissings and mutterings- but it was completely one-sided.

My t
Well, you asked.