Q: I recently adopted a stray cat who is hiding in my spare bedroom. He is an 8 month old neutered male, who has a clean bill of health. I also have 3 dogs in the house who are all medium/large breed dogs, that I think will get along well with the cat, if introduced properly. I plan to let the cat come out of hiding whenever he is ready but I am uncertain of the best way to introduce all the dogs to him. I would greatly appreciate any advice you can offer.

 A: Sounds like you are starting off correctly. A good way to introduce a dog to a cat is with the dog on obedience command. If it requires a leash to assure that the dog will obey your commands, then be sure to use it. Introduce the dogs to the cat one at a time, not as a group.

I found out from my own experience that when you have three dogs, they will behave like a pack toward a cat. I would not recommend that you plan on leaving the cat alone with them all. If it turns out later that you can do so, consider that a great bonus.

Just as humans can turn into a mob when in groups, and do things that individual humans would never do, dogs in a pack can be entirely different creatures than individual dogs might be. When it comes to the safety of a cat, it's important to always keep this in mind.